Unlike present western music whose aim is to entertain, the aim of traditional classical music of the East, such as that of China, is to touch the heart and bring spiritual elevation. Liu Fang, a classical virtuosa of the Pipa has well observed the relationship between Chinese painting and music as she states, "In traditional Chinese painting, the empty parts are very important too in order to give the whole painting life." In classical music "Each phrase is one sentence followed by a certain silence in such a way that the variety of pipa sounds and the silences ... are combined harmoniously in forming the sound poetry." (Please click the image to hear a sample of Liu Fang, Night of the Full Moon on the River) The silence in music has a deep aspect. "Music in the East, including the Eastern Christian world, is basically a melody and rhythm with no mathematical harmony or counterpoint. The 'drone' gives the reality of cyclical timelessness that roots man in the presence of something eternal and unchangeable, through which the peripheral and the changeable pass." (George A. Maloney, Inward stillness, Dimension Books, Inc., Denville, NJ, 1976, p. 16)

Max Picard has well written, "In prayer the region of the lower human silence come into higher relation with the higher silence of God."

This is doubly true of Gregorian Chant. Listening to Gregorian Chant especially in a monastic setting uplifts the human spirit to a timeless dimension. "And it is this depth dimension that is like the now dimension of time. Here, time is not conceived as running out, but rising like water in a well, rising to the fullness of time which is now.

(Please click the image to hear the Gloria sung in Latin by the Benedictine Monks of Solemsmes.)

Under the History of Gregorian Chant on the Solesmes web site we read the following:

"At first hearing, Gregorian chant might seem monotonous. Undoubtedly it disconcerts our modern ears, accustomed to more contrasted music, but often less profound. In reality the Gregorian repertory is a complex world which unites several centuries of musical history. It is in fact a world of astonishing variety which mysteriously approximates almost delirious enthusiasm as well as the most delicate interior realities. It is a paradoxical world where music blooms amid silence."

 

8. The Unselfconscious Soul

 

 

 

 

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