The world of music composition, especially in the USA in the 1960’s has deep connections with spirituality, many composers were influenced and inspired by music and spirituality of the East (primarily India, China, Japan). The use of drones and extended durations is perhaps the most obvious result of this interaction – “The Theatre of Eternal Music delved fully into the acoustical universe of single sustained tones, compounding their deeply droning sound with extended duration, bringing each performer into a unified state” (LaBelle, 2006, p.71), also, about Young – “His music, in a sense, strives for the actualisation of the very perceptual tones, loud volumes, extended durations, harmonic frequencies, all encompass and overarching sonic commitment that seeks to make sound an experiential event beyond the human limits of time and space, exploiting the ear as a physiological device and the mind in its moment of perception of sound stimuli.”, and “Duration for Young is not a question of minutes and hours, but days and years. As Philip Glass proposes – “This music is not characterised by argument and development. It has disposed of traditional concepts that were closely linked to real time, clock-time…” (p. 73)
https://www.rastoropov.co.uk/arts/sound-art/
Tom Murphy: When you were studying Eastern mysticism did you find any connections between what you learned that route and the music around you at the time? How would you describe those connections?
Laraaji: I observed that drone music at that time reflected the sensation of eternal present time which is emphasized in eastern philosophy—the continuum of consciousness. Also deep yogic level relaxation and meditation as reflected in the music of Stephen Halpern. The heightened sensation of bliss and ecstasy as reflected in the music of Iasos at the time in the late 1970’s. Terry Reilly.
How did you turn a zither into an electronic instrument? Was anyone doing anything comparable at the time you started doing that? Did you process those sounds early on or was it more for amplification?
My first autoharp/zither was acoustic. And after exploring alternative tunings I investigated ways to amplify it. [I then purchased] an electric pickup made especially for autoharps. I dove into amplified autoharp/zither research and decided to add sound treatment with the MXR 90 Phase shifter. After recording the album Day of Radiance with producer Brian Eno my interest in other [effects] pedals expanded to include chorus, delays, flangers and reverb.
How did you meet Brian Eno and as a producer how involved was in shaping the sound of Day of Radiance?
Brian introduced himself to me while I was playing Washington Square Park [in New York City in] 1978 and extended the invite to join him in his Ambient album productions. His suggestions to depend more on live studio microphones and Eventide effects, mixing as well as overdubbing a second zither helped to shape the Day Of Radiance sound.
https://queencitysoundsandart.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/ambient-music-pioneer-laraaji-on-sound-and-spiritual-practice-vision-songs-and-laughter-meditation/
There is something primevally grounding and simultaneously mystical about the penetrating
hum of a drone – whether it be Tibetan deep chant, Japanese gagaku, Scottish pibroch
piping, Aboriginal didgeridoo, or Hindustani classical music. [1] A lot of this music has spiritual
connotations and uses. The Classical Indian tradition and Eastern spiritual philosophy
and music had a steering influence over a group of European and American composers
that emerged from the 1900s who were labelled as modernist, avante garde, atonal,
serialist, dissonant, and minimalist.
Deeply concerned with the implications of the advancing technological world and affected by
the impact of World War and the great Depression, they began to ask questions about
music; its nature, structure and purpose. These artists particularly set out to shake the
foundations of formal musical structure. Their music was mostly dissonant, chaotic, and
deconstructed. Its purpose for them was much less about entertainment and more about consciously
finding something which was profound and purposeful.
This paper aims to explore the use of drones and dissonance in relation to a small selection
of these composers; Dane Rudhyar, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ruth Crawford,
Arvo Part, and David Hykes. It also aims to look at their interest in Eastern philosophy and
to enquire into the nature of drones and dissonance to see whether they might have some
kind of ability to induce a profound or spiritual experience. It poses to raise the question of
what makes music spiritual and to look at whether dissonant drones have a particular quality
about them that can induce a spiritual experience.
https://www.soundtravels.co.uk/a-Dissonance__Drones__A_Spiritual_Experience-316.aspx
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/monotony-and-the-sacred/6448906
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(music)
https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/drone-lab-creating-sustained-sounds-in-live-11/
https://www.screensoundjournal.org/issues/n1/06.%20SSJ%20n1%20Hayward.pdf
https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.336502644557699