How do people use sound and music to access alternate states of consciousness and otherworldly realms? MU227 explores the connection between music, sacred soundscapes, and spiritual perception. It examines the role of sound and melody in conjuring mystical and extrasensory states of being across social and regional contexts.

How do people use sound and music to access alternate states of consciousness and otherworldly realms? This course explores the connection between music, sacred soundscapes, and spiritual perception across a range of musical practices and belief systems. Through a number of different case studies from around the world, we will investigate the essential role of sound and melody in conjuring mystical and extrasensory states of being across social and regional contexts. Our study will include environmentally-based sound explorations, where we explore techniques involving deep listening and sound painting. We will contextualize sacred and spiritual soundscapes within religious and cultural frameworks: exploring trance, possession, and intoxication from a musical perspective. Various sensorial exercises will heighten our awareness of sound and space – including breath, silence, and movement. By illuminating how sound moves within and across human bodies, we will explore how music enables transcendent experiences of ecstatic and otherworldly realms.

Also listed as: RE200