Sitting With Sound

As a musician, I am keenly aware of the ways in which music shapes cognitive abilities and emotional wellbeing. I would like my readers to explore the connections and benefits of a music meditation, or what I call intentional practice.

The benefits of meditation are broadly researched. Richard Davidson and Jon Kabit-Zinn have demonstrated the profound effects that mindfulness-based meditation have on left-sided anterior brain activity associated with positive functioning. 1

Dr. Herbert Benson, founder of the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which is affiliated with Harvard University and several Boston hospitals, reports that meditation induces a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body collectively referred to as the "relaxation response". 2 The relaxation response includes changes in metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain chemistry.

Mindfulness meditation, anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing), and related techniques, are intended to train attention for the sake of provoking insight. A wider, more flexible attention span makes it easier to be aware of a situation, easier to be objective in emotionally or morally difficult situations, and easier to achieve a state of responsive, creative awareness or "flow". 3 Research from Harvard Medical School also shows that during meditation, physiological signals show that there is a decrease in respiration and increase in heart rate and blood oxygen saturation levels.

I would like to suggest the profoundly changing nature of music practice meditation as a way of organizing one’s thoughts, centering one’s attention, and tuning in to the ways in which the body responds to corporal memories.

Thich Nhat Hanh teaches mindfulness through walking as a way of bringing awareness to bodily sensations, quieting the inner chatter, and creating a sense of well being. In similar ways, understanding the value of “sitting” with sound—sounds that one creates—offers the practitioner a greater understanding of their bodies in measurable terms.

To get started, make certain that you can remain undisturbed for this exercise. Sit at the piano, violin, or given instrument and bring your awareness to the sensations this creates. Feel your weight as is presses into the bench. Where are your contact points? Does one side feel heavier and more rooted than the other? Does adjusting your weight affect your breathing? And if so, can you redirect your weight to feel utterly connected to the chair, and by extension, pressing your metaphorical roots into the ground? As you approach sound, become aware which muscles are engaging, listen to the silence and imagine that you are about to completely fill that space with your sound.

When you are ready, produce a sound using as few muscles as you comfortably can. What does it sound like? Listen to how the sound interacts with the environment, as room’s acoustics can impact resonance. Allow the sound waves to vibrate in your chest. If you don’t feel anything, don’t worry, just imagine. If you are playing an instrument that can sustain sound like a violin or a clarinet, hold the tone and listen for everything that makes up the sound. Does releasing one more muscle (or muscle group) change the timbre (the texture of sound)? Do this for 5 minutes. While you are reducing the internal chatter—“I’m untalented”, “I’m starting too late”, “my efforts aren’t enough”—allow yourself to feel successful. This has less to do with critiquing one’s performance, and everything to do with just allowing the moment to be. If your attention wanders, that’s okay; bring it back as you are comfortable. There’s no exam, no consequences for not “getting” it. It’s about process, and celebrating that anything that’s created is so because you caused it.

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes the feeling of timelessness as Flow. Flow occurs when high challenge is met with high engagement. Painters and gardeners and musicians have all had the experience of losing track of time while engaging in a task they enjoy. In many ways, what I am suggesting isn’t so much as “losing” time, but being fully aware of it, and manipulating your response to it. Sitting with time, and anticipating a positive flow experience.

Over the next several days, track your progress. If writing this down seems like too much of an assignment, just keep a mental log about your experiences and sensations.

Davidson RJ, Kabat-Zinn J, Schumaker J, et al. Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine 2003;65:564-70.

Benson H (Dec 1997). "The relaxation response: therapeutic effect". Science 278 (5344): 1694–5. PMID 9411784.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Collins.