Great article. One very off track comment, pursuant to this: "I was apprehensive when I heard this—I tend to dislike very loud music, and have even walked out of concerts for that reason." I like Mark Knopfler for his songs and his guitar playing, but I also admire him for what I read about when his band Dire Straits was getting started and people in small venues kept on telling the band to play louder. Knopfler woudn't let them ... consequently decades later, Knopfler still has his hearing while many rock musicians, even some much younger than him, don't.
Thank you. This is a really fascinating account, and coming from someone without a background in the healing modalities or new age thought, it carries more gravitas. I think there is something to a great many of the systems of divination and healing that are now rolled up in the woo-woo, wacky "new age" label. Why else would they have survived millennia, if not? And that is a thing many people forget. The majority of these techniques are ancient and derive from systems of thought that were well developed in many cultures. In the same way that modern music has neglected the important aspects of music that you are detailing in 'Music To Wake The Dead', so too have these other modalities been neglected and relegated to the looney bin by people who are certain they know what reality is, but seem to actually be missing out on the parts that they can't see and easily quantify. I think our sciences are just now beginning to scratch the surface of a whole realm of existence, knowledge, science, that has escaped their materialistic blinders, but that was obvious to other humans, in other times and places. Sound as power is one of the most important ones, of course, but there are others, as well.
Wish I had a crystal singing bowl, have several metal ones.
Could it be that these bowls and similar instruments such as bells, have partials that are not always harmonic, and that adds to the interest and strangeness to Westerners? Orchestral instruments have primarily harmonic partials, and as such seem more cerebral, rational, and linear to me. (Don't get me wrong, I love symphonic music!)
Wish I could be there, or had heard La Monte Young's Just intonation experiences . . . one of the reasons "samples" don't work is not due to the sound itself, but the fact that most MIDI instruments that play them are stuck on the equi-tempered scale . . . "temperament" may be a lost art, and perhaps is of greater importance than we imagine nowadays.
I recently read that our diatonic scale system is the result of the pitches of the lower partials (harmonics), and that the weird scales in Gamelan music are because those instruments have much stronger higher partials with different ("out of tune") pitches.
Well, the equal tempered scale doesn't fit with true harmonics, which are exact multiples of the fundamental. Those would constitute "Just" intonation. Of course, as music became more chromatic, such a tuning system wouldn't stay "in tune" in every key center one passes through. Find and read books by a Mr. Sethares to better understand how key centers and the partials of orchestral instruments are intertwined.
Growing up on the reservation, we lived only a mile from the powwow grounds. During celebrations, I’d fall asleep at home to the sound of my tribe’s drums and voices. Even now, as I write this, I can hear them.
Your description of the visceral listening experience reminds me of what I felt when I visited La Monte Young's Dream House and also a Long String Instrument performance by Ellen Fullman. The auditory experience can't be recorded by any conventional means.
I live adjacent to Austin in Cedar Park these days (after returning from over a decade out on the left coast - after 25 years in Austin - 1976-2001).
Imagine my surprise when I looked into Singing Bowl Lady near me, I found the exact same person that Ted saw. Duh! I forgot he lives around here now. It makes total sense this would be in the Austin area.
Seeing the pictures, I also realized that a large "crystal" bowl my CPA wife had in her studio where she also taught Yoga was one of these. I wish now I hadn't given it away when clearing out the house after she went into full-time memory care!
Maybe I'll book a session even though getting there from where I live now is a bit of a hassle.
I've been to several singing bowl sessions in Ann Arbor, Portland, even Tokyo. Always fascinating. My wife even insisted we buy a crystal bowl at a shop in Mount Shasta, where they have rooms of them. I was curious about where these were being made. The shopkeeper couldn't or wouldn't provide a clear answer. When, some time later, I visited a semiconductor equipment plant I discovered the possible source of these bowls. This company made bowls, very large ones, but otherwise identical to the ones I've seen in the shop. They were crucibles used for growing crystals for semiconductors. They have to be made of a very pure quartz. The manufacturing yield is such that only a portion are sold to semiconductor crystal manufacturers. The others are recycled for their quartz, but I wonder if some are sold as crystal bowls. Example: https://www.mmtc.co.jp/en/products/quartz.html
We have experienced the singing bowls at Rancho La Puerta, an amazing spa in Tecate,Mexico, just east of San Diego. They own a full battery of bowls from lowest to highest, along with complementary percussion instruments, and almost every day there is a one hour session, which they call Sound Healing. There are several different therapists who play the bowls, each with their own style. Ted, it is just as you describe. An incredible and profound experience.
