Trance and music

Hi all!


For quite some time now I'm looking for information about a topic, I once stumbled across but completly forgot where to look for it. At this time I was searching myspace for new interesting music.

The profile of a band contained a text which referred to their methods. It said, that they're using technics comparable to automatic writing, called trancesomewhat. It's simply some kind of very creative trance, you try to open a canal for your subconciousness to compose by its self.

As I said I'm looking for information about this but it's quite hard to find something because all I can get is information about how music helps you, to get into trance but not how to use trance for making music! I'm a musician and really interested in this because I often hit on limits but have the sincere feeling that there has to be more. Like a point where my conciousness doesn't want to loose control to emotions and just prohibits any further creative impulse.

Generally spoken I'm very interestend in any method useful to unchaining my creativity because not only in music, my head tends to block creative thinking.

It would be great to get some information about any of this stuff!


Greetings,

Musicologist

The first step would probably be to learn basic meditation techniques. From there, I might also recommend researching Astral Projection as well. Those techniques would be essential to getting started, in my opinion. (Which is funny because there is a goa trance band named Astral Projection that I listen to a lot haha)

What instrument(s) do you play? And do you know how to read music? I ask because if you utilize some of these meditiation techniques to get your mind focused, automatic writing is the logical next step, and maybe you can start freely writing music and seeing what you can come up with.

I dabbled a it with the idea of this a while back, but I cannot read music so I did things a bit differently. Though I can't read music I can certainly read Guitar Tabulature and am capable of writing down melodies in tab even without a guitar near me, I used to do this in school when I didn't want to forget something. Since the guitar tab layout is a grid of 6 lines with a numerical possibility of 0-24 numbers each(for the 24 frets on a guitar), you could use numerology and even sigilcraft to come up with some numbers to try to put together a magickal melody.

There are many ways to be creative here. You could even get into a trance state and start Scrying for some inspiration. Keep a pencil and pad of paper close! haha.

And this would be another little nifty experimental tool for someone looking to try something new. Superimposing their own alphanumeric grid(like a version of the Golden Dawn's Rose Cross sigil creator) over a picture of the Circle Of Fifths and used to make sigils could be broken down into some interesting chords or arpeggiated patterns.

http://guitaristguitarist.com/images..._of_fifths.jpg

Info on how to use the Sigil Creator: The Rose Cross Sigil Creator


Just some ideas. I'll post more later when I can have more time to think about this stuff. The possibilities are endless!

Hi ThisIsNecessary,

Thanks for your swift reply. My main instrument is the guitar so I'm used to tabulature but quite unexperienced in writing down tabs without reference to my guitar, so this could be quite difficult. But I'll try it out.

Sheet music = No way! :D

I'm new to most of the stuff around here. I recently tried Zen-Meditation and some methods for relaxiation but that's it. I don't know much about trance and related techniques. But I'm really interested in all these things! The work with sigils seems to be an interesting way, but I'm wondering about the length of the message, the sigil should contain. Do you just use "creativity"?.

So what exactly would you recommend? I am VERY open to everything new ;)

At least I'm quite interested in what you achieved by this means. What kind of music do you play? Any records? :D



Greetings,

Musicologist

Yeah man it sounds like you are eager to learn which is awesome. I wasn't sure of your level of practice or experience, so I apologize if it seemed like I was just throwing stuff out there. But yeah that's the great thing about magick practice and experimenting with metaphysics, there is almost always a way to directly incorporate your own passions. The important thing to remember here is that magick is both a Science AND an Art. That's what makes is special, the fact you can infuse your own interests and for most, magick practice can often be a very enjoyable thing! It makes everything so much more personal and subjective.

But anyways, it sounds like you should start researching the basic studies I mentioned here before, but by no means am I saying that you should stick to those only and master them before moving on. I am of the opinion that when it comes to magick, you learn as you go, and finding which practices suit you best is a great growing point. Anyone telling you that they have mastered all aspects of occultism or magick practice are lying, I don't care what the circumstances.

