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(Photo by Sarite Sanders)
He who knows the secret of sounds, knows the mystery of the whole universe.–Hazrat Inayat Khan
If you are as prone to anxiety and racing thoughts as I am, relaxation can be tricky. That’s why I was lucky, at the end of a week sky-high with stress, to interview Baird Hersey, whose overtone choral group, Prana, is performing at Mountain View Studio in Woodstock on Saturday, February 8. I went home from the interview with medicine — a copy of Prana’s new CD, entitled Sadhana, and Hersey’s book, The Practice of Nada Yoga: Meditation on the Inner Sacred Sound, just published by Inner Traditions and scheduled for a book-signing event at Mirabai Books, also on February 8.
Thus equipped, I spent most of a snowed-in Saturday focused on mental therapy, immersing myself in the complex, ethereal vocal harmonies of Prana, reading about the ancient practice of sound yoga, and experimenting with the simple listening exercises Hersey outlines in his book. Try it. It’s a lot cheaper than drugs.
Prana’s music is meant to induce a meditative state, said Hersey. The nine-member group, founded in 2000, represents the latest stage in his long and distinguished musical career, spanning jazz, world music, electronic music, arrangements for television, and a detailed exploration of overtone singing. Derived from vocal practices of Tibetans, Mongolians, Tuvans of Siberia, and other ancient cultures, overtone singing allows the singer to produce two pitches simultaneously by manipulating the shapes of the throat and the mouth.
Like many vibrations in nature, the two tones produced are in a relationship known as a harmonic, consisting of pitches occurring at mathematically perfect intervals. In Western music, explained Hersey, we have slightly altered the intervals so that when we change keys, all the notes will sound “in tune.” When the brain hears this slight discrepancy, it unconsciously works to correct the imperfection of the intervals. The intervals of the harmonics, however, require no adjustment, and the mind is free to simply sink into the sounds, evoking a meditative experience. Even if you’re not interested in meditation, the music can calm you right down.
But Hersey is definitely interested in meditation, as well as in other spiritual practices. He has been doing hatha yoga since 1988 and the athletic form known as ashtanga yoga since 1998. In recent years, Prana has been performing with Krishna Das, a master of kirtan, or yogic chanting, who sings on the final piece of the new CD. The record’s title, Sadhana, is a Sanskrit word that means “practice.”
“The album is set up in the form of a spiritual practice,” said Hersey. “It starts with drums, then an invocation, and then it settles down. Each piece looks at a different aspect of the world and how we relate to it. The practice ends with a closing prayer, and then there’s the piece with Krishna Das, representing the worldly state at the other end of the practice.”
Except for “My Foolish Heart,” the Krishna Das song, performed at a slow pace, with a yearning, rock-n-roll timbre, there are no lyrics in English on the CD. A few pieces incorporate Sanskrit chanting, and there’s a good bit of overtone singing. The compositions are based on various traditions — Western choral music and styles of India, Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Russian Georgia, Bulgaria. The expansive, rolling harmonies are intoned by the impeccable voices of Prana’s nine members: Peter Buettner, Renee Finkelstein, Amy Fradon, Kirsti Gholson, Julie Last, Bruce Milner, Julian Lines, Joe Veillette, and Bill Ylitalo.
The group has met weekly for almost 14 years, in a process that is also a practice, said Hersey, admitting, “Sometimes it’s more like group therapy. It’s a focused singing practice.” All the members have their own professional musical careers, from Milner, a dentist who had a rock-n-roll hit in the 60s, to Fradon, who’s been performing and teaching music in Woodstock and abroad for over two decades.
As a result of Hersey’s years of musical training, his arrangements involve a sophistication and nuance that are rare in meditative music, while also expressing the depth of his devotion. “The music of Prana came out of the yoga practice,” he said. “I felt the shell around my heart had been cracked open, and this was the sound that reflected that feeling.”
Hersey’s meditations deepened when he found his way into nada yoga. He delved into ancient texts on the four levels of sound, which are described in his book, along with intriguing exercises to help us explore all four. Level one is hearing the world through the ears. Level two consists of sound memories and thoughts that are heard in the mind. At level three, sound is related to the sense of vision, a concept that made sense to Hersey, who has a condition known as synesthesia, or mixing of senses, enabling him to see sounds as shapes. Level four is the nada, the internal sacred sounds that provide a compelling focus for meditation, once one has learned to hear them.
Hersey’s book adapts the ancient methods to Western students — even those unfamiliar to yoga and meditation — with the aim of increasing awareness of sound, leading ultimately to the bliss of perceiving nada. No, I didn’t get there in my one day of practice. I enjoyed such exercises as clapping and listening for the echo off the walls of a room. I also liked focusing on one ambient sound (in my case, the furnace) and listening to subtle fluctuations in pitch, volume, duration, and repetition.
Actually, I was already making an effort to attend to environmental sounds, as a result of hearing John Cage’s “Water Music” at Bard College and then taking Karl Berger’s Gamala Taki rhythm training workshop. The work of these musicians — both of them Buddhists — fits right into the tradition of nada yoga. The exercises described in Hersey’s book sharpened my perceptions and facilitated my attempt at the first of the meditations which follow next in the sequence.
As Hersey points out, practice is an ongoing process. I hope if I keep at it, I might someday hear that high, luminescent inner sound that the yogis describe. Meanwhile, I’m listening to Prana and chilling out.
Reservations are recommended for Prana’s performance and CD launch at Mountain View Studio, 20 Mountain View Avenue in Woodstock on Saturday, February 8, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and may be reserved by emailing info@pranasound.com with “reservation” in the subject line. The book-signing for The Practice of Nada Yoga will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 8 at Mirabai Books, 23 Mill Hill Road, also in Woodstock. For more information on Baird Hersey and Prana, or to purchase books and CDs, see http://bairdhersey.com/ and http://pranasound.com/.