The Tao of Music Tip Number 13

                               

                                "The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang.
                                           They achieve harmony by combining these forces."

Before we start, let's review some of the basics of Taoism, and specifically the concepts of yin and yang. This is extremely necessary to help us unlock the secret of how to "achieve harmony by combining these forces."

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin-yang is used to describe how seemingly opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world. Many natural "opposites" such as dark and light, female and male, low and high are considered, in Taoism, as yin-yang. Yin and yang are complementary opposites within a greater whole. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, which constantly interact, never existing in absolute stasis.

Yin is black, female, receptive, yielding, negative, and nurturing. It is associated with night, valleys, rivers, streams, water, metal, and earth. Yang is white, male, active, dominating, positive, and initiating/creating. Yang is associated with day, mountains, hills, fire, wood, and air. Winter is yin to summer's yang, and femininity is yin to masculinity's yang in human relationships. Yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed. Yin is usually characterized as slow, soft, insubstantial, diffuse, cold, wet, and tranquil. It is generally associated with the feminine, birth and generation, and with the night. In contrast, yang is characterized as hard, fast, solid, dry, focused, hot, and aggressive. It is associated with masculinity and daytime.

The interaction of the two gives birth to things. A race with only men or only women would disappear in a single generation, but men and women together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. Every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. Yin-yang is not an actual substance or force. Instead, it is a universal way of describing the interactions and interrelations of the natural forces that do occur in the world.

Yin-yang is balanced. Yin-yang is a dynamic equilibrium. Because they arise together they are always equal, so if one disappears, the other must disappear as well, leaving emptiness. Yin and yang are thought to arise together from emptiness symbolized by an empty circle, and to continue moving together until that emptiness is reached again. For instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will raise waves and lower troughs between them. It is this alternation of high and low points in the water that will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once again.

Thanks to this introduction we can now address how all of this applies to the composition of music. You should have noticed as you were reading along that there were several stressed (indicated with italics) ideas. For the remaining article these are the ideas I will discuss in greater depth.

First, the idea that music consists of complementary opposites and never exists in a state of stasis will be taken up. In Music Art, this may only seem too obvious, yet everyday there are hour long broadcasts on the radio of songs, which do not put this idea into practice. It is all too frequent to hear music whose message is directed toward a female or male element, songs consisting of single and fixed emotions, lyrics which are un-poetic, music that is lacking in dynamic expression, rhythms so retarding to a fuller exploration of motion, on and on. Therefore, to implement the concept of yin-yang in our music, we must break free of rhythmic stagnation and musically challenge the audience and ourselves as Music Artists to expand the quality of sound, navigate much wider sections of the sound spectrum, and allow our listeners to really partake of the medium of sound, which we can offer them. Technically, this refers to more daring uses of the major/minor dichotomy; uses of, mixing, and combining of divergent rhythms, alternate tuning techniques, and more unusual forms of vocal delivery and expression. In other words, what you want to is more intensely tap into musical interpretations of yin and yang characteristics. (Refer to the Tao basics above.)

A deeper look into these preliminary ideas suggests how yin and yang gradually trade places, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed through the interaction of the two. Furthermore, we can begin to see how every advance ought to be complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. When attempting to compose in this fashion, where these ideas serve as a guide to accomplish awesome feats of sound chemistry, an open and playful attitude must be maintained. As we all know when we mix two substances thoroughly together, we get a murky combination where the qualities of each are muddled. Hence, do not make the mistake of assuming that I am advocating this approach. I am actually a lover of simple but asymmetrical rhythms, simple but lush melodies, and simple song forms.

So the point here is not to go all out and muddle your music by obscuring it. No! The Tao of Music approach in its essence teaches us to reveal what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed. This means that you want to become more of an illusionist with sound. Make a song in a major key musically struggle against a minor key to create tension, and perhaps resolving the tension on a chord NOT in either key. Or how about confusing the meter of the piece along the way by changing meters throughout the verse or between the verse and chorus? You can also play with the tempo--counteracting fast and slow throughout the song or music. (Refer to the Tao basics above.) All of these examples can be employed with great success. And they each illustrate the way yin and yang characteristics can be embedded in a composition of music to express greater emotionality, the songwriter's musicianship, and most importantly the larger spectrum of sound. The goal in using these forces in our music works to accomplish the Tao of Music by an effective use of "every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall."