Spiritual practices have been influential in music throughout human history. In the late twentieth century, Buddhist and Hindu adjacent practices inspired a variety of music, but Christian spiritual practice and mysticism undergirds much of music even if it’s not evident. Phillip Glass’ compositional philosophy is very much informed by the former, whereas Arvo Part’s Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) transforms the latter, in the form of chant, to a minimalist style he describes as Tintinnabulation: “an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers – in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises – and everything that is unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this… The three notes of a triad are like bells. And that is why I call it tintinnabulation.”
Alice Coltrane was John Coltrane’s second wife, and a transformative musician in her own right. John mentored Alice in music and Alice mentored John in spirituality. Their relationship enhanced their musical artistry, and they made a bigger impact on music than perhaps any other couple. Though they were universalists full of intellectual curiosity, Alice identified with the spiritual practices of the Indian Subcontinent, and founded an Ashram. Turiya means enlightenment, and Ramakrishna was a Bengali saint whose spiritual practices and mission for social justice were influential on her. Much of her output came while raising a family alone, grieving the loss of her husband, and periods of trial, making it all the more remarkable. Turiya and Ramakrishna is a minor blues tune infused with chant modes, transcendental climaxes, and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. This multi-faceted and unique nature of her music (in which chant from each of the major world religions has its influence) is the logical extension of John Coltrane’s musical legacy, carried on today by performers like Kamasi Washington.
Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer who was very much ahead of his time and laid the groundwork for many of the modern composition techniques of the twentieth and twenty-first century. He lived a fascinating life – though he is known mostly as a Dadaist figure, he flirted with many schools of thought, including Gnosticism (a fascinating topic in and of itself) and was involved in a sect when he composed these pieces. Gnosticism was widespread in the first century and emphasized personal spirituality over orthodoxy and tradition – spiritual journey to enlightenment was more important than repentance. They were oppressed out of existence for the most part in the second century, but Gnostic movements pop up from time to time. These pieces were highly experimental for the time, and while they have a structural sense of form (minimalist in nature), are ethereal and fluid – in other words, not suggesting a form to the listener, inspiring contemplation.