Immerse yourself in sound? Besides singing bowls, gongs (lots of "healers" using them at the music festivals, and venues with large amplifiers where the bass and drums can be physical as much as aural- try this.
Take an oven grill, preferably a thicker one used in an oven as opposed to say a smaller one for a toaster. Wrap an appropriate length of string around two sides of the grill, you'll probably need to tie a knot. Other end of the strings, twist each around your index finger. Stick your fingers in your ears.
Have a friend GENTLY use chopsticks or other kitchen utensils to play the grill like a percussion instrument. Each section of the grill will make a different tone. Can tap lightly or just run the utensil up and down the metal bars the way a pianist might use the back of their hand to quickly traverse octaves of the white keys. The sounds will penetrate into your core.
I used to do this in the parking lots before Grateful Dead shows. Of course being ready for such a show will only make the experience that much more intense.
I’m a life long percussionist (50+ years) and moved into just playing gongs, bells and bowls 22 years ago. Like Jonathan wrote, the whole ‘singing bowl’ thing is a Western invention, but the sounds are lovely. I do this full time now and it’s quite remarkable. People need sounds like this. Sound healing is old, but this type is mainly from the past 60 years. I’m glad you discovered it.
Have you had people that found tinnitus reduced after a session? I have it and the sound through my phone is promising, Ted’s article is convincing, and it made me think maybe it helps with tinnitus as well.
Wow! I totally get your reluctance to attempt to describe this experience. Thanks for trying. You actually did it so well I’m searching for a place to experience this asap. Thanks Ted!
Thanks Leigh, it must’ve quite a submerged experience! I can imagine! Though not from the video.. too short and too soft sounding, even on my speaker loudest. Though I’ll try once more and will follow the Lady! Thanks!
I remember living in Amsterdam in the ‘80’s I knew an African guy who made an played metal bowls. Its different but the echo-ish sound it produces is also magical and to be possibly submerged into it.
At times I experienced it with Bob Dylans’ concerts too. Moments lasting that I was totally in it. As in trance. Enjoy your lady in the neighborhood.
There is no such thing as a Tibetan singing bowl tradition. They were likely created by western travelers visiting Nepal in the 60s or 70s playing with food bowls or some such bowls. It has been explicitly stated by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, a preeminent Tibetan/Bhutanese lama who holds more lineages than perhaps any other Buddhist alive today, that there is no Buddhist singing bowl tradition. They are widely sold to unsuspecting foreigners in India and Nepal, but they’re just a curio for the tourist market. They may be cool and have enjoyable properties, but it’s good to note that there is no singing bowl healing modality in the Tibetan/Buddhist traditions.
I’m a practicing Zen buddhist. Singing bowls are not used in any other Asian tradition as far as I know. Brass bells shaped like bowls from small to very large are used in many Buddhist temples to mark the beginning and end of meditation, to punctuate chanting, to tell practitioners when to bow, etc. But they are always struck to ring like any bell not rubbed like the singing bowl phenomenon. The “singing” part is a modern western innovation as far as I know.
Ted, I do think it would be interesting to do a debunking article about sound bowl history…it is shocking how popular these bowls are and how little is know about the fact that they are a recent western invention. I would be happy to share what I have been told by actual Tibetan lamas about this subject.
Not an expert, and this is just one data point. I know someone who has been studying with a Chinese Taoist (not Buddhist) chi qong master who is from the Tibetan part of Szechuan. His teachings have many Tibetan influences, his lineage is very old but he is pretty young. He uses singing bowls when doing medical chi qong healing. His English is pretty poor so I would need a translator to find out what he says about the history of singing bowls.
