Om Mantra
by John Mooy
I recall being in my bedroom as a boy, stretched out on the bed and for whatever reason humming. It was just a constant low sound that I would make and listen to. What I didn’t know was that the Hindu people have been doing this for probably thousands of years. It is literally a mantra known as the Om.
There is a power in the sound that can relax the body, slow down the nervous system, and calm the mind. If I do that same sound today knowing this I can see that there is a very calming effect.
I think most of us have experimented with making this sound and even though we didn’t know probably reaped the calming benefits.
Last Saturday evening I was on campus with my sister at Hope college. We were seated in the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts. The building is beautiful and oftentimes performances by the students are held there. Acoustically the building cannot be topped. The sound resonates with such beauty it’s a pleasure to listen to a performance there.
At the beginning of this evening’s performance before a very large crowd, one petite young lady by the name of Maicee Bishop (a Hope student) walked confidently onto the stage where she stood front and center. She led off the evening with her operatically beautiful voice that filled the auditorium. During that time for some reason, I was made aware of the fact that she brought a certain calm to the audience.
Another Hope student by the name of Alex Cross later took his place seated at the piano. He too added to the evening by putting his talent on display as his fingers found their way across the keyboard providing the audience with an instrumentally generated sound. The evening was not to be forgotten and the audience was moved by the performance.
Conductor Eric D. Reyes, at the conclusion of each piece, gestured his gratitude to the performers. It was obvious as he looked toward the audience and patted his hand to his heart that he thoroughly loved what he does, and what he and all these young people had worked so hard to create.
A salute to EACH of these performers from the evening. All of YOU are an integral part of this total and wonderful evening.
The value of sound and place; through voice and instrument seems to be so welcome in our current times of chaos. It is often said that music is a universal language.
In a news report I watched a seven-year-old girl in a bunker beneath the streets of Kyiv singing a song from the movie Frozen while everyone listened and watched her as she filled the shelter with something other than the sound of bombs overhead.
In yet another performance from somewhere in the Ukraine, a young man ignoring danger played the violin as lines of refugees heading out of the country walked to a destination unknown to them.
And just outside Kyiv as sandbags were being stacked, people were singing the Ukrainian national anthem. This same anthem was being sung as Ukrainians stood in the streets in front of oncoming Russian tanks forcing them to stop.
Have a great week Marcellus,
you’re the best.
Om.
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