"There is geometry in the humming of the strings. There is music in the spacing of the spheres".
Pythagoras, 500 BC

On the most elemental level, music is just organized sound, art is simply organized light, and math is merely organized consciousness.

Sound and light, organized into patterns, can be expressed as math. Math, a reflection of the nature of consciousness, can be expressed as sound and light.

Sound and light are forms of energy. Energy is defined as the ability to do work. Work is the ability to organize or change matter. Can sound do work? Yes! Sound moves air, water, the small bones in our ears, and even shakes windows when the UPS truck passes by. An example of how sound organizes a medium such as water was studied by Dr. Hans Jenny. He called this phenomenon Cymatics.

Hexagonal pattern produced by light refracting through a small sample of water (about 1.5 cm in diameter) under the influence of vibration. The figure is in constant dynamic motion. (Jenny, 2001, p. 112; courtesy of Jeff Volk)

Vibration can be considered to be the oscillation or repetitive motion of an object around an equilibrium position. A single vibration results in a sound wave – a quickly varying pressure wave within a medium. Visual symbols commonly used to depict the vibrational pattern of sound as oscillations illustrate longitudinal waves alternately expanding and contracting the medium it travels through.

All life vibrates. All vibrations create sound which might be described as “vibroacoustics”. 

Cells vibrate, planets vibrate, even galaxies vibrate. Although some of these sounds are actually within normal human hearing range, the amplitude is not. Recent technologies have allowed for the increase in amplitude of cell membrane vibrations such that the sound cells may be audible. For instance the distinctly unique sound of cancer cells may open the door for the exciting possibility of even earlier detection of diseased cells.

In terms of math, we count the number of oscillations per second and define this vibration as a “frequency” of sound.

"The science of the future will be based on Sympathetic Vibrations."
Rudolph Steiner, 1913

Click to return to: Bioacoustics Sound Therapy Articles