Unity and Harmony in Art

Unity and Harmony in Art

I find it amusing that – for obvious reasons – sculptures of lyres or harps rarely show the strings: the vital part of the instrument that sounds the music. For me, the absence of strings is an enjoyable incongruity of a silent representation of sound. Even without the strings, this marble figure itself emits harmony and a sense of aesthetic balance and unity. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the serene expression of the seated man playing a stringed instrument “is among the earliest of the few known Cycladic representations of musicians.”

There is geometry in the humming of the strings. There is music in the spacing of the spheres. —Pythagoras

What would ancient “objective” music sound like? Does the seated musician’s facial expression make us imagine he is playing jazz, popular, classical, or rap music? The ancient Greek Philosopher, Pythagoras, had a great deal to say about music. He played the lyre and he hypothesized that the planets themselves, generated notes of vibration depending upon their orbit and distance from each other. He composed music intended as medicine to heal the body and to calm the mind and the soul. He described music as being closely associated with mathematics and developed a number theory of music, whose ratios harmonize, not only mathematically but musically. The sounds produced from these ratios are consonant and pleasing to both the intellect and to the ear.

The highest goal of music is to connect one's soul to their divine nature, not entertainment. —Pythagoras

Music is a powerful, abstract influence in our lives and images of the harp are associated with ethereal, angelic realms. My experiences of objective music – and therefore consciously created and the potential to evoke consciousness in the listener – have been musical compositions from composers such as J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Among many accomplished musicians, J.S. Bach stands as a giant in his accomplishments, which he himself dedicated and signed “to the glory of God.” Bach admired and studied Vivaldi’s music, no doubt recognizing the pearl of conscious influence in his compositions.

We can hardly remove ourselves from the sounds of music in the world around us to the point that we tune much of it out. What is its mysterious effect on us? Could we use our present-day music as medicine? Is the music we hear reminiscent of the orderliness of the universe or orbit of the planets? Of mathematics? When we listen to certain kinds of music, do the combination of sounds raise our consciousness? I encourage you to make experiments by actively listening to a wide range of styles of music from the best artists and include a piece by Bach or Vivaldi in the mix. If “we are what we eat,” we are certainly influenced and shaped by the sounds that we hear.

Music and rhythms find their way into the secret places of the soul. —Plato

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Marble Seated Harp Player, Cycladic 2800-2700 BCE