You'll find that maybe you have a natural inclination to interpreting divinations(which can include Tarot, Runes, Scrying or even variations of channeling via the Ouija, among many many others), or maybe you'll be better with other techniques. You must find out what resonates with you, meaning what you enjoy and which can give you better results.

And also, it will be a good idea to start researching banishing rituals/circle castings specifically for your trance settings. Choose some to become familiar with and then you'll eventually want to make your own to best suit your needs. Its all about attaining Ritual Consciousness. Remember its your intent that triggers the magick, most other external props and ritual often only serve to get your mind in the zone, and some would say they have no inherent value at all except the power you bestow. But the bottom line is, it will be good to balance yourself through these rituals, it provides a degree of protection both externally and internally.

Now, about sigils. You must become familiar with their usage, there are many many ways to create sigils and using an pictoral template like the one I linked previously is only one method. Research the Austin Osman Spare method, that is a popular one. Yes you are correct in the idea to keep your intents as simple and direct as possible. Peter Carroll's book Liber Null & Psychonaut gives some GREAT insight into the metaphysical psychology behind some of these techniques. I consider that book required reading actually haha.

The real trick here though....after you've become familiar with some of these things, how to link them to music? A good deal of these methods are fairly modern compared to the most ancient type of mysticism; Shamanism. I implore you to check out anything you can about shamanism, both its aim and execution is often extremely simple and direct. Music is also often an interesting key element here, just imagine a tribal setting; where a campfire, emphatic group singing with hypnotic percussion(and sometimes with a little Entheogenic assistance...) can produce trance like states, visions/halucinations, Out Of Body Experiences and the like. This is some of the earliest techniques known to be used in our world to delve into the depths of trance and the worlds that can be unlocked.

Start simple, and set small goals. Work up to growing comfortable with some of these things and I am sure you will be able to incorporate music into something even more special!

Thanks for this short introduction into the topic, I really appreciate that. There seems to be no "easy" answer to my original question so I'll to get myself through this stuff, sounds very interesting.

But there's one thing I don't understand. How do you think could astral projection be useful to increase creativity or rather the ability to play music?

hello, musicologist,
i am also a fellow musician/composer. I know what you're talking about.

First off, and this is purely individual in nature, so take it or don't, energy is the key to everything. The more energy, the deeper you can go. Trance is all about depth. Deeper, Musicologist, Deeper. You don't even need to sit down in the dark to do this, nor do you need quiet. Environment, while it can be helpful if absolutely needed for physical stimulant, has nothing to do with matters of this kind. When doing this, you're going to transcend any kind of environmental factors. I tend to go so deep that using a pencil at all is out of the question. To combat this, I record as i write. It allows me to ditch the worry and stress and time it takes to work on a piece. I just work, conscious and unconscious at the same time, and don't worry about anything else, such as 'dammit, pen's out of ink.' This is, mind you, musical arrangement only. Lyrics are another topic entirely.

to begin your trance, FORGET EVERYTHING, focus only on sound. Lock yourself away if you must, but secure your uninterrupted session. Toss the phone, lock the doors, and (this is a big one) remain alone.
Play. If you've successfully took the above courses of action, there should be no stresses or worries (including 'why can't i write!?'). Again, focus on sound. Tone is where the power lies. Music is, in my opinion, the greatest of all human accomplishments, and in each and every instrument, there lies an opportunity for total submersion. Allow tones to penetrate your subconscious.
If it helps, start out by playing something simple, something repetitive. Low tones work best for me when i begin the submersion process, but everyone is different. I encourage you to play single tones/chords, closing your eyes if you must to lock out everything but the instruments 'voice'. That voice will lead you down. I promise, it will. Listen to it, hear it, and sink deeper. If you feel strange emotions (fear, grief, happiness) hold onto it, no matter how much it scares or repels you. The emotions may strengthen, but as I said, emotions raise energy. Energy takes you deeper.

