Jonathan Goldman (healingsounds(1)), a musician and authority on sound healing, discussed how harmonics can influence or change a person's physical, mental or spiritual state. Harmonics or multiple tones are like the "color of sound" or "the sounds within sounds," and can resonate in specific ways with the body, brain and mind, he explained.
A variety of excerpts from his sound pieces were played during the show, and Goldman offered commentary on them. For instance, the ambient track from Celestial Reiki 2 which contains the sounds of birds, waterfalls, flute music and chanting, has been used on cancer wards for relaxation and to help relieve pain, he said. In the selection from Celestial Yoga, which he noted is conducive to a meditative state, voices sang harmonics into quartz crystals. For stimulating the heart and crown chakras, Goldman presented upbeat tracks from ChakraDance(2) which blends chanting with techno-styled music.
While not claiming any specific curative properties to his compositions, Goldman said that certain sounds could have healing powers, potentially interacting on a cellular level and eliminating the "frequency of a virus," for example. Harmonics can also can be used to enhance global harmony, he added.

1. http://www.healingsounds.com
2. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00020NTQK/ctoc

Thermography & Sound

These heat thermography photos (view larger) were taken of Jonathan Goldman as he began (left) and finished (right) a set of vocal harmonics. Thermography measures changes in skin temperature and could indicate changes in brain activity. "It is my belief that self-created sounds can trigger different chemicals such as melatonin in the brain," Goldman writes. He also suggests that these photos may demonstrate the activation of chakra energies. For more on the photo experiment, click here(1).

1. http://www.healingsounds.com/research/heat-thermography.asp

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Wednesday September 22, 2004