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I am sharing this as it occurs to me. There could be some gaps.
Music is composed of lows, mids and highs. While the emphasis changes from genre to genre (for eg old Hindi film music emphasised on mids, rap/dub step emphasise bass and psychedelic music emphasises on highs. This also changes from artist to artist within a genre. Many try to achieve a balance across the range.
No. this wasn’t my thought, just the background. What I feel is that each of these frequency bands appeal to different parts of our being. Let’s first look at bass. We don’t hear bass as much as we ‘feel’ it. And what do we feel it with? With our physical body a especially the gut. That’s one reason why many don’t enjoy listening through headphones - they can’t feel the bass in their body. Bass is an important contributor to making a music ‘embodied’ when we listen to it.
Let’s come to the mids. This is largely where the human voice lies (including in the upper bass and lower highs). As well as the instruments that mimic human voice (like violin, guitar, sarangi, flute etc). Yes, some of these instruments can go deeper or higher, but major part of their sound is in the mids. What do the mids contain? Most of the sur and bhaav in the music. Especially the bhaav - emotion. And the mids appeal straight to the heart - the seat of emotion in the human being. Now, is this the physical organ? I don’t know. But one is referring to the emotional center. And one feels emotions somewhere in the thoracic region.
And then the highs. The cymbals and the percussions play a role here in brightening up the music - creating a sense of energy in it. Even in terms of height for a well positioned speaker, the highs hit us at the head or above it. In short, they work with the brain (and therefore impacting the nervous system) - the seat of logic and intuition. Also no wonder then that psychedelic music induces trance.
If you follow the ancient Chakra system, one may say the bass hits the lower chakras (navel, genital and anal), the mids hit the central chakra (heart, with some spill off onto throat and navel regions) and treble/highs the upper chakras (throat, forehead and top of head). Others can ignore this or just understand that chakras correspond to major plexuses or networks of vessels and nerves in human body. The activation of these plexuses is a prime focus of most tantra practices. (Music, by the way, is also tantra)
The correlation can be thus summarised as follows:
Highs -> Brain/Head -> Logic/Intuition
Mids -> Heart/Chest -> Feelings/Emotion
Lows -> Stomach/Gut -> Strength/Vitality
As you can see, how a balance between the three faculties in the last column is essential for a well-functioning person. That also underscores the value of balanced music for us.
Do share your thoughts on this. Let’s feel free to differ, but respectfully, without being disparaging. Thanks.
Disclaimer: These are just my ideas and reflections and not a claim of objective truth. Please don’t ask for any proofs, I can’t substantiate. Do correlate with your own experience and reflection on the same.
Music is composed of lows, mids and highs. While the emphasis changes from genre to genre (for eg old Hindi film music emphasised on mids, rap/dub step emphasise bass and psychedelic music emphasises on highs. This also changes from artist to artist within a genre. Many try to achieve a balance across the range.
No. this wasn’t my thought, just the background. What I feel is that each of these frequency bands appeal to different parts of our being. Let’s first look at bass. We don’t hear bass as much as we ‘feel’ it. And what do we feel it with? With our physical body a especially the gut. That’s one reason why many don’t enjoy listening through headphones - they can’t feel the bass in their body. Bass is an important contributor to making a music ‘embodied’ when we listen to it.
Let’s come to the mids. This is largely where the human voice lies (including in the upper bass and lower highs). As well as the instruments that mimic human voice (like violin, guitar, sarangi, flute etc). Yes, some of these instruments can go deeper or higher, but major part of their sound is in the mids. What do the mids contain? Most of the sur and bhaav in the music. Especially the bhaav - emotion. And the mids appeal straight to the heart - the seat of emotion in the human being. Now, is this the physical organ? I don’t know. But one is referring to the emotional center. And one feels emotions somewhere in the thoracic region.
And then the highs. The cymbals and the percussions play a role here in brightening up the music - creating a sense of energy in it. Even in terms of height for a well positioned speaker, the highs hit us at the head or above it. In short, they work with the brain (and therefore impacting the nervous system) - the seat of logic and intuition. Also no wonder then that psychedelic music induces trance.
If you follow the ancient Chakra system, one may say the bass hits the lower chakras (navel, genital and anal), the mids hit the central chakra (heart, with some spill off onto throat and navel regions) and treble/highs the upper chakras (throat, forehead and top of head). Others can ignore this or just understand that chakras correspond to major plexuses or networks of vessels and nerves in human body. The activation of these plexuses is a prime focus of most tantra practices. (Music, by the way, is also tantra)
The correlation can be thus summarised as follows:
Highs -> Brain/Head -> Logic/Intuition
Mids -> Heart/Chest -> Feelings/Emotion
Lows -> Stomach/Gut -> Strength/Vitality
As you can see, how a balance between the three faculties in the last column is essential for a well-functioning person. That also underscores the value of balanced music for us.
Do share your thoughts on this. Let’s feel free to differ, but respectfully, without being disparaging. Thanks.
Disclaimer: These are just my ideas and reflections and not a claim of objective truth. Please don’t ask for any proofs, I can’t substantiate. Do correlate with your own experience and reflection on the same.
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