Music For Meditation

Meditation/Relaxation describes the conscious act of achieving a more tranquil, introspective state of mind by attempting to let go of thoughts and worries. There are many forms of meditation. Some involve sitting motionless, some involve chanting. In clinical work with a patient, the music therapist may use music to create a holding space and to help induce a calmer state of mind. 

Intuitively we understand that the music we use to assist a meditation should not be too exciting.  It should gently flow, have a low, rich sonority, avoid stark contrasts and the pattern of building up and then releasing tension that comes with dynamic harmonic change. 

At the same time, we want to make sure to make the music interesting and stimulating enough that it is not perceived as bland, monotone, unimaginative. Like the meditation state itself, balanced between wakefulness and sleep, the properties of music should be neither dull nor stimulating.

 Musical Properties:

Tempo: just below the normal resting heartbeat, so 50 to 60 bpm.

Rhythm: no syncopation, no changing rhythmic patterns, gentle, undulating.

Melody: stepwise motion, no clear melody, but rather arpeggiated patterns.

Harmony: circular movement, no clearly defined cadences, i.e. no dominant-tonic resolution. The movement should be predictable and open, not a harmonic stasis, but a slow oscillation between tonic and subdominant. The harmonic change should be hinted at. 

Sound: deep, rich, sonorous, well-balanced. Guitar voicings that contain intervals of minor and major seconds within the voicing are particularly pleasant and sonorous to the ear. 

Right Hand: using fingertips will produce less attack, and a warmer, smoother timbre.

Left Hand: in order to produce some of the minor/major second intervals within the chord voicing, you may have to stretch more than you would normally want to.

MAR Ex. # 1

Pedal: Above are two arpeggios, each lasting two beats. The note A is struck as a pedal tone on the down beat of every bar. This anchors the music. 

Harmony: While every bar starts with the pedal A, the harmony is subtly changing. Really only one note changes, the E, the fifth in the A major chord, moves up in stepwise motion to the F#. This is suggestive of a subdominant shift from A to D, or A to Bmin. 

Extended chord tones: Also notice that there is no third in that first tonic chord. Instead, the open B string provides a gentle harmonic richness, an add 2 chord extension. 

Pivotal notes: notice how the open B and E string provide an ostinato figure. There is a sense of being anchored by these notes not changing while below them the harmony shifts from tonic to subdominant and back. 

MAR Ex. #2

In this continuation of the piece, we create a shift by moving up on the G and D string. The pedal A and ostinato B and E, all open strings ringing out, stays the same.

Notice we now have a major 3rd in the first tonic chord. When we move to the subdominant, we move in a smooth, stepwise motion. The second chord is more suggestive of a B min because of the prominence of the B, played both on the D string at the 9th fret and on the open B string. 

Notice how we now have a stepwise change in melodic direction in these arpeggios, adding interest and motion.   

MAR Ex. #3

Moving further up the neck in stepwise fashion, we continue our inverting the tonic and subdominant chords of A major. The open B and E strings act like pivotal notes, changing meaning as the underlying harmonies shift. 

We retain the rich sound of a major second interval within both voicings. 

MAR, The Whole Sequence.

Here is the entire short piece, just moving up and down the neck, always shifting between tonic and subdominant.

You may notice that in the videos, I'm using my own picking pattern. Classic classical guitar technique would normally prescribe just alternating index and middle fingers, however, I think that you should do what your comfortable with. In the above example I hit the A and D strings with my thumb, and then the G string with my index, the B string with my middle finger, and the high E string with my ring finger.

Mar, alternate picking pattern

A more varied rhythm, with the bass notes on beats 1 and 3. See below the picking pattern for the first four bars. 

p = thumb, i = index, m = middle finger, a = ring finger

exercise # 1;

Create your own MAR pattern. You can choose a different key, say, C Major. You may want to pick chord fingerings that feature open strings to create a more sustained and open sound.