This is an absolute farce. As I said in my previous comment, there is no such thing as Tibetan sound healing / meditation. This is absolutely disgusting appropriation of ancient tantric Buddhist paraphernalia which is rich w symbolic meaning and specific ways of using.
Jonathan I think we agree more than it might seem. While the explosion of Western interest in these ancient energy tools isn’t doing justice to their true purpose, at least people have heuristic experiences that feel beneficial. I would be glad to share my personal experience with you but it is probably a conversation that’s not appropriate for public forum like this one.
What I can say factually is very odd: that a) the source of the best metal bowls - that is, bowls that are several hundreds of years old or more based on carbon dating and such, is in and around Tibet; those of modern or non-Tibetan provenance do not have the same power, and b) having performed alongside qualified bowl players who use these ancient bowls, their “concert pitch” is A=440.
I don’t think it’s a mistake to say that the “real” metal bowls come from Tibet, but that doesn’t really matter if they have the results they have, correct? And, as far as my limited understanding of music and transformation goes, it’s also not a mistake to observe that it’s effects are closely aligned with Eastern energy modalities such as Reiki (I’m only a Level II so I might be wrong here) or Buddhism, even though I’m also trained in Christian healing.
No offense meant or taken, just offering what insight and experience I have. Offer to convo is genuine as you wish: calendar.MusicCare.net
Bill, hello, indeed there are probably some good vibes one can get from sound healing experiences. The problem I have is that as Tibetan / Buddhist concepts and paraphernalia have been discovered by westerners, in the process we have mixed our own idiosyncratic ideas with actual tradition. I looked around on the website you posted, and there is all kinds of made up stuff mixed in with sprinklings of convoluted Buddhist theory and practice. The problem with this is it is causing authentic Buddhadharma to degenerate. Perhaps in the future people will not know what was invented by curious new age spiritual seekers in California and what was taught by the Buddha and subsequent authentic lineage holders thereafter.
For example, there is no such tradition of playing a metal bell (drilbu) with a wooden mallet to make it “sing.” That is completely made up by these guys. One is not even supposed to hold a bell and vajra before receiving tantric initiation (abhisheka). This stuff is all really important and vast and profound in its reasoning…
I doubt anyone will read this deep in the comments but I am only saying all this with an authentic reverence for the traditions and wishing that their profound methods are not further convoluted by charlatans, whether in America or Bhutan or nepal or india or elsewhere.
I encountered the singing bowls in Bhutan and Nepal. In one tourist shop in Kathmandu the owner demonstrated a bowl that was about 40cm diameter, holding it just below my chin as he sounded it. A unique experience. It seemed to make my whole head vibrate as if I were a musical instrument.
Yes they sell them everywhere but they are not part of the Bhutanese, Nepali, Tibetan, or any other Buddhist tradition. They are simply selling to tourists. Please see my comment above.
Yes, I saw your comment above. I had no idea they were just a tourist thing. Do you happen to know where they got the idea of making and selling them? I have a vague recollection that the bowls look like the water offering bowls they put on the tables in the Buddhist temples.
This made me think of the first time I heard a big band live. The sheer pressure of the wall of sound was a visceral experience that's really hard to describe and really has to be felt first hand. The other thing is my friend who plays alto and has now relocated in South America, he used to be a jazz player but then got into sort of new age healing music and he says musicians are healers, and I believe it's true as we all sometimes listen to music or go to live shows to feel better when everything else fails. This also makes me think of that Peanuts strip where Charlie Brown says to Lucy something along the lines of: "this music is so sad, will you play it again?".
Great article. One very off track comment, pursuant to this: "I was apprehensive when I heard this—I tend to dislike very loud music, and have even walked out of concerts for that reason." I like Mark Knopfler for his songs and his guitar playing, but I also admire him for what I read about when his band Dire Straits was getting started and people in small venues kept on telling the band to play louder. Knopfler woudn't let them ... consequently decades later, Knopfler still has his hearing while many rock musicians, even some much younger than him, don't.
