How much is imagined Where is the substance More a reality or illusion Can we distinguish them So intricately intertwined When we look at things What colors the image Enhances or distorts Pointing out reality Or veiling in illusion To elude experience One moment it’s here The next it will be gone As if it never happened But it’s cast in memory More or less accurately Possibly quite twisted To suit circumstances How it was in reality Until it was all over In the flow of life Move on beyond That one moment Always to the next Not linear like a river But round concentric For it is the sea of life Where history meets The prophecy of now May be a blessing In reality indeed.
“Wake and ready for an new day” — Aeolian with a touch MinReach — piano — March 2022 — 5:35
“Time is not a river running inexorably to the sea, but the sea itself — the tides that appear and disappear, the fog that rises to become rain in a different river… In circular time… stories are both history and prophecy, stories for a time yet to come. If time is a turning circle, there is a place where history and prophecy converge.” — Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, pp. 206-207
Pebbles sparkle in a creek — February 2022 — Valle Maggia, Ticino
This February-March 2022 Tonalibus update announces the global release of the album Tonalibus Cooperation A. First though, it highlights Tonalibus playlists with new personal sound samples. Thus, the playlist Tonalibus D is now complete. In addition, playlist Tonalibus E experienced a very decisive beginning. Then there is a recap of the February 10 cooperation concert in Basel. Finally, this update concludes with inspiring quotes on harmony and a corresponding comment.
A completed and a new playlist in the Fidibus shop
This playlist High Mountains on fire, light, and sound is now complete with 12 pieces covering 72 minutes of original music. “Courage it takes” and “無為 Wu wei – contemplation” came about from the preparations for the cooperation concert in Basel on February 10, “Blessings may be” and “Guggisbärg-Melodie” from live concert recordings.
This rapidly growing playlist Freedom of sound and harmony so far includes already 6 pieces offering 33 minutes of new music. This includes a rhythmic and a calm LydReach sound sample, “Happy birthday, Robin Hood! (for K.)”, “Thundering liberty and freedom”, “Bagisacro blues — let’s dance!”, and “Tagicrosago — W. A. Mathieu’s dark horse” that is offered as sample below.
“Tagicrosago” — PhrygDorian — tanpura, 8-string guitar, crotales, singing saw, gong — March 2022 — 5:45
The here mentioned new titles are available also under Sounds, individually and as loops. The recordings concluding playlist Tonalibus D as well as the two new LydReach samples are under Winter 2021-2022. While further recordings from playlist Tonalibus E are under Spring 2022. And the early 2022 cooperation sound samples mentioned below are under Cooperation 2020-2021.
As announced in a previous blog post, Cooperation A – the album was released on global music platforms on February 22. Details about it you find under Cooperation A — Album in the Fidibus shop. It presents spontaneous improvisations as in playlist Cooperation A, including the new “Starry Sky” and “Heart in Misty Forest”. A sound sample is offered below.
“Cheerful Hey, Hey! — a happy dance” — Mixolydian — voice by Christina Braun — 8-string guitar by Ulrico — 5:18
February 10 cooperation concert — recap
Concert car packed up to and on the roof
Cooperation concert venue in action
Fretted vichitra veena
8-string guitar
In the Happy Garden – sound & song
Cooperation concert with Ulrico and Marcel Haag QuBa, Basel February 10, 2022
More concerts in various cooperation configurations are currently being planned. A private living room concert with Ulrico is scheduled for April 2 in Liebefeld, a suburb of Bern.
“By singing a tone in tune, you tune your room and your family and your neighborhood. It is not otherworldly that this is so. You place the energy of your sound into this world, and this world’s energy does not die; instead, it transforms. And whatever it transforms into carries with it forever the history of your good intentions.”
Harmonic territory, “even if it proves impossible to describe, it is nevertheless your territory and is eminently possible to explore. A true musician knows the inner ground. Singing is the royal road to this inner land. Once inside, you become the mapmaker. You name the canyons and ranges, the hidden valleys, the underground rivers, the unnameable. The most amazing thing is that your map seems to be more or less identical to mine. (*) That’s why music connects individuals, communities, cultures, maybe someday a global population: We are more the same than different. And yet, vive la différence. Without it, music, like evolution, would be long gone.”
“Treat the naming systems … as if they were true. But we must remember that they are not quite true. It is crucial to understand the limitations of the names we use. The half truth of a construct in the mind can actually close our ears to the truth of a sound in the air. Incomplete or false constructs may lead us away from the subtlety we seek. … From now on we will have been forewarned, and prepared for imminent wobbles and collapses. We will understand and adjust.”
“It is powerful, upon hearing the music of strangers…, to recognize the common threads that connect the harmonic resonances of various peoples. This is not personal authority but the collective power of being human. Whether or not you were musically trained, you would sense the power of the harmonic resonances. But when you yourself can make such sounds, you realize the way in which you are this power.”
“Pure tones can learn to be alive inside your body.”
