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Objective Music? · May 1, 03:13 AM

Gurdjieff’s concept of ‘Objective Art’ — an art that would have the same effect regardless of the state of the listener… the horns of Jericho that blew the city walls down are an example. There could be a music that would freeze water. We have echos of that in architecture — who is not moved, even the atheist, if only for a moment, when walking into a large cathedral?

I measure the merit of art by its consciousness. A work of objective art ought to be a book; the only difference being that the artist transmits his ideas not directly through words or signs, but through certain feelings which he excites consciously and in an orderly way, knowing what he is doing and why he does it.

Objective music… can obtain not only definite psychological results but definite physical results. There can be such music as would freeze water. There can be such music as would kill a man instantaneously. The Biblical legend of the destruction of the walls of Jericho by music is precisely a legend of objective music. Plain music, no matter of what kind, will not destroy walls, but objective music indeed can do so. And not only can it destroy but it can also build up. IN THE LEGEND OF ORPHEUS THERE ARE HINTS OF OBJECTIVE MUSIC, for Orpheus used to impart knowledge by music. Snake charmers’ music in the East is an approach to objective music, of course very primitive. Very often it is simply one note which is long drawn out, rising and falling only very little; but in this single note “inner octaves” are going on all the time and melodies of “inner octaves” which are inaudible to the ears but felt by the emotional center. And the snake hears this music, or, more strictly speaking, he feels it, and he obeys it. The same music, only a little more complicated, and men would obey it.

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Israelis unleash Scream at protest
New weapon knocks crowds off feet
Sound blast triggers nausea, dizziness

MITCH POTTER
MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

JERUSALEM—The knees buckle, the brain aches, the stomach turns. And suddenly, nobody feels like protesting anymore.
Such is the impact of the Scream, the latest weapon in the Israeli army’s high-technology toolkit.
Launched Friday afternoon near the West Bank village of Bil’in, after another in the almost daily demonstrations against Israel’s controversial security barrier turned violent, Israel’s secret weapon lived up to its billing, by most accounts.
Witnesses describe a minute-long blast of sound emanating from a white Israeli military vehicle. Within seconds, protestors began falling to their knees, unable to maintain their balance.
An Israeli military source, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, confirmed the existence of the Scream, or Tze’aka in Hebrew, in an interview yesterday.
“The intention is to disperse crowds with sound pulses that create nausea and dizziness,” the Israel Defence Force spokesperson told the Toronto Star.

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