❤️❤️
Thank you. This is a really fascinating account, and coming from someone without a background in the healing modalities or new age thought, it carries more gravitas. I think there is something to a great many of the systems of divination and healing that are now rolled up in the woo-woo, wacky "new age" label. Why else would they have survived millennia, if not? And that is a thing many people forget. The majority of these techniques are ancient and derive from systems of thought that were well developed in many cultures. In the same way that modern music has neglected the important aspects of music that you are detailing in 'Music To Wake The Dead', so too have these other modalities been neglected and relegated to the looney bin by people who are certain they know what reality is, but seem to actually be missing out on the parts that they can't see and easily quantify. I think our sciences are just now beginning to scratch the surface of a whole realm of existence, knowledge, science, that has escaped their materialistic blinders, but that was obvious to other humans, in other times and places. Sound as power is one of the most important ones, of course, but there are others, as well.
Yes! The Chinese, for example, had a well-functioning medical system thousands of years before allopathic doctors in the West were applying leeches.
Yes! Exactly, and the Taoist sages understood the movement of energy long before physicists discovered quantum physics.
❤️
TY ;-)
Wish I had a crystal singing bowl, have several metal ones.
Could it be that these bowls and similar instruments such as bells, have partials that are not always harmonic, and that adds to the interest and strangeness to Westerners? Orchestral instruments have primarily harmonic partials, and as such seem more cerebral, rational, and linear to me. (Don't get me wrong, I love symphonic music!)
Wish I could be there, or had heard La Monte Young's Just intonation experiences . . . one of the reasons "samples" don't work is not due to the sound itself, but the fact that most MIDI instruments that play them are stuck on the equi-tempered scale . . . "temperament" may be a lost art, and perhaps is of greater importance than we imagine nowadays.
Tom have you read Stuart Isacoff's book Temperament? You would love it.
Oh, yes I do have that book! So many books here it is ridiculous!
Thanks for the lead. Look for a book by Sethares, who truly understands why orchestral instruments fit within a particular temperament system . . .
I recently read that our diatonic scale system is the result of the pitches of the lower partials (harmonics), and that the weird scales in Gamelan music are because those instruments have much stronger higher partials with different ("out of tune") pitches.
Well, the equal tempered scale doesn't fit with true harmonics, which are exact multiples of the fundamental. Those would constitute "Just" intonation. Of course, as music became more chromatic, such a tuning system wouldn't stay "in tune" in every key center one passes through. Find and read books by a Mr. Sethares to better understand how key centers and the partials of orchestral instruments are intertwined.
Growing up on the reservation, we lived only a mile from the powwow grounds. During celebrations, I’d fall asleep at home to the sound of my tribe’s drums and voices. Even now, as I write this, I can hear them.
Your description of the visceral listening experience reminds me of what I felt when I visited La Monte Young's Dream House and also a Long String Instrument performance by Ellen Fullman. The auditory experience can't be recorded by any conventional means.
❤️❤️🔥
I live adjacent to Austin in Cedar Park these days (after returning from over a decade out on the left coast - after 25 years in Austin - 1976-2001).
Imagine my surprise when I looked into Singing Bowl Lady near me, I found the exact same person that Ted saw. Duh! I forgot he lives around here now. It makes total sense this would be in the Austin area.
Seeing the pictures, I also realized that a large "crystal" bowl my CPA wife had in her studio where she also taught Yoga was one of these. I wish now I hadn't given it away when clearing out the house after she went into full-time memory care!
Maybe I'll book a session even though getting there from where I live now is a bit of a hassle.
Thank you. Love the concept of our physical connection to music and its healing power.
