There is something about a heartbeat. The soft rhythmic
melody that flows beneath the breastbone, harkens life. It is the quintessence
of our being. The “lub” gathers the momentum and passion of the human soul and
carries the weight for a fraction of a second and then with a Spartan precision
throws the even-keeled burden into the deafening blow of the consummating
“dub.” How wonderful to be able to hear it in its glory with your ears to the
chest of another being. The beautiful rhythm, the repetitive melody and the
soothing timbre all conspire to comfort a crying infant to her mother’s
heartbeat.
The harmonics of the blood flow within the chambers and then
the muscular force that beats in unison to drive the elixir of life far and
beyond its reaches, is the consummate reflection of our being.
Not to far in the past I lost a couple of friends to unknown
causes. They both collapsed into a lifeless heap. The first one in his fifties
was trimming the tree branches with a electric trimmer and the other one was
using the leaf-blower and hedge trimmer. Both collapsed in mid-movement and
were gone. What happened? What brought on the calamities of these two disparate
individuals. There was no known illness in either. Both physicians of quality
and integrity and both lost to the world.
It dawned upon me that the commonness of these two events
might have something to do with harmonics. I cannot prove it, I can only
surmise.
Harmonics.
Ever sit down to the calming arpeggio laden. “Prelude in
C-Major” by J.S.Bach.
Listening to it you will find a certain comfort to want to
listen to it again and again. The beauty of the notes of the cords played in
different octaves is like a soothing, enchanting high priestess of comfort,
massaging away the tight muscles of living.
In recent day music, Coldplay, a musical group has
encompassed that beautifully in many of its songs; “Viva La Vida”
The rhythm and resonance of the large audience symbolizes the
connection to their souls.
or, listen to the equally wonderful, “Every teardrop is a
waterfall.”
This is another beautiful melody that shimmers just above
the undercurrent of a warm harmony. It keeps you tapping to its even beat.
There is something about music, which is proprietary in its
finesse. When listening to it, all extraneous movement is arrested voluntarily.
The listener’s focus and attention gets directed inwards. The doors to the
chamber of thought are closed and the echo of the melody takes over. It
resonates with the harmonics of the soul. All extraneous reference is rendered
moot, cast away with abandon. It is only the melody and the harmonics within
that remain.
If you listen and not just hear music you will find the
ghosts of Christmas past and with them, all the joys, smiles, laughter merging
with the tears to become one. The line between good and great is crossed. There
are such beautiful musical creations that invoke feelings like this within. The
classical fugue is the Concertos for two Violins by J.S.Back where point and
counterpoint keep you alert and alive to the harmonic dialogue. If you listen
carefully the background melody is repeated as the foreground melody counters
both itself and the product of the background. It is fascinating in its
creation and only a master could have managed to hold together this variegated
castle of incredible beauty. Listen to it and rejoice in it. It will fill your
soul. But through it all this music with the rub of the strings will resonate
with the rhythm of your heart.
But then, there is the violent side of music that jars. It
compels all our essence to hide behind itself. The violence is not tempered,
the notes thrash at each other, the harsh dissonance increases and makes one
uneasy. It raises the blood pressure and the heart rate. It evokes sentiments
of anger. We listen to it and it puts us in a disjointed frame of reference. It
is music of another mindset. Yet it is music, of another culture for another
culture. Seeking harmony and comfort is not in it. This is designed for a
different purpose. It violates comfort. It awakens. It brings out emotions of
despair and anger.
So you might agree that music affects us all in many ways.
The harmonics are everything. Precisely there is where it got me thinking.
Maybe the harmonics of the two instruments that my friends were using clashed
with those of their heart rhythms and that clash caused the final act. Maybe
the clash of the harmonics created a sudden change in the harmonics of the
heartbeat and a convulsive ventricular tachycardia emerged, turned into a
fibrillation from the resonance and blood ceased to flow? Maybe, the
dys-arrhythmia played a role, because autopsy of one showed no direct or
indirect causation. But this is just a hypothetical and we will never know. But
maybe, just maybe, given how music affects us all, harmonics were at play.
Let me take you down another lane of thought. An interesting study conducted on succcessive monitoring of the R-R intervals of EKGs over 24-hour period as stated on the website: "The time series belonging to the first two groups (healthy and congestive heart failure) are all in sinus rhythm. Those in the third group (a1rr, a2rr, a3rr, a4rr, and a5rr) are provided as examples of a cardiac rhythm that is not sinus rhythm; in that group, the rhythm is atrial fibrillation (AF), an atrial arrhythmia producing an erratic and typically rapid ventricular response. All of the time series were derived from continuous ambulatory (Holter) electrocardiograms (ECGs)" show interesting rhythmic intervals between a resting hear rate that has a flow and balance to it as compared to one with congestive heart failure where 2% premature beats were recorded and a exaggerated baroreflexive state and atrial fibrillation.
The recorded views are presented below:
Normal EKG r-r interval
Congestive Heart Failure r-r intervals
Atrial Fibrillation r-r intervals
One immediately notices the stark differences in the three rhythm scenarios.
We all live in the constant feed of doubt and I am sure
there is plenty here for you to mull over. But below is a beautiful melody
crafted on the harmonics of a heartbeat. Listen to this and allow your
heartbeat to slow down. Soul cleansing!
Music therapy has become an especially important feature to
control psychosomatic side effects to medical managements and Bettermann and
colleagues in their paper, “Musical rhythms in heat period dynamics,” (http://ajpheart.physiology.org/content/277/5/H1762.full) argue,” …experiments
should include percussion (at least finger tapping) or dance to reproduce the
rhythms and should pursue the question whether distinct physiological rhythms
can be specifically amplified. This positive physioacoustic feedback or
rhythmic resonance may be of great potential use, in particular, for the
evaluation of music therapies.” They go on
to say that African music is the heart beat of music per se, stating bluntly,
“From the point of view of African cultures, music rises directly from the
inner dynamic of human beings, which is symbolized and brought forth by the
human heartbeat.”
Speaking about the convergence of music across continents
and platforms, the essence remains the same. The beauty of the Seven Notes that
create the magic is evident in this phenomenal musical video of Peter Gabriel
and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The melody shifts, reaches, falls and then is reborn
while the harmony lingers long after the song is over. There is definitely
something about music that reverberates in the human soul. There is something
magical.
Don’t you think?
Thank you for sharing this Gem of a post with us. Only you can teach us about EKG's, Heart Rhythm, death and Loss,
ReplyDeleteIn my Eyes you are a brilliant teacher and my Friend.
Thank you,
Lisa
Dearest Jedi,
ReplyDeleteThis is simply beautiful; simply moving, touching and inspiring. Thanks again!
Best,
E