— Harmonic Experience, W. A. Mathieu, pp. 90, 94, 101, 129, and 131
February-March 2022 Tonalibus update — conclusion
(*) — Indeed, W. A. Mathieu’s harmonic mapping appears largely identical in essence to the one of Tonalibus. Although he gives much more weight to and nests also the fifth harmonic or overtone (the major third) besides the third one (the fifth or quint) as basis for his fundamental harmonic mapping. Tonalibus, on the other hand, sticks more closely to the pure Pythagorean approach, i.e., the quint cycle, and gives more weight to the natural sequence of harmonics or overtones. Still, it is most evident that views of harmony are rooted in commonality. As Mathieu put it above: “We are more the same than different. And yet, vive la différence.” After all, there is always so much, much more to explore and experience in harmony, life, and love. 🙂
Shadow profile on snow covered mountain brook boulders — February 2022 — bridge over Kiene, Fulbrunni, Switzerland
Is it really freedom? Or is it rather captivity Liberty through captivity Captivity through liberty?
Liberating for decades, Limiting all of a sudden It is, was, and will be Always was, after all What one wants to see And what one does not.
So far that’s freedom, But captivity dictates What to see and how Absolute and exclusive Black and white only.
Freedom has colors, Possibilities all open For divine spirit to flow Free in every which way Not channeled by power But meandering in love It is divine reciprocity What one gives out Will come back to Is it really freedom? Or is it rather captivity Liberty through captivity Captivity through freedom? Love and power it is!
Thundering liberty and freedom
TetraNa — 8-string guitar and large gong — March 2022 — 9:16 — as loop on a separate tab
Get out, arrive!
“What if you were a teacher but had no voice to speak your knowledge? What if you had no language at all and yet there was something you needed to say? Wouldn’t you dance it? Wouldn’t you act it out? And wouldn’t your every movement tell the story? In time you would become so eloquent that just to gaze upon you would reveal it all.”
“The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others.”
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer — pp. 128-129 and 134
Swan in liberty and freedom
Swan relishing the early spring sun — March 2022 — Thun, Switzerland
Decide for yourself It is your own reality Your most sacred space What you live and love.
Then you meet others Deciding for themselves It is their very own reality Their most sacred space That they live and love.
At times to some extent Realities will coincide As far as actually real However illusions clash With others and oneself While we live and love.
Love triggers what one loves Reality is we’re here together In this life this very moment To share the reality of now Where all realities blend And illusions fall apart As we live and love.
That’s all here and now Let’s live and love for real.
A beautiful mother highland cattle cow apparently decided that I came too close to her calf by talking to it and to her. Thus, she decided to come charging at me full speed. Too late to back off, I stood firm, extended my arms to look bigger, and yelled at her. That stopped her onrush of lowered impressive horns — only a few feet in front of me. For a very tense moment of standoff that seemed forever, we both remained frozen stiff, too close for comfort. Then we took a breath and most slowly just backed away from each other, as she went to check on and comfort her calf (see photo below).
Highland cattle cow protecting her calf — February 2022 — Ghieiba, Lavizzara, Ticino — photo by Karin Gsöllpointner
The March 2022 tonality of the month is LydReach / NaReach, a Na and Reach tonality.
LydReach / NaReach — rhythmic sound sample — 8-string guitar and big gong — 2:32 — as loop on a separate tabLydReach / NaReach — calm sound sample — 8-string guitar and tanpura — 3:58 — as loop on a separate tab
The tonality of the month of March 2022 is LydReach / NaReach. Thus, this is a Na tonality and a Reach heptatonality of the partially anchored subgroup NaReach. It combines a Lydian lower with a Reach upper tetrachord. As primary Na tonality, it is an integral part of Na tonalities progressions.
LydReach / NaReach exemplifies quintupling, not only off the fundamental, but also off the quint and off the quint’s quint. Such quintupling is what W. A. Mathieu puts into the harmonic foreground, in addition to the Pythagorean harmonic base of tripling (see quote below). Tonalibus, on the other hand, gives more weight to the latter and to the natural sequence of harmonics or overtones, much less to nested quintupling. However both, Mathieu and Tonalibus, express many fundamental harmonic principles the same or in similar ways.
From Harmonic Experience by W. A. Mathieu
“An empty shell for music is made by the doublings called octaves; within that shell, the interactions among triplings (called perfect fifths) and the quintuplings (called major thirds) account for nearly all the tonal music that exists.” — p. 32
Sound sample loops as possible sound mantras
You may enjoy a sound sample or tonality loop as sound mantra for contemplation or meditation. This can help with upliftment, purification, and focusing. Or it could simply be used as soothing background sound for relaxation and regeneration. If you care to hum, chant, or sing along, you could do so using a spiritually charged syllable like HU or Ōṁ / Aum ॐ, or another mantra syllable that suits you.
Majestic Alps in the evening sun behind layers of clouds — February 2022 — Grächwil, Switzerland
