Feeling in music is a visceral result of interval and harmony. Melody is comprised of a sequence of pitches that are at a variety of intervals. Thus the melody can, with consciousness become a powerful interval-
Yet, it is when the harmony is added that the composition steps into higher realms and activates the feeling body to bring the depth to the music. In this depth it steps out of the physical realm to embrace the emotional body and the sentient soul. When feeling is activated the heart gets involved. When the heart gets involved the doors and windows open to releasing the woundings and calling in the frequencies of the divine alignment that brings us back to center. Thus a well crafted healing song can realign one’s entire set of energy bodies in one experience.
In order to grasp the significance of what I just said we are going to take an esoteric journey through the evolution of humanity in the earth dimension. Historically, back to civilized times that pre-
Following the unfolding descent into the physical dimension of Earth, certain adjustments accompanied the taking on of the physical body for the sake of the full experience. During the Atlantean epoch the interval of the seventh became discernible. This interval allowed man to feel completely transported, free of his earthbound existence. Subtly different from the octave, the seventh was the beginning of the existence of two domains. Through the seventh the traveler could come and go…and return to some glimmering awareness of the separation between the two.
As man’s collective incarnation continued the previous intervals developed dissonance and discomfort as the body became more physical, giving rise to the interval of the more pleasant interval of the fifth, where man felt lifted out of himself. Yet, he was still in a higher proportional awareness and contact with the divine, though a choice had to be made to directly access it.
Continued evolution into the physical led to the awareness of the interval of the third and for the first time in man’s journey, he became keenly aware of the two realms, within and without. He felt as if he were an earthly being for the first time. Music had finally become an inward experience. And out of this experience of the third, there arose the major and minor variations that allowed music to be experienced as inward or expansive.
Bowing to the collective evolution, the healing musician can create using specific intentioned intervals to impact his/her composition. We can use the intervals to open communication channels with the divine (octave), to stand at the doorway of the divine and choose passage (seventh), to celebrate the beauty by choosing to be in the Divine(fifth), to experience the Divine while in human form(fourth), or to celebrate the divine within the unique context of our current incarnational being on Earth (third). (Do note that the experiences of these intervals during the evolution was profound and life altering. Current experience is in many ways, very different, as so many have surrendered Divine contact, or even the willingness to consider that there exists more than meets the eye. In this context the musician can use the knowledge gained to provide openings and invitations and impressions of the cosmic picture that still exists within all human beings, regardless of their social/cultural alignments…speaking to the soul and the cellular memory.)
What follows is an exploration of and a description of the intervals and their application to influencing the vibration of the listener.
The melodic interval is the pitch difference between successive tones. The harmonic interval refers to the simultaneous sounding of two or more notes at different intervals normally within the key of the composition. Remember, harmony evokes mood. Simple harmonic movement over a drone is often the best use for specific healing applications, though your intuition and experience are the typical guides.
Session Four: Specific Applications of Interval and Harmony
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Unison |
2 or more voices at the same pitch; brings feelings of strength, solidity, security, and calmness. Unification and alignment when multiple soundings of a singular pitch occur. Settles emotions; centering; disperses scattered thoughts; relaxes perineal floor; good for cramps, muscle, period, colitis. |
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Octave |
Creates feelings of sameness, oneness, completeness, openness, togetherness, and circularity. Unifies the connection between self and Self. Allows the experience of merging with the All That Is. This is the interval that is becoming extremely relevant in these shifting times. Elicits feeling of rest, union, male and female balance. Elicits space, openness, joint flexibility, freedom of expression, balances sacrum with occiput. Represents beginning and ending of a complete cycle |
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Major Seventh |
Strange, eerie, discordant to some ears. Others find it ethereal. It is a jazz sounding chord that to me is expansive. It speaks of peaceful moments and resolution to a desired outcome. It is New Age sounding and I use it to empower through opening up. The heart responds openly to Fmaj7. It is sunny and playful and reflective in an expansive way. Balances parietal bones; releases cranial sutures; stimulates cerebral spinal fluid flow; shapes inspirations into dream forms. |
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Minor Seventh |
Typically referred to and used as one of the blues bent tones. It creates tension and seeks resolution. It reaches for something desired. It irritates the lower chakras and begs for action. It challenges the throat and second chakra to say all the shit that needs to be said. Suspenseful, expectant, moving, and rich. |
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Major Sixth |
Peaceful, resolved, pleasing, awakening, and uplifting. Useful for stirring and realigning emotions and mental disorders. I use them in songs that have a nostalgic, old timey feel. They can be useful in composing for older generations who grew up with Big Band. They are useful textures for softening a strong major song. Clears out the past;gives insight to problem; stimulates pineal gland; works with headaches around the eyes; aids in memory retention |
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Minor Sixth |
Considered by some as the most pleasing of the intervals because it has a mathematical ratio of the Golden Section, found so aesthetically pleasing in art and architecture and design. Soothing and evocative, almost a bit sad and delicate. Poignant. |
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Fifth |
Empowering, centering, regal, sturdiness, comfort, completeness, pulls the listener up and out. Useful in assisting the manifestation of potential or intention. Useful for invoking creativity and movement. The place where Heaven and Earth meet. It allows one to have a foot in both worlds, though leaning toward the spiritual. Common in Gregorian Chant.. Transports the listener between realms. Awaken feelings of the new being birthed. Lifts depression; balances earth and spirit; antibacterial, antiviral, and immune enhancement; balances heart, pituitary gland and releases opiate receptor sites; balances sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system |
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Fourth |
Awakens and announces something new. Resonates the heart and evokes feelings of serenity, clarity, openness, and light. Used in Native American and Pagan chants. Balance our relationship with Earth and the Divine Mother. Reveals one self as a spiritual being and allows being aware of self in spiritual domains. One can see into both realms through this interval. Brings us back to reality; stabilizes hyper, obsessive, and or manic thought processes; balances temporal bones and TMJ release; grounding for thoughts. |
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Major Third |
Sweet, gladdening, charming, comfortable, friendly, hopeful. It is simple and uncluttered and blends well. It awakens compatibility. The threshold between major and minor keys, between self awareness and self- |
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Minor Third |
Elation, contentment, uplifting and spiritually reflective. It pulls the listener into the inner place of self reflection. The vehicle through which one accesses the woundings of the past. It is a powerful invitation to the inner healer to return to the scene of the crime. The minor third forces one to face up to what has been ignored. It gently places one into the lap of the inner child and invites a healing and a new relationship to begin. It is tender and hints toward the promise of nourishment. |
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Major Second |
Though some find it irritating it often evokes feelings of happiness, openness, lightness, and pleasure. It is also evocative and pushes for change. It is said to be an interval we are vibrationally beginning to integrate in these transition times. Its frequency proximity creates stirring vibrations that shift and break up resistance. It reduces the resistance to surrender, if one allows it. Enhances creative thinking; enhances sexual excitement and relationship bonding; promotes fertilization. |
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Minor Second |
Tense, uneasy, busy, mysterious, expectant, anticipatory. It pushes harder for change than the major second. Shatters vibrations and resolves in harmony. Useful in facilitating swift movement. Simultaneous sounding with the tonic as harmonic interval has greatest impact. |
Resource:
Interactive Cycle of Fifths
The cycle of fifths is a powerful tool that will give you all the keys, the relative minors for each major key, chord progressions, an scales, and modes. All this will facilitate your writing, once you grasp the function of it. Here is an online resource that will assist you to find much of the above.
Listen to Intervals
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