The funny thing about trance composition is that, while you're in a trance, you won't know it. You'll only know that you've been trancing after you snap out of it, a finished composition in your hand and a giant black spot in your memory of the last few hours.
If you are thinking of anything other than the project at hand (literally, whatever instrument is in your hands), you're not trancing.

Also, what ThisIsNecessary said is valuable as well, which only proves, it's unique to you alone as is the method you use to arrive. Don't know if this helps at all, but best wishes, friend.

Good words Priest. I wonder how many other musicians we have here who have tried to incorporate this kind of thing, and what methods are used. This is the greatest thing about the occult community, everybody does things differently and there is always room to learn and expand, if not just for the innocence of curiosity.

Oh and to answer a previous question of yours Musicologist; I enjoy listening to many different styles of music but when I play guitar I stick with the extreme sides of metal(death metal, grindcore, thrash etc.) and although its a weird match I really enjoy playing melodic acoustic stuff, akin to the styles of Antoine Dufour or Andy Mckee, and even the styles of Days Of The New or the Smiths...all big influences on me. And dammit if I had the talent I'd trade it ALL in to be able to play Classical guitar. I fingerpick alot but have not yet fully grasped classical styles, though I love to listen to the works of Christopher Parkening and Graham Anthony Devine. Pure genius if you ask me...it works well to give me a break after jamming out to Tool and Cannibal Corpse haha.

Results? I have tried a few musical sigilization techniques that came out quite atonal and dissonant, which doesn't bother me a bit, as those can still serve as great finger exercises and with enough repetition, like Priest mentioned, it can really get you 'in the zone' so to speak. Some of them served their purpose but because of my schedule at the time I did not pursue the lengthy experiments like I wished I could.

Now that I think about it, it would be interesting to try taking some of those melodies and adding extra tracks and mixing it down as if it were a regular song. Also, there is the added issue of rhythm. One might be able couple numerology with the use of polyrhythms and odd time signatures. I never took lessons, I taught myself and learned by ear with great results because I stuck to it, but unfortunately I am no wizard when it comes to dissecting time signatures...I just feel out the rhythms by ear and memorize the riffs without actually knowing what the technical classification of time signature that I am in. Whatever works I guess.

Musicologist, please update us on any ideas or results you may get in the future regarding any part of your experiments, as I never really hear about this kind of thing nowadays. Good luck!

Thanks for posting these ideas...been stuck in a musical rut lately feeling like I'm banging my head into brick walls instead of the air:)...this has got me thinking of 10 things to try already...cheers.

Ok, thanks for you replies first. I spent some time now on trying out the ideas mentioned above and it seems like I will have enough work for some months now ;)

I purchased a Cajon ( a quite simple percussion instrument ) and will start researching the power of rhythm. I seem to get into a trancelike state of mind after playing the same note on my guitar for about 20 minutes which appears to be one second when you're really into it. When this is done I'm much more productive than at any other time.

Another thing which prooved ( superficially ) useful to me is to meditate about different emotions. Normally I get an idea when my mind is affected by emotions, so why don't reverse this effect and activate creative thinking by concentration on an emotion? I sit comfortable and ask myself the same questions for half an hour e.g. " What is melancholy? How does melancholy feel? ".

So, there really are a lot of things to try out!

@priest: Thanks for your detailed description, helped me a lot!

@thisisnecessary: I read some things about sigils now and wonder about why at all transfering sigils into music? As far as I've understood the procedure you should make a sigil, try to get it into you head using a modified state of mind like trance and then: forget it! When you start converting the sigil structure, you just think of it every second. Or do you mean, it's easier to "let it in" when it's music? In this point I still encounter the problem that I don't really forget music, it just comes up from time to time. But perhaps this differs from person to person!

Ok people, I'll keep you informed on my results but I'm also interested in everything you achieve!



Greetings,

Musicologist