Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Amazing Grace...Harmony and Peace on Earth, Reprise


A musician friend who read my earlier post on harmony wrote,

"...you might well like to be reminded of the fact that within every tone... exists a series of tones... in alignment with your thinking, there is 'naturally' existing diversity within unity and unity within diversity."

The video following demonstrates one way to create with  these tones that are "embedded" in all sounds.

In this 50-second rendition of "Amazing Grace," the singer uses techniques of Tuvan throat singing to amplify various tones that are always present inside the fundamental tone that he sings—these "already present'" tones are called overtones. He amplifies one overtone after another to create the melody of this well known song. The fascinating part of all this is that ALL the tones he needs to create the melody are always present as harmonics or overtones of the fundamental pitch (the low sound he maintains throughout). He's basically making movements in his mouth and throat that allow him to choose among those tones.

You can get more details at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFWYSW4vfcA

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Watching this video inspired me to think on the question, "What is amazing grace?"

When I hurtle down a highway in a car, and see trees growing in the median, living 24/7 amidst pollution, noise, and people who barely notice them, I see amazing grace in action.

When I see bees enthusiastically burrowing into flowers, helping create the seeds and fruits that will nourish another generation of people and animals, despite the fact that millions, if not billions, of them have recently died from pesticides and other factors that encourage colony collapse disorder, I see amazing grace in action.

When I hear crows calling to each other across my suburban town, staying in touch through the transformation of their world into a sea of monoculture lawns and roofs, I hear amazing grace in action.

Truly, I am profoundly amazed some days that life still thrives on this planet. I'm not saying this to engender shame feelings in any of us humans (though more sensitivity to our authentic shame here and there with respect to the disrespect we show the other life forms could help our situation out!) I'm saying all this mainly to inspire you to receive the amazing grace that natural/physical/biological intelligence offers you. Let Nature give to you what Nature wants to give you... and then mutuality will arise between you and Nature... and the life force will flourish ever more exuberantly.

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