Sound, Mind and Body Chart

A medical record of sound, mind and body - Tomoyoshi Date

Part 1: "Music and Breathing Part 1"

For some reason, some of my musical works have been categorized as ambient music, and while I once felt uncomfortable with the ambient category, I've recently come to feel less resistant to it. I think this is because in the '90s, when I started making music without rhythm tracks or clear melodies like the ones I make now, the ambient music advocated by Brian Eno in the late '70s was often confused with healing music. That trend may still exist today, but whenever I say I'm making ambient music, I'm met with an unspoken response: "Oh, that vague, unassuming background music."

Healing and ambient music are similar in that they both demand something downer—music that brings tranquility through sound—the complete opposite of the uplifting, uplifting feeling desired in most other types of music. But there's a clear difference. I think that's what listeners of ambient music sense. If I remember correctly, Eno described the difference as whether or not there's "breath." In my own words, ambient music has "breath." This is inherent in the sound itself, but the very nature of its existence is intimately related. Breathing and ambient music have a very deep connection.

"Breathing" is an extremely special and important part of human life activities. In the world of emergency medicine, the ABCs of checking a person who has lost consciousness and collapsed are first to check the airway and breathing, which are related to breathing, before checking circulation, which is related to the heart rate. No matter how normal the heart rate is, human life cannot be sustained without breathing. In traditional Chinese medicine, breathing and exhalation are also considered important as the channels through which various forms of "ki" enter and exit, and they are vital activities that allow us to experience the traditional Chinese medical relationship between the mind and body related to "ki" in actual clinical settings.

For example, in Western medicine, the condition known as "hyperventilation syndrome" occurs when anxiety or fatigue makes it difficult to control breathing. Sustained rapid breathing, exceeding the normal rate of 20 breaths per minute, leads to excessive carbon dioxide release from the body, which causes the blood's pH to become alkaline and leads to numbness in the hands and feet. This condition frequently results in ambulance transport. Western medicine treats symptoms by encouraging deep breathing to reduce breathing, sometimes using anti-anxiety medications, or the "paperback method," which involves re-inhaling exhaled carbon dioxide (though this is no longer generally recommended). However, there is no fundamental cure. In contrast, in Eastern medicine, this condition is called "qi reversal," and although breathing and oxygen are being taken in normally, the "qi" is flowing backward, causing anxiety as if air is not being taken in (anxiety itself is caused by qi reversal or qi stagnation). Herbal medicines such as Hange Koubokuto, which actually treat qi reversal, can work effectively within minutes. The initial treatment for people who suffer from recurrent hyperventilation syndrome is mainly to use this medication while also providing advice on improving their diet, which can help prevent recurrences.

It may seem obvious, but "breathing" has been considered the most important of human life activities throughout history, both in the East and the West. However, its importance is rarely discussed, especially in materialistic scientific settings where the relationship between mind and body is considered too separate. This is partly because our awareness of breathing has become dulled by its everyday existence, and partly because we have been overly influenced by Western medical information that sees breathing as "nothing more than oxygen supply." Since ancient times, particularly in the East, breathing has been considered important in terms of both physical and mental aspects.

The unique feature of breathing is that we can participate in it by focusing our awareness on it. Of the many involuntary movements that all humans perform constantly, breathing is the most vital life activity that can be voluntarily altered. Furthermore, breathing is of great significance as the interface between the human body and mind. As mentioned above, breathing can be influenced by the mind, and it has been scientifically proven that breathing can influence the mind. Simply put, the human autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic nervous system, which is in a combat state, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which is in a resting state. Until recently, Western medicine used carotid artery massage to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and lower heart rate as a way to suppress supraventricular tachycardia. By the same logic, deep breathing is believed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, slow heart rate, and soothe the mind. In modern life, where the sympathetic nervous system tends to dominate, breathing is often used to calm the mind. For this purpose, abdominal breathing, which occurs during sleep, is more effective than chest breathing because it activates the parasympathetic nervous system.

I've digressed a bit, but this way of being of the vital activity of breathing, which occurs somewhere between voluntary and involuntary, "unconsciously in our daily lives, but which we can become involved in if we turn our attention to it," is similar to the way ambient music "is," music as an environment. Ambient music was originally born in pursuit of this way of being.

There's a well-known anecdote about Erik Satie, the father of ambient music, who was playing at a party and said, "Please don't listen to my music." What prompted Satie to say this? I believe it arose from a dilemma between his concern about the negligence of self-affirmation inherent in the act of expression itself and his desire to engage in dialogue as an artist. When considering the relationship between humans and music and sound, especially the sounds that underlie our living environments, this request, "Please don't listen to my music," holds great significance.

Expression, when directed toward an unspecified other, inherently contains a certain element of self-affirmation. Satie, who particularly resisted formality and authority and was strongly influenced by mysticism and Eastern thought, sincerely confronted the discomfort inherent in the act of expression itself, and I believe this led him to arrive at the concept of music as an element of the "environment," like furniture—music without a self. The anger that Buddhism calls for complete abolition always lies behind self-affirmation. It seems perfectly natural to me that Satie, as well as John Cage and Eno, the founders of ambient music, were drawn to Eastern thought. However, the act of exchange is essential for human beings, and expression is impossible without dialogue with others. Furthermore, musical expression, compared to other forms of art, faces the unique challenge of being unavoidably more invasive of those present.

When Satie said, "Don't listen to my music," he meant to create a dialogue between his own expression and the space occupied by those who were not in the audience—that is, those not listening to the music—and to achieve a mutual penetration between music and space. While "don't listen" was a form of coercion, in an era before the culture and technology of recording media for "sound source" playback had become widespread, the preconceived notion of listening to music—when the music began, that is, when the musician began playing—was even stronger than it is today. It was probably necessary to free the audience from this preconceived notion. In fact, when "Furniture Music" was performed during the intermission, the program stated, "Please do not listen to the music played during the intermission..." Even when Satie called out, "Keep talking!" as the performance began, everyone apparently sat quietly and listened. This liberation from convention could also be called an attempt at Eastern philosophy.

With such origins, ambient music can be said to be a type of music that seeks a breathing-like existence, one that flows in the background but goes unnoticed in everyday life, only becoming aware of its presence when one turns their attention to it. This idea was given a clearer direction by the words "mutual penetration without interference" of D.T. Suzuki, who was strongly influenced by John Cage. I believe that this concept of mutual penetration (the dialogue and uncertainty generated by the work) without interference (self-assertion and self-affirmation) is an important element in the lineage of ambient music from Satie to the present day. This leads us to the question of the nature of ambient music live performances and works, but we'll discuss that in a future article.