I've been to several singing bowl sessions in Ann Arbor, Portland, even Tokyo. Always fascinating. My wife even insisted we buy a crystal bowl at a shop in Mount Shasta, where they have rooms of them. I was curious about where these were being made. The shopkeeper couldn't or wouldn't provide a clear answer. When, some time later, I visited a semiconductor equipment plant I discovered the possible source of these bowls. This company made bowls, very large ones, but otherwise identical to the ones I've seen in the shop. They were crucibles used for growing crystals for semiconductors. They have to be made of a very pure quartz. The manufacturing yield is such that only a portion are sold to semiconductor crystal manufacturers. The others are recycled for their quartz, but I wonder if some are sold as crystal bowls. Example: https://www.mmtc.co.jp/en/products/quartz.html
We have experienced the singing bowls at Rancho La Puerta, an amazing spa in Tecate,Mexico, just east of San Diego. They own a full battery of bowls from lowest to highest, along with complementary percussion instruments, and almost every day there is a one hour session, which they call Sound Healing. There are several different therapists who play the bowls, each with their own style. Ted, it is just as you describe. An incredible and profound experience.
Immerse yourself in sound? Besides singing bowls, gongs (lots of "healers" using them at the music festivals, and venues with large amplifiers where the bass and drums can be physical as much as aural- try this.
Take an oven grill, preferably a thicker one used in an oven as opposed to say a smaller one for a toaster. Wrap an appropriate length of string around two sides of the grill, you'll probably need to tie a knot. Other end of the strings, twist each around your index finger. Stick your fingers in your ears.
Have a friend GENTLY use chopsticks or other kitchen utensils to play the grill like a percussion instrument. Each section of the grill will make a different tone. Can tap lightly or just run the utensil up and down the metal bars the way a pianist might use the back of their hand to quickly traverse octaves of the white keys. The sounds will penetrate into your core.
I used to do this in the parking lots before Grateful Dead shows. Of course being ready for such a show will only make the experience that much more intense.
I’m a life long percussionist (50+ years) and moved into just playing gongs, bells and bowls 22 years ago. Like Jonathan wrote, the whole ‘singing bowl’ thing is a Western invention, but the sounds are lovely. I do this full time now and it’s quite remarkable. People need sounds like this. Sound healing is old, but this type is mainly from the past 60 years. I’m glad you discovered it.
Have you had people that found tinnitus reduced after a session? I have it and the sound through my phone is promising, Ted’s article is convincing, and it made me think maybe it helps with tinnitus as well.
I follow your music, it's great!
Wow! I totally get your reluctance to attempt to describe this experience. Thanks for trying. You actually did it so well I’m searching for a place to experience this asap. Thanks Ted!
Thanks Leigh, it must’ve quite a submerged experience! I can imagine! Though not from the video.. too short and too soft sounding, even on my speaker loudest. Though I’ll try once more and will follow the Lady! Thanks!
I remember living in Amsterdam in the ‘80’s I knew an African guy who made an played metal bowls. Its different but the echo-ish sound it produces is also magical and to be possibly submerged into it.
At times I experienced it with Bob Dylans’ concerts too. Moments lasting that I was totally in it. As in trance. Enjoy your lady in the neighborhood.
🔥🔥❤️
There is no such thing as a Tibetan singing bowl tradition. They were likely created by western travelers visiting Nepal in the 60s or 70s playing with food bowls or some such bowls. It has been explicitly stated by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, a preeminent Tibetan/Bhutanese lama who holds more lineages than perhaps any other Buddhist alive today, that there is no Buddhist singing bowl tradition. They are widely sold to unsuspecting foreigners in India and Nepal, but they’re just a curio for the tourist market. They may be cool and have enjoyable properties, but it’s good to note that there is no singing bowl healing modality in the Tibetan/Buddhist traditions.
I’m a practicing Zen buddhist. Singing bowls are not used in any other Asian tradition as far as I know. Brass bells shaped like bowls from small to very large are used in many Buddhist temples to mark the beginning and end of meditation, to punctuate chanting, to tell practitioners when to bow, etc. But they are always struck to ring like any bell not rubbed like the singing bowl phenomenon. The “singing” part is a modern western innovation as far as I know.
Ted, I do think it would be interesting to do a debunking article about sound bowl history…it is shocking how popular these bowls are and how little is know about the fact that they are a recent western invention. I would be happy to share what I have been told by actual Tibetan lamas about this subject.
