As it’s the end of science week, it seems like a good moment to talk about sympathy. Sympathy and vibration.
When I have a new student, it’s always good to impress them with a bit of sorcery on the cello or the viola. After I’ve made the student settled and happy, I take my instrument and ask the student if they’d like to see some music magic.
Crikey, who says no to that question?
I play a C, ideally in its perfect spot, on my G string and ask the student to watch my lowest string, the C string, an octave lower than the C I’m playing. I know you’re beginning to figure this out, but to see it happening is really like magic. As I play my higher C, the lower C string starts moving on its own! The more perfectly I play my C, the more the lower C moves, without me touching it with my bow at all. This is a harmonic phenomenon called Sympathetic Vibration. It deserves capitalisation, right?
Einstein, yes Albert, once said that everything in life is vibration. Every single thing in the universe vibrates at some level. Even your boss. Our own bodies have a vibration, apparently at about 10hz and these vibrations van be used for good, as in kinesiology, for various medical treatments, or for bad, with the bizarre accusations of sonic weapons in some countries. Which could make me think of another viola joke, but on second thoughts, couldn’t.
And what about the vibrations we feel from our friends, or people we really like? Have you ever had that moment when you meet someone and it just feels good? At a very deep level? Somehow calming, or thrilling? Or disturbing? I’ve certainly met a couple of people who seemed to have a sinister feeling to them, but I’ve met so many more people who give off a vibration of complete delight.
So when we listen to music, maybe, apart from the memories of the music, the tune, the harmonies of the timbre, just maybe it’s the actual vibrations coming in that are making us feel good? As we go from vinyl to CDs to mp3s, have you noticed that the music doesn’t get inside you in quite the same way? And that being at a concert, with those vibrations coming at you live, is a totally different experience from listening to music on the radio?
You can try the sympathetic vibration experiment at home. Take two wine glasses, preferably the same, fill them about half way with water (or have them half empty, your call), make them ring with your wet thumb, and make sure they ring at the same pitch. Once they are, take a matchstick or cocktail stick from your mate’s margarita and balance it on one glass rim. Put the glasses close to each other, but not touching. Start to vibrate one glass, and watch what happens with the match stick on the other.
This is what is happening in music ALL THE TIME. No wonder we love it so much.
Who’s giving you good vibrations?
Ed Ayres presents Weekend Breakfast on ABC Classic (Saturday and Sunday 6am – 9am). He also presents The Art Show on RN (Wednesday 10am).