Healing Sounds-The Power of Harmonics

by John Goldman

1970

Library's review

The concept of healing with music is very ancient indeed. The Mystery Schools of Egypt, Greece and Rome understood that vivbration is the fundamental active force in the universe and developed specific chants and tones for healing and achieving altered states of consciousness.

Healing Sounds
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examines the capacity of sund to affect us aon all levells-phsycial, emotiaonal, mental and spiritual. there is nosound as ure as that of harmonics, and Heaing Sounds is the first book to explain how to benefit from their profound healing and transformative powers, from both the scientific and spiritual viewpoints.

Overtone chanting-also called vocal harmonics-is the ability of the human voice to create two or more notes at the same time. Jonathan Goldman obtained this ability through association with Tibetan monks and other masters of sound, and has been practicing and researching it for many years.

Healing Sounds explains to the reader how to perform vocal harmonics and experience their transformative and curative powers. Practical exercises,which are easy to follow and safe to use, show how to use sound in healing and meditation. The author also describes how listening to harmonics can be used as 'sonic yoga' for meditation and deep relaxation.

Jonathan Goldman is director of the Sound Healers Association Inc. in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. He is also president of Spirit Music Inc., which produces meditational and healing music. He lectures and give workshops througout the world on therapeutic aand transfomational uses of sound and music.

'This is an excellent introduction...warmly recommended.'-Peter Harrison, Sanskrit scholar and teacher

'...written in a friendly conversational style and is generously sprinkled with the author's personal experiences relating to various aspects of healing and sound.'-New Age Retailer

'His person revelations and direct writing style make this an exceptional introduction to a fascinating field.'-P.J. Birosik, Earth Star

“The creator of Dolphin Dreams and Chakra Chants recordings examines the purest form of therapeutic sound--harmonics--in his latest book, Healing Sounds. . . .His personal revelations and direct writing style make this an exceptional introduction to a fascinating field.”
--Whole Life Times

Healing Sounds is the first book to express the scientific and spiritual viewpoints about how to use the transformative power of sound for healing on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels. The Mystery Schools of Egypt, Greece, and Rome understood that vibration is the fundamental active force in the universe, and they developed specific chants and tones for healing the mind, body, and spirit and achieving altered states of consciousness. Overtone chanting--also called vocal harmonics--is the ability of the human voice to create two or more notes at the same time. Healing Sounds, an innovative work in the field of sound healing and vibrational medicine, explains how to perform these vocal harmonics and experience their transformative and curative powers.

An internationally recognized master teacher, the author provides diverse examples of sound healing systems incorporating both mystical and medical traditions--from Tibetan monks’ use of Tantric harmonics to Dr. Alfred Tomatis’ use of Gregorian chanting. Practical exercises demonstrate how to use sound in healing and meditation, such as “Vowels as Mantras” and “Overtoning,” techniques pioneered by the author and utilized worldwide.

JONATHAN GOLDMAN is director of the Sound Healers Association, president of Spirit Music, and has over twenty years experience in sound therapy. He is the author of Shifting Frequencies and The Lost Chord and has created numerous albums including the first studio recordings of the Dalai Lama’s Gyume Tibetan monks, the first recording featuring dolphin sounds, and the award-winning Chakra Chants, 1999 Visionary Album of the Year. Jonathan leads Healing Sounds® Seminars throughout the United States and Europe and lives in Boulder, Colorado.

'A scholarly treatise on the subject of harmonics plus a concise how to guide, all in one volume.' (Christina Eisenberg, Pangaia, Winter 2003)

'The creator of Dolphin Dreams and Chakra Chants recordings examines the purest form of therapeutic sound--harmonics--in his latest book, Healing Sounds. . . . His personal revelations and direct writing style make this an exceptional introduction to a fascinating field.' (Whole Life Times)

'Healing Sounds is a great gift for humankind. It is of benefit now and for the future.' (Kitaro, Grammy Award-winning composer)

'Gives a glimpse into the incredible potential of vocal harmonics and toning as a tool for self-health and transformation.' (Nexus, September-October 2003, Vol.10 No.5)

