Good Vibrations

Okay, Banjo Snob fans (all + or – 10 of you), I have truly fallen off the deep end! I am about to go where no level-headed, serious-minded musician is supposed to go; into the realm of metaphysics, specifically musical vibrations. Lest you forget, I write to learn, so. . .I want to learn about this, and writing is the best way I know to do that. This is certainly not an original idea; I claim no “discovery” (other than to myself). To those who already know about this I apologize; please take pity on this poor pathetic being and let me in on the secret!

Of course, we all know that music is nothing but vibrations (A-440, anyone?); nothing spacey or weird about that. We also know that many folks claim to be “tone deaf,” and/or “non-musical,” but: If music is a vibration, than ears (working or not) are not necessary to “hear” it! The ear hears it by translating the vibrations it receives into an organized, recognizable pattern (that’s it’s job); it is simply a matter of the ear’s owner to learn what that pattern is. In the case of a deaf person, the body (a much larger organ) assumes the role of receiving the vibrations (in fact, that sense is heightened in them); we hearing musicians can learn something from the deaf!

In short, all people are “musical” in the sense that they receive the vibrations in the first place. This helps to explain the “Mozart Effect,” where scientific studies have shown that just listening to (more like “bathing in the vibrations of”) the music of Mozart has a positive effect on the body and the brain—whether or not the owner is aware of it or knows anything about music. So the Beach Boys—stoned or not—were on to something! We should all take this as encouragement.

We also commonly realize that a musical instrument makes sound by vibrating, be it the lips (brass), a reed (woodwinds), a plucked or bowed string, a membrane stretched across a hoop (percussion), and many other methods of creating sound; less known is the fact that the rest of the instrument amplifies the sound through vibration (think about your banjo’s brass tone ring). Even less known is the fact that the body of the musician also vibrates and amplifies the sound; this is why every musician has a unique sound. Many Bluegrass banjoists believe that they absolutely must have a prewar Gibson banjo (at top dollar of course) so they can “sound like Earl (Scruggs)!” Hate to break it to you, but it’s not the banjo. . . Anyway, the more relaxed the musician’s body is, the fuller the sound they produce.

Okay; so far, so easy! Here’s where I fall off the deep end. #1: There are those who claim that humans—and all other living organisms—are also nothing more than highly-organized vibration patterns (I’m not sure where I stand on that; though I accept it as a possibility, I currently lack that level of imagination/intelligence). #2: I am reading an amazing book right now—The Music Lesson, by Victor Wooten; in it, he claims that (and I paraphrase) “all music, past present or future, already exists and always has. It is in the air that we breath; all we have to do is tune in to the existing vibrations.” In his writing, he posits that so-called “natural musicians” have simply tuned into the vibrations, and have learned to re-produce them through their musical instruments (that’s why they don’t need written music in front of them, and in many cases can use several different instruments for the purpose).

So here’s the way I envision it: All humans are radio signal receivers (picture a deep-space antenna); those of us who have learned to audibly express the signals (i.e., learned to sing or play an instrument) are transmitters as well. Some lucky folks are literally conduits for the signal, and exude “music” in everything they do. Our chosen instrument is simply the medium through which we re-express the received musical signal.

Why is this important? I spent many years trying to be a “banjo player” when I should have been concentrating on being a “musician” (or in this context, a “re-transmitter of music”)! The banjo—like all instruments—is limited only by the learned skill and innate imagination of the player; it should not be wrapped up tightly in a little, historical box, and limited to only “banjo music.” This in my opinion is one of the major factors in the fading popularity/main-stream acceptance of the four-string banjo.

I grew up immersed in banjo band music, so that’s all I have ever known how to play. Opening up my ears to all music (“good” or “bad,” within my opinionated parameters) and trying to express it through my silly little banjo (which is simply a vibrating extension of my body)—or at least listening to the music of others who are doing so—has been liberating. Many musicians (of all instruments) fall into the trap of judging their instrument solely by the music that is “typical” for it. I have often heard “that’s not how you play the banjo!” when attempting anything beyond the flash-n-dash norm.

As for the believability of these concepts. . . I know many readers will dismiss this as just a bunch of bat-crazy, “New-Age,” supernatural mumbo-jumbo; being a mostly-conservative skeptic, I would have thought that myself not too long ago. Many more of you will see it (if true) as the unexplainable workings of a “higher power”; I don’t mean to belittle anyone’s take on this, but to me, it’s just simple science. . . well, okay, not-so-simple science. I consider myself to be an actively-evolving human being, and this is starting to make sense to me; believing in science as I do, I take it as a leap of faith.

We have all known musicians who just seem to be on “another plane of existence”; if the vibration theories I have talked about here are true, then yes, they are “in another world” when they play! I’ve always been jealous of this transcendent state of being, and I wish to join them on that cloud. I have taken on the job of attempting to “explain the unexplainable”; I do this for my own education of course, but see no reason why I shouldn’t share in the adventure. The underlying hope is that I will start an interesting conversation that will help solve some of the mysteries of that most-wondrous vibration: Music!