Inner Octaves and Eastern Music

By Jeffrey Werbock

A central idea in Gurdjieff’s system of knowledge outlines one of the two

fundamental laws governing every process in the universe. According to this idea, the
universe is a singular wholeness that divides itself into seven degrees of density.
These divisions are in turn divided into seven degrees of density, and so on. By the
action of this law, the universe expresses the eternal relationship between its
wholeness and its divisions, as well as the relationships between all the divisions.

Gurdjieff explained that although this law operates in all phenomena, in our current
condition we are unable to observe it in action. With some form of help, however, he
assures us that it is possible. One form of help mentioned in numerous places in his
writings and lectures is music. Thanks to Gurdjieff, we now know that by examining
the structure of music we are exploring the structure of reality.

This study has two aspects, both essential to understanding. One part is analytical, the
other part is experiential.

Our analysis can begin with the natural properties of sound. Sound is produced by a
material vibrating at a definite frequency inducing waves of acoustical energy in a
medium of transmission. The essence of sound, as in all other natural phenomena, is
vibration. A vibration is a continuously and smoothly alternating pulse of energy.
Vibrations are scaled by their frequencies (rates of vibration) and their amplitudes
(strengths of vibration).

When two vibrations of the same frequency vibrate in the same medium, they simply
add to each other the strength of their combined signals. When they vibrate at
different frequencies, however, their relationship becomes more complex. In music,
when two vibrations of different frequencies interact, it is called an interval.

Among all intervals, one stands out as unique. This interval is called the octave, and it
is obtained by doubling or halving the rate of vibration. Because Mr. Gurdjieff placed
such importance in his writings and lectures on the octave, we are called to take up
the challenge to try to fathom its import. We can begin our inquiry by examining what
the octave is in the realm of music.

The octave interval serves as the frame for all musical scales everywhere. It can be
divided into many smaller intervals to make many different scales. Usually, it is
divided into seven intervals framed by eight tones; hence the word ‘octave.’ There are
a number of commonly used seven-tone scales that span the range of an octave. Mr.
Gurdjieff chose one of them, known as the major scale, to describe the action of the
law of seven.1 This division of the octave into seven intervals is based on the property
of sound known as consonance.

In music, consonance and dissonance refer to the human response to an interval.

However, there is objective physics behind the subjective experience of hearing what
happens when two tones interact. When most vibrations of differing frequencies

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interact, some dissonance appears in the form of a third vibration. The octave,
however, is totally consonant, as the interaction of the two tones that compose it
produce no third vibration.

The most consonant interval after the octave, known in music as the perfect fifth,
produces a tiny amount of dissonance in the form of a third vibration, a ‘third force.’
The next most consonant interval—known as the dominant fourth—produces even
more third force, and so on. The seventh in the series of intervals of diminishing
consonance and increasing dissonance produces so much third force that it begins to
be noticeable. This interval, known in music as the minor seventh, begins to exhibit
audible dissonance. Continuing with this progression from total consonance toward
increasing dissonance, the 12th interval in the series—
called the tritone—is so dissonant that at one point in
the history of music, it was referred to by the Church
as the ‘devil in music.’

Most western music is composed using the seven-tone

scales that are derived from the twelve most consonant
(or least dissonant) intervals. Music of the east,
however, often includes intervals that are even more
dissonant than the tritone. Known in music as
microtones, they correspond to the notes on ‘inner
octaves.’2

Traditional eastern music is strictly monophonic,

which means that it uses only melodies, and it can
easily support the inclusion of intensely dissonant
microtonal intervals. Western music is mostly
polyphonic, which means it also uses chords.
Generally, western polyphonic music avoids the
inclusion of microtones because of the effect they
would have on the harmony of the chords.

Even without microtones there can be considerable dissonance among the 12 most
consonant intervals, but if polyphonic music were to include intervals other than the
12 most consonant, it would be very hard to listen to. We can tolerate and even enjoy
the energy issuing from a moment of intense dissonance that occurs in some eastern
melodies, but the release of energy that would occur in western chordal music that
included the strongly dissonant intervals of microtones would be a cacophony.

According to Gurdjieff, certain melodies composed of microtones on inner octaves

have the power to affect the inner states of humans and animals.3 Primed with this
idea, we can survey the music throughout the world in which melodies can be found
that include microtones.

The playing of melodies that include microtones is actually fairly common around the
world. Exotic, haunting melodies heard in every eastern culture and among native
indigenous tribes everywhere express the great variety of ways for playing melodies
that include microtones. In this way, each culture, each tradition, has its own unique

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‘fingerprint’ or ‘signature’