HEALING SOUNDS : The Power of Harmonics. Revised Edition. By Jonathan Goldman. New York : Harper Collins, 1996 (1992). ISBN: 1852308486 (pbk.)
Not being either an 'expert' nor a scientist in the field of sound, I was able to approach this book with an unclouded mind and one free of preconceptions and fixed ideas. And the most obvious thing about Goldman's book is that it is not a scientific treatise and should therefore not be judged as one. It is primarily a practical manual which sets out to teach us how we can use our voice, and our ability to create harmonics and tones, in some very interesting and beneficial ways.
Although Goldman has a great deal of experience in various forms of chanting and toning and is a teacher of the subject, it's altogether possible that, from the point of a view of a pretentious, reactionary, and mechanistic official science, his views may be unorthodox in some respects. Personally, I don't give a hoot. It's a long time since I grovelled at the shrine of official science.
The human voice is an amazing and beautiful instrument and all of us have one. Sadly most of us are totally unaware of the power and beauty of our own God-given voice. Goldman's book remedies that ignorance. It gives us detailed and precise instructions for toning - 'the singing of prolonged sounds, usually simple vowels, on a single note' (Le Mee)- which anyone can follow.
When used, preferably in conjunction with his practice tape of exercises which can be ordered separately, you will soon be amazed to find yourself producing the most incredible and beautiful sounds. You will also find that it's huge fun, lightens your mood, clears the mind of its usual clutter, and that it can help alleviate certain minor physical problems such as headaches and perhaps even a few major ones. In short, it's great fun and makes you feel GOOD!
Its main effects are to balance the mind, emotions, and body, and if you persist in practice you will learn how to direct certain frequencies to different areas of the body where the sustained natural vibrations of your voice can be used to produce a wide range of beneficial effects.
This makes perfect sense because all things, ultimately, are vibration. Modern Physics and Ancient Science both concur in this. The body is a complex and delicately balanced pattern of vibrations and energy flows which can very easily become disturbed, and which need continual fine-tuning and adjustment to be kept in top condition.
I think that's what toning does for us. I also think that is why wolves howl. They don't howl, as some believe, because they are lonely or to announce someone's death. They howl to rebalance the energies in their body and to re-center themselves. In other words, they love to howl because it makes them feel GOOD!
Human beings are gifted with a much finer vocal instrument than God has seen fit to give to wolves, and Goldman (who has probably never thought of this wolf analogy anyway) is of course not asking you to howl but to tone. My advice would be to give Goldman and toning a try.
Goldman has something very important to teach us. His is one of the best of several books I've looked at on the subject (a related and excellent book is Katharine Le Mee's 'Chant'). And I think that if, as I did, you give it a try you'll find toning enormous fun.
Humming and singing are of course unconscious forms of re-centering, though few of us have the ability to sing well. But when it comes to producing not songs but individual notes, you'll be surprised at how well you can do and how good it makes you feel.-Tepi

An excellent introduction to music as medicine, Healing Sounds examines the effects of sound on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. The author is an expert on music theory, psycho-acoustics and the use of sound in cultural traditions like the Sanskrit (his album Chakra Chants is a gem), Tibetan, Kabbalistic & Western, with emphasis on Gregorian chants. In addition, he reviews the latest scientific research on the physiological effects of music & sound.

Goldman defines overtone chanting or vocal harmonics as the capacity of the human voice to sound two or more notes simultaneously. Virtually all tones produced by musical instruments, voices or other sonic sources are blends of tonal frequencies called 'partials'. The `fundamental' is the lowest frequency whilst partials of higher frequency are `overtones.' Together these create the particular sonic color or timbre of an instrument.

Scientific research into sound includes Cymatics which is the study of the impact of sound on matter, which Goldman investigates with reference to the work of Peter Guy Manners amongst others. Healing Sounds also serves as a practical manual which offers training on how to use your voice, harmonics and vowels as mantras for personal transformation. Sound ought not to be restricted to entertainment but also used to heal & communicate.

Jonathan Goldman's impressive body of sacred sound albums includes masterpieces like Ultimate Om and Holy Harmony. For those interested in the Kabbalistic & Indian traditions, I recommend Ecstatic Kabbalah by David A Cooper and Healing Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Farrand. Another thought-provoking work on sound and music therapy is Sacred Sounds by Ted Andrews.-Peter Uys

Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword
My first introduction to harmonics
1 Hermetic harmonics
2 The science of harmonics
3 Harmonics in the occult
4 Harmonics in Shamanism
5 Tantric harmonics
6 Harmonics and meditation: Listening as transformation
7 Harmoics and heailgn: The medicine of the future
8 Vowels as mantras
9 The fundamentals of vocal harmonics
10 Overtoning
Conclusion: One final act
Bibliography
Discography
Index
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ISBN

1852308486 / 9781852308483

Publication

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