One of the choices I made early in the process of composing “Earth” was to include choirs and voices.
Human Voices
First came metal and wood. (See my previous post here for that story.) But I intuitively knew that I wanted human voices. Having written and reflected on this piece, I now know that their role in this music is twofold: bringers of destruction and bringers of hope.
We human beings are such a mixed bag. Sometimes, we do so much that’s creative and upbuilding. Other times, we are so destructive. That’s certainly the case with how we’ve treated the earth.
The Earth
Now, a wise person will say: “But you’re writing about the element earth, not the planet.” I decided to compose from inspirations of both of these. In fact, I find that they intermingle easily and deeply in my mind.
First, there’s the element. Think “soil”, “ground”, or “earthy”. I love the feel of rich soil under my feet and under my fingernails. It’s beautiful.
Still, I can’t help but extend from this elemental earth to The Earth which is the source of soil and many other good things. Even more, when I think of ground, grounding, grounded, the connection with The Earth is powerful as well. One only has to step outside in order to get a sense of how The Earth supports and upholds us.
Back to Voices
With or without words, we can sing our connection with earth and The Earth. We ground ourselves — preferably on earth — in order to vocalize. That groundedness inspires many of our songs.
Though earth (elemental and the planet) is the source of so much nourishment, we have often destroyed it. Our overuse, clearcutting, pollution, and other forms of devastation often seem rampant.
Be Better
On the flip side, people are so often a source of hope. When we care for earth and The Earth, it often brings out the best in us.
These and many other thoughts and inspirations will be what I am trying to capture in “Earth”. It’s elemental.
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Hi Stan.
Last year, having bought a very nice Solfeggio scale tuning fork collection with nine frequencies, it noted that they can be individually linked and used with/by connecting to the body Chakras. Gregorian chant uses this scale too. Although, as you are a very insightful guy regarding music, you probably know this. As each fork has an individual note produced that has specific target effects on various parts of the body and mind, it may be of interest to you to look at this area of sound. Especially with the human connection to Earth as you say here.
There is also a lovely book by Janie Everett called ‘The Healing Power of Sound’ regarding sound as a healing therapy. ‘Listening to nature in the simple moments to soothe the soul’ as it says on the back cover.
It may be inspirationally useful.
Cheers and all the best.