Not an expert, and this is just one data point. I know someone who has been studying with a Chinese Taoist (not Buddhist) chi qong master who is from the Tibetan part of Szechuan. His teachings have many Tibetan influences, his lineage is very old but he is pretty young. He uses singing bowls when doing medical chi qong healing. His English is pretty poor so I would need a translator to find out what he says about the history of singing bowls.
I think it is more of a Buddhist connection: https://www.tibetanbowlschool.com/
This is an absolute farce. As I said in my previous comment, there is no such thing as Tibetan sound healing / meditation. This is absolutely disgusting appropriation of ancient tantric Buddhist paraphernalia which is rich w symbolic meaning and specific ways of using.
Jonathan I think we agree more than it might seem. While the explosion of Western interest in these ancient energy tools isn’t doing justice to their true purpose, at least people have heuristic experiences that feel beneficial. I would be glad to share my personal experience with you but it is probably a conversation that’s not appropriate for public forum like this one.
What I can say factually is very odd: that a) the source of the best metal bowls - that is, bowls that are several hundreds of years old or more based on carbon dating and such, is in and around Tibet; those of modern or non-Tibetan provenance do not have the same power, and b) having performed alongside qualified bowl players who use these ancient bowls, their “concert pitch” is A=440.
I don’t think it’s a mistake to say that the “real” metal bowls come from Tibet, but that doesn’t really matter if they have the results they have, correct? And, as far as my limited understanding of music and transformation goes, it’s also not a mistake to observe that it’s effects are closely aligned with Eastern energy modalities such as Reiki (I’m only a Level II so I might be wrong here) or Buddhism, even though I’m also trained in Christian healing.
No offense meant or taken, just offering what insight and experience I have. Offer to convo is genuine as you wish: calendar.MusicCare.net
Bill, hello, indeed there are probably some good vibes one can get from sound healing experiences. The problem I have is that as Tibetan / Buddhist concepts and paraphernalia have been discovered by westerners, in the process we have mixed our own idiosyncratic ideas with actual tradition. I looked around on the website you posted, and there is all kinds of made up stuff mixed in with sprinklings of convoluted Buddhist theory and practice. The problem with this is it is causing authentic Buddhadharma to degenerate. Perhaps in the future people will not know what was invented by curious new age spiritual seekers in California and what was taught by the Buddha and subsequent authentic lineage holders thereafter.
For example, there is no such tradition of playing a metal bell (drilbu) with a wooden mallet to make it “sing.” That is completely made up by these guys. One is not even supposed to hold a bell and vajra before receiving tantric initiation (abhisheka). This stuff is all really important and vast and profound in its reasoning…
I doubt anyone will read this deep in the comments but I am only saying all this with an authentic reverence for the traditions and wishing that their profound methods are not further convoluted by charlatans, whether in America or Bhutan or nepal or india or elsewhere.
I encountered the singing bowls in Bhutan and Nepal. In one tourist shop in Kathmandu the owner demonstrated a bowl that was about 40cm diameter, holding it just below my chin as he sounded it. A unique experience. It seemed to make my whole head vibrate as if I were a musical instrument.
Yes they sell them everywhere but they are not part of the Bhutanese, Nepali, Tibetan, or any other Buddhist tradition. They are simply selling to tourists. Please see my comment above.
Yes, I saw your comment above. I had no idea they were just a tourist thing. Do you happen to know where they got the idea of making and selling them? I have a vague recollection that the bowls look like the water offering bowls they put on the tables in the Buddhist temples.
This made me think of the first time I heard a big band live. The sheer pressure of the wall of sound was a visceral experience that's really hard to describe and really has to be felt first hand. The other thing is my friend who plays alto and has now relocated in South America, he used to be a jazz player but then got into sort of new age healing music and he says musicians are healers, and I believe it's true as we all sometimes listen to music or go to live shows to feel better when everything else fails. This also makes me think of that Peanuts strip where Charlie Brown says to Lucy something along the lines of: "this music is so sad, will you play it again?".
👍❤️