(Approaching a research project)

Even before the first signs of light appear on the horizon to assure us of the coming of a new day, a concerto of sounds greets us at dawn, announcing and celebrating the constant movement and progression of nature, the incessant wheeling of the cycles, the rhythmic song of time.

The Auroville soundscape reveals itself out of the hush of the night with the first call of a bird – in a discernable descending minor third – the hum and chirps of the waking insects busy life, a rooster in the neighbourhood,  filtered through the thick canopy of lush green some traffic noise from the nearby village road embedding a muezzin’s call, and from afar, 5 miles down the eastern slope of he plateau, carried by the coastal winds from the Bay of Bengal, the murmuring drone of the rolling waves ...… and sure enough out there in the east : the rising sun, a new dawn !

While many of the inhabitants here use the atmosphere of the breaking of a new day for a contemplative, rejuvenating activity, the legends tell us of that awe inspiring moment of the rising sun and its experience by the early humans, the occurrence of a first ‘wonderful’ response, a ‘sound’ expression of oneness, unisono with the play and movement of the worlds.

It’s a long journey from these primal beginnings right into the midday of the age of communication, and one can trace and follow the path of this sound evolution, hearing it reflected in the various means and ways of ‘ sound-making’ and discover its parallel relation to the development of human consciousness and culture.

Fortunate enough for our sound-research – the basis outline of which we are trying to present and describe in the limited space of this brief article – we still can find, observe, record and analyse all the different stages of this evolution of human expression through the simultaneously present diversity of developmental layers of the unfolding of human culture.

Moreover do we find in the growth and course of a single human life a clear delineation of these stages of sound perception and vocal expression. An array of recent international research of the last decades in the field of prenatal perception and linguistic and musical beginnings of the child is deepening the understanding of the growth of this existential human faculty.

Now it is clear that we are entering herewith an unlimited field of investigation of original knowledge of creation and its processes. For the sake of a comprehensive research a focus has to be chosen through differentiation, the question be defined and a strategy of a step by step process elaborated if we would like to gain a deeper insight into the postulated query.

It is obvious that by getting involved in a research activity within the Auroville context, the basic premise is already layed out through the raison d’etre of the AV-project which, if we agree, is a laboratory of a conscious, co-creative r-evolutionary process in which we are invited to willingly serve, constantly progress, bridging the past and the future, taking advantage of all the discoveries and to participate in “a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.” We can assume that researches here are not undertaken primarily to produce study material adding to the mass of ‘academic storage’ – gracefully enough the invention of the microchip allows us a compact and much more easily available and recyclable version of the amazing collection of data, documentation, thesis and antithesis and profound studies and synthesis. Nor is research in Auroville motivated as in a high percentage in the materialistic oriented world by commercial and military interests and projection.

Let us see then how our subject of “sound evolution”  relates to the given points of The Charter.:
“material and spiritual researches” :the means and methods must be both outward and inward, statistical and experiential, rational and intuitive, productive and inner growth oriented , practical and inspiring - in one word :holistic.
“for a living embodiment”: the outcomes and results are there for something alive, active, and dynamic (in contrast to the above mentioned paper and letter product), evolving, unfolding, in one word: progressive.

“of an actual Human Unity” : the research is asked to actualize itself (“from fact to act”), to manifest an activity or state of being which expresses and embodies the next stage of human evolution, an expanded, globalized consciousness of oneness and unity of human beings.

Having introduced the subject and staked out the background we can now proceed in defining the actual focus and aim of the investigation. This is done by a narrowing down of the vast field - using a specific micro- or macro lens to intensify the view – into a clear path and hopefully untrodden track, if we are ready to undergo the adventures of a novel field research, which steps out of a mere descriptive compilation of the known into the exploration of the unknown.

Out of the total realm of sound – which is according to many wisdom traditions the whole creation – we choose only musical expression ( and leave amongst others the whole field of language and linguistics behind to which another of our Av-research colleagues is deeply dedicated –see article in the last issue) ; continuing the selective process we are interested within the amazing variety of musical culture with the origin and genesis of sound relating to matter, the materials the sound-makers, the instruments. Even if the discoveries of the electronic field offer us a sheer infinite possibility of re-producing sound, we choose to stay with primal, immediate ‘un-plugged’ sound production, so that we could understand and experience more directly the nature and dynamics of sound.

To stay aligned with one of the stated purposes of Auroville we again choose to inquire about this sound –sources and music-making in relation to the evolutionary process, in this case to the field of education and personal growth, and arrive hereby –after sharing the necessary steps of our approach- at the specified arena and title of the submitted and accepted research proposal under the faculty of Arts, Crafts and Technology: INSTRUMENTS FOR A NEW MUSIC PEDAGOGY.
The formulation of a clear question helped us further to define the direction and course of the investigation:  “How can the auditory awareness and musical understanding of the growing child - irrespective of its culture of origin – be enhanced through the use of new musical instruments?”

Of course with the raising of a question many counter-questions can be stimulated and the first one we had been challenged by the selection committee to answer was: “Why is it important to investigate this question?”
 
