I was wondering how much awareness to the power of sound there is out there? It is the one thing all religions have in common is that all of them use sound as part of the rituals.
There are songs and chants, drums and instruments of all kinds used but all of this is a way to channel energy in a translatable manner for a variety of purposes.
I have found that with a meditative drone if it is done right you feel the note throughout your entire body. If you are really good you can set a cup near you and make the water in it vibrate slightly if you can hit the note just right. In a way it is projecting your Chi to affect the environment around you. Part of properly performing any incantation is the tone and manner of the words spoken or sang. It is one thing to say a prayer but to project it in song is another and it does emotionally make a prayer much stronger.
Many voices in unison without direction is cacophony.
Many voices in unison is harmony. Even group incantations are defendant on all participants getting their part of the harmony just right to properly establish the resonation needed to help create the desired effect. In meditation the resonation can help one focus deeper into themselves. Tibetian Tantric Chant employs these principles.
Sound is part of the very fabric of life at least to me.

May you all fine the perfect Chord.

That and the Moody Blues "In Search of the Lost Chord,"

Good Listening...

One minute of Om chant by Abracadabra:

http://www.csonline.net/designer/abra/om.htm

The master that taught me the OM chant said to think of it in three parts of equal length ...

a hard O sound

an 'oo' sound in the middle

and the mmmmmmmmm at the end


all three sounds open different energetic centers ...


The mmmm really buzzes the third eye ...

There are tuning forks and crystal bowl meditations which use sound to open chakras also ...


Sound is very powerful.

Well, get out the microphone and record it for me so I can hear what you're talking about.

I have a crystal bowl meditation CD.

It sounds like someone running their fingernails along an infinitely long chalkboard.

I thought they were going to beat a rhythm on it with a mallet like ringing a bell. But no, they spin it and scrap something along it.

I have a hard time with that one to be honest about it.

The Artgurl Chant by Abracadabra:

http://www.csonline.net/designer/abra/artgurl.htm

most ancient pyramids vibrate at a certain and precise tone. I also enjoy brain wave entrainment through sound waves.

I remember a customer and I discussing the tradition of the sound of "Om.' He was part of a group and my introduction to them was from under the kitchen sink of his house replacing a leaking pipe. I heard what amounted to an awful racket of twelve people all going OM at the same time but without harmony. What it sounded like was more akin to a bunch of children all making a lot of noise. I asked about what they were doing and I had to tell him from past experiences among Bhuddists that what they were doing was all wrong so I explained to him. He actually listened to me. What I told him was what I had heard before sounded like a choir. He went back into the room and after a couple of minuets of me getting things cleaned up and tools wrestled back in their boxes he came back and asked me to explain what I meant to the group. I borrowed his tape recorder and taped them making the Om sound and played it back. Since I was the kid in grade school that the grade school volunteered (without asking me) for all of their special choir needs I had to learn to sing in a choir (I used to hit high notes only women can hit and knew music very well but then at 13 my voice cracked). I had each person do the Om sound to assess if they were forcing it or letting it flow. It is easy to tell if you are musically inclined. In half an hour something happened. they got it right and the Om that came from them was simply beautiful. It had the quality you could feel deep inside like hearing perfectly done Gothic chanting.
Then I tossed then a bone. I found out about Tantric chant where the chanter attempts to do more than one note in a vocally executed chord. I have done it but it is a lot harder than it seems. It helps to hear someone doing it and then PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. It adds a whole different dimension to Om. It reached deeper into lower notes. When done by at least three people if done right you will feel it far deeper inside than you would just harmonically making the Om sound.

I'm content with praticing one note at a time for now.

I've been chanting whilst drumming and that's been working quite well. It really adds to the experience.

Sound is important but it is not indispensable to religious belief or worship. I have met a deaf Wiccan woman. Wicca and many Pagan spiritualistic pursuits are also highly visual in their ritual. It is important to know that deaf people are ultra sensitive to vibration, especially if they are deaf since birth. They can dance and very often enjoy music because they can feel the vibration.

There are often sounds that I hear more with my stomach than with my ears. Most of the time they are deep and vibrating.

My stomach often does it's own chanting.

I think it's on a religious path of its own.

You have your mind in the gutter again.

My girlfriend plays bowl ... it is not chalkboard-like at all ... quite amazing actually ...

I can't stay present past the sacral chakra though ... I am off in the ethers ... but that's kinda normal ...

I am not sure what benefit will be had by anyone chanting 'artgurl' ... but I am delighted by the effort ...

And it is easier to remember than ...

Om Tara Tu Ta Rae Tu Rae So Ha


Thank you James... Happy New Year