Essay on Sound

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We are constantly surrounded by noise whether we are conscious of it or not. Even when we think we are in silence, we find that we are are surrounded by a tapestry of sounds whether it be the subtle drone of traffic outside or the creaking of a floorboard. Sound bombards our lives constantly and most of the time we do not realize it. Sound can be highly frustrating at times when it is repetitive, loud, discordant or unnatural. The sound of an out of tune violin or nails against a blackboard can create instant feelings of angst within the individual hearing them. Or sound can be beautiful and create a sense of pure, untainted bliss. When we hear a song, our emotions are instantly charged and we can enter a state of happiness or melancholy. It can instantly conjure up a memory of love, passion, hatred or apathy through the slightest note. The entire spectrum of our emotional being can be invoked through the ritualistic use of music. Thus throughout history we have had a preoccupation with sound and how it can effect the neurology of our psyches.

Looking at religion, we can see that sound has been seen as a source of mystical experience. Buddhist have mantras that they will vibrate in a drone like way in a repetitive fashion. Through performing such a mantra, the mind is stilled and one's consciousness is placed in a cosmic state of pure being allowing them to come closer to what Siddhartha called 'enlightenment'. Buddhists will also use singing bowls which similarly produce a continuous stream of sound that allows one to enter a meditative state more easily. Although mantras have not been studied massively, there is evidence that there is some neurological basis for such a phenomenon and that mantra can help attention disorders, depression and even cleanse the brain in a physical fashion. Through the use of repetitive prayer one can also attain a state of mysticism and meditation and in churches monks will repeat religious phrases over and over again to worship their deity but also enter a state of gnosis. At a music concert, many people claim to have an almost mystical experiences as the loud repetitive playing of instruments mixed with flashing lights brings on a sense of frenzy and almost sexual, semi-mystical hysteria. When we look at the Beatles performing in the sixties we see that girls in the audience were induced by the music into some of psycho sexual frenzy. The doors in fact treated their performances as almost religious rituals. Thus the link between sound and religion is clear.

Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and mathematician. Pythagoras believed that the whole world was devised of mathematics and the entire cosmos could be understood by learning this language of the universe. He was also obsessed with sound and what is now called the Fibonacci sequence. He connected mathematics and music to show that music was essentially mathematical in nature and pieces of music could be ideally created through knowledge of mathematical harmony. Many of the works of Beethoven and Mozart are highly mathematical and there is even evidence to show that Mozart was a Freemason, a group that is obsessed with geometrical proportion and mathematical harmony. There is even evidence to show that listening to music of Beethoven can help children become better at maths and other subjects. Someone even once said that 'music is the enjoyment of counting without knowing it'. Thus mathematics is linked to sound

In the modern world, we are bombarded by sound constantly and are victims of what some may call 'noise pollution'. It almost seems like there is a systematic conspiracy to abolish all natural silence and instead replace it with the beeping and burping of industrialized white noise. We are the victims of telephones screeching, mobiles screaming, cars droning, lawnmowers eating away at the grass, the whirring of escalators, the frivolous frequency of human conversation. The rise of technological innovation has also meant that we are also victims to more noise than ever. In fact, science has shown that noise pollution is responsible for almost 3,000 deaths a year (this is just what I have heard) and can increase anxiety, blood pressure and increase the chances of hearing problems. Some have even claimed that some cases of domestic violence are due to noise pollution. In a forest, above in the mountains, on top of a hill-- In these natural, organic places we find ourselves amidst a silence that we have been craving and a silence that resonates with the soul. Silence can be intimidating and awkward at times, especially between strangers but also blissful, especially with someone you know and in nature we overwhelmed with the bliss of this silence. However, as such organic worlds are destroyed to be replaced with shopping malls, flats and industrial warehouses, we also lose the beauty of their silence. It has even been proven the people in cities tend to be more depressed more than those living in cities.

Music is a drug and causes a chemical reaction in the brain. It can swamp the brain in endorphins and much like a drug leaves the individual addicted and wanting more. We keep going back to the same songs over and over again to get back to the original place in which we first heard it. Through music, memories of love, hatred, passion and heart-break are invoked with powerful and potent imagery in the brain. However, how it does this completely is still not known( and even if it does, it is still amazing). Sound is a mystery and has been ever since the first sound that ever was- The sound of the big bang- the first primal, cosmic scream to give birth to time, space and being.

I hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't awful

A typo leaped out at me:


"people in cities are more depressed than people in cities"?

Great piece! I was thinking about noise pollution today and so your essay is very synchronicitous for me. It does seem that there is a "conspiracy to abolish all natural silence" like you said. I don't know why more inventors haven't gone into creating technology for making very quiet- or even silent -machines, as well as more soundproofing going into building new homes. Maybe in the future. Thanks for a well-thought out article.

Amelia

Freezing half to death over here and going to bed early to stay warm, so I'll give it another good read tomorrow when I can. I wanted to comment on your addiction analogy…

I'd hesitate to make that comparison. An addiction implies that the object of addiction is somehow harmful to the consumer. I think certain musical preferences have the potential for self-destruction, but I don't see music as a whole as self-destructive.

I would almost rather think of music as a form of food, though more for the soul than for the body, and obviously not all that there is…after all, there are tons of deaf people out there and they're just fine. Rather than a destructive force that forms a dependency, it is nourishment on something we CAN depend on AS NEEDED. We need SOMETHING that nourishes more than just our physical needs, and music is one such element of enrichment.

yes, it should be 'more than people in rural areas.'

Thank you so much! Ah cool, I love it when that happens. We live in a world of fortunate coincidences You are right, there must be some sort of technology that suppresses the amount of noise brought on by the technology we use. It probably costs large amounts of money though and companies would rather harm their customers than spend that kind of money in order to silence their technologies. Plus, noise is almost like a form of advertisement, a way by which we are attracted to certain cars and such I suppose. It is designed to invade the psyche much like an advert does. Soundproof homes is such a good idea as well. That would really help people I think. Thank you again and for sharing your ideas