One Note And The Single Sound

One Note

by James Wilkie

& The Single Sound

T h e M e l o d y A p o t h e c a r y [~] I s s u e # 0 2 Methods for a sound imagination

“ I n t h e b e g i n n i n g w a s t h e Wo r d , a n d t h e Wo r d w a s w i t h G o d , a n d t h e Wo r d w a s G o d . ” [John 1:1]

Oṃ The primordial sound associated with the creation of the universe from nothing; “These theories were based on the hypothesis that all the matter in the universe was created in one big bang at a particular time in the remote past” - The Big Bang Theory

The concept of a single sound is clearly an important one to humankind.

One word, One everlasting primordial drone from nothing, and one Big Bang; every one of these is a single sound.

And yet, how much care is ever given to a single one?

A b o u t t h i s Wo r k This work examines methods to harness intention for one sound.

Take one thought Or one Feeling,

M ake One breath

Through it.

In a word:

We j u s t p e r f o r m e d c a r i n g f o r one sound with intention, so to speak.

Too simple? Too little? Too completely silly? *clap* Come closer; please listen closely:

The sea wind is described as a single sound.

And yet, it is the artefact of everything it touches on the way to your ear.

Then “one sound” is the end sum of series of sounds? One full circle Is one really always two?

In Carnatic music, a “Dhrutham” counts two beats. As the hand taps (“ta”) and turns on itself (“ka”) against the fixed palm of the other hand, it forms a circle: I stood by the sea to study what happened inside one Dhrutham: Seagulls

Cars passing by the seafront Ta

The wind

Ka moving pebbles Labradoodle chasing

Squinting The sea waves against the shore

Thinking thinking thoughts ‘Two the wind’, Hastings 15.01.2021

What then of one breath?

Your past, present, and your wishful future; Your anxieties through the depth of it, Your breath touches and traces all that your body is holding.

And of one handclap?

The edges of a body diary: everything your hands have held, broken and set in a single sound.

Notice the intention placed inside the breath and clap forming the varying qualities of the sound.

At a Bazaar, an old Turkish musician is playing one note all the time on his oud, and all these other characters are performing extraordinary feats of virtuasity around him. A few members of the audience come up to the master who’s playing his one note slowly on the oud, and say:

“Why are you only playing this one note, look at all these other great players.”

And the old master says:

“They’re still looking for their note. I have found mine.”

One for the Musical Imagination Imagine one gentle and resonant bell. listen for the softest note peeling from this bell.

Notice the texture of this sound, gentle like a smoothed beach pebble,

Turning the texture to that of a cat’s tongue, velcro.

Let the note slowly move around you, against you, above you, behind you.

Bristtling up against youLet it fall down your throat.

With care, begin making the sound from your mind’s ear with your own breath.

Utter your imagination in this way: externalise it, build your mind’s ear through this sound-bridge between two worlds.

If you have made one sound count this in way, you have made your imagination count also:

You have given it intention and evidence of its existence.

A single sound is proof of life.

Proof of so so much that you have to offer; That belongs to you.

Afterword

How does one begin to sing new sounds and melodies?

Imagine one sound as clearly as possible. Imagine caring for it until you really do. Other sounds will want to grow from fertile grounds.

Caring for one is plenty: the rest will flow from it.

[~] James Wilkie. St Leonards-on-Sea, Jan.2021.

Further Reading Dunn, D., 1998. Purposeful Listening In Complex States of Time: Ferriss, T., 2016. Tools Of Titans. London: Vermilion Press.

Oliveiros, P., 2005. Sonic Meditations. Lincoln, USA: iUniverse Toop, D., 2018. Ocean Of Sound. London: Serpent’s Tail.

About the Author James Wilkie is a musician seeking the good life through sound.