Let’s see?!–or rather listen carefully! We are quoting some arguments from the proposal:
-The sense of hearing has according to many different wisdom traditions always been considered as the subtlest and deepest reaching sense and its training and development was of prime importance in all models of a holistic education.
-The development of the auditory sense (its reintegration after 2000 years of mental and therefore predominately visual evolution) is a key point in the change of consciousness. (“The sense of sound is a sense of depth, sense of sight a sense of surface”)
-The initiatory training in auditory awareness has been found to be helpful in the deepening of the attention and perception of the child and increases the concentration span; ‘listening-quality’ and  receptivity for ‘the unknown’( the ‘vibrational’ in contrast to the apparent material reality), a contemplative faculty are furthered and imagination and spontaneous creativity are richly stimulated.

Opening through this to the importance of a specially trained sense of hearing in child development one still can argue about the necessity of a musical understanding and the question of what the diverse musical cultures have to offer for education and which instruments and practises would be favourable to introduce in a new approach. Here we have this to offer:

-The primal components of sound-perception are universal and archetypal and independent of cultural conditionings (like for instance mathematical parameters) and their comprehension can contribute towards the development of a unified global understanding and common vocabulary of human expression.

- Traditional Instruments in conventional music education need a high degree of specialisation and long years of practise, whereas the creation of  a new instrumentarium - covering the full range of  the musical evolution of humanity-offers an immediate contact and experiential and creative learning to everyone independent of  age, talent or disposition .


So how would we go about exploring an answer to the postulate question, what would be the methodology?
    For the first year the focus is on research, experimentation and development of new musical instruments in the facility and with the trainees of SVARAM –Vocational Training and Research Station through:
exploration of sound sources and – material
understanding acoustic principles
introduction to the science of harmonics
auditory awareness, intonation and vocal training
comparative study of the classification of instruments in classical texts and modern musicology
the craft of instrument building and the art of tuning

Having explored and constructed a basic set of instruments and being trained in their use and application, two selected pilot groups ( possibly in Transition, Isai Ambalam and the Kindergarten) would be introduced to the work and experience and data would be collected through weekly classes and monthly feedback and training sessions with the teachers.

At the same time a group of volunteer adults, teachers, can meet in the creative arts studio of the ILC –Verite to work on an experimental and improvisational basis with the instruments and gather ideas, suggestions for improvements which would feed into the ongoing process of SVARAM Research Station.

With all the collected data a revision and improved edition of an ‘ensemble‘would be worked out and tested in the formal settings of the schools and monitored in a comparative study.
The findings will be prepared and put in a communicable format.

How will the project be monitored and evaluated and what will be the outputs?
Through documentation on the work process of developing the instruments, progress will be self monitored through the experience and understanding gathered by the trainees and guided by the researcher and the craft resource person.
Investigation on pre-musical education in the selected school before the introduction of the new material and classes
Feedback and input from the children and the adult group
Comparative studies on the class working with the material and another (same age group) which is not exposed or follows a conventional method
The full impact can only be evaluated in years to come after successful adoption of the new learning material and method

The research is focusing on the specific requirements of Integral Education in relation to this new music pedagogy. With its findings unique learning and teaching material         ( musical instruments and sound makers ) for primal music education can be developed and tested in AV-schools and the new methods integrated in the curriculum, be a model for other similar institutions in India and abroad. This will contribute towards the reintegration of a deeper sense of listening and the place of sound and music into the so predominately visual settings of the schools of our modern culture.

One last question remains, covering the motivation, why to undergo and take-up a specified research within the context of Sadhana, the deepening progress in life, the Yoga, and why do stress so much on sound and music?
    In the Integral Yoga artistic activity and expression is recognised as a valuable means to further the individual progress of a psychic enfoldment and spiritual realisation and we would like to add here two quotes from a prepared compilation on the subject to share the inner move and motivation which started us off in this direction :
    “Well, a means of expression that is superior to language and writing –that’s what has to be found.
    Question: a superior material means?
    Yes, it should be something material…
    Question: I have the impression there’s always music behind things. Music or rhythm.
    Rhythm, yes.
    Question: Perhaps that would be it?
    (Mother nods her head vigorously): Yes, yes            AG 11, 26.9.70, 130

“It was about …..the primal sound…
Question: A sound that can bring in the supramental Force?
Yes.
When this essential sound becomes a material sound, it will give birth to a new expression which will express the supramental world…..”                    AG 2. 27.1.61, 49

Having worked on this article over a quite and rainy Sunday, experiencing Auroville’s ideal ‘research set-up’, the beauty and peace of the environment, reflecting on our being here in a “ living laboratory” , feeling the gratitude of having been granted admission into this evolutionary research ‘project’ where we are simultaneously experimenters experiencing the experiment, - listening weaves a golden thread through the writing : the rhythmic pattern of the rain drops unnoticed changing into the soft breathing of the breeze, the insects untiringly adding a drone and punctuated ostinatos, adorned with minimalistic tunes of some birds, a pleroma of sounds from the distance, the background traffic with the occasional crescendo of an accelerating motorbike, a diesel engine, a barking dog in contrapoint to the duet of a pigeon couple – the late afternoon atmosphere sets in and reminds of the intricate improvisations of an early evening raga. Night will come. Night there is, rhythmically, sounding silence, carrying forward the listening sails of the town-ship, through the incertitude’s of the trials and transitions. Yet, another new dawn is promised, revealing itself in our selves, in a deep dedication:
        “Listening for a foreseen tremendous step……”

-Aurelio-