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July 08, 2024 by Stefano Palleni
A KIND OF MUSIC YOGA
I was recently invited by Slamet Dwi Settyawan at RRI2, Radio Republik Indonesia, to present a book that I have been working on for about a year soon to be released. I would like to report here an excerpt from the broadcast which briefly shed some light on the work, its contents and purposes.
I am a researcher, psychologist, music and art therapist and composer. I graduated in psychology and modern music at universities of Padua and Bologna in Italy. I recently directed a research program in music therapy in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Research and the University of Malang. The research is structured around the musical preferences expressed by the public in relation to a series of elementary sounds present in the common musical language associated with concepts and emotions. At the same time I worked on a repertoire of original music inspired by the concept of Indian classical music and improvisation, producing a series of recordings which can be listened to here or at vaata.org.
Out of this research spawned a lot of off-spin material, among these there's an original method for the practice of improvisation in music, whatever the style you frequent. The method is articulated on a very simple concept: that of developing and maintaining the concentration and the focus of attention on a selected object. As it is in this case of music we want to practice one peculiar aspect like a melody, a specific harmonic device or rhythm by reducing it to its elementary terms so as to facilitate the study. The final goal is the constitution of a solid base for a unique sound vocabulary which possesses a certain degree of beauty and originality, distinct from the others. A sonic territory you feel comfortable to roam where you know all the words and the combinations, so as to be able to effortlessly deliver musical phrases embedded with fresh originality just as it happens in spontaneous conversation. Over time, you’ll eventually learn to master the inner ear, which is the ability to hear in your mind what you’re going to play next and to perform it effortlessly on your instrument, at the same time being able to recombine the structures at will.
This type of discipline, unlike those based on traditional didactic and the imitation of standard models, gradually guides you to the development of your own creativity and artistic personality, likewise it establishes a consistent technique so as that one can feel self-confident and at ease when playing music at all times, without producing rigidity or intimidated by comparison with any reference models of sort. This latter aspect is very important, since the emphasis is placed on an energizing and natural practice in order to avoid psychological conflicts and hindrances that damage the pleasure of music, being carried on your own or along with others. In this regard I decided to title this work Music Yoga, due to the similarities with many of the traditional yoga methods oriented to produce a sense of peace and relaxation.
Just to give an idea of how the actual practice is organized I will illustrate a session beginning with a few basic exercises to relax the body. We want to remove any rigidity that may impair us in the musical practice observing the breath and the joints and reminding ourselves we desire a pleasant experience that can be sustained comfortably according to our actual capabilities we possess at the moment in order to further expand them later. We can explore and touch the instrument to establish contact with it so as to create a relationship of tactile familiarity, trying to remain focused on the sensations that come with it. We can do this for five minutes every day for a period of time, it’ll help not to feel tense when we approach the actual playing.
Through the exercise of pacing we can build a simple phrase vocabulary starting on just two contiguous notes extracted from a scale pertinent to a singled out harmony. Then we gradually proceed to more complex combinations. In doing so the relationship between the tones of the scale and the root of the harmony will be apparent revealing its true character and the degree of harmonic contrast in relationship with the stated bass tone.
This exploration of the gravitational pull that exists between the tones and the tonic in a given harmony offers the opportunity to gain familiarity with the colors of the degrees present in every scale quality; of course this character dramatically changes when the bass or the underlying chord is substituted for another. So it’s necessary we learn what each flavor feels like in order to evaluate how to use them effectively in our music in any situation.
The book will present a number of diagrams in the form of mandalas flowers: starting from the center we find the emanating principle of awareness / attention which must be sustained at any time, all other aspects of music originate from it and are exposed for study and consideration. Specific exercises are designed to develop each one of them: form, syntax, language, rhythm, color, meaning, just to name a few. More special drills are intended to empower expressive power and embed the music with a theatrical quality and onomatopoeia so as to achieve the ability to deliver them through the instrument and integrate into one's own vocabulary. This skill is very helpful to produce variety and refine the ultimate goal of every performing artist, the capacity to tell a story that sounds alive and present to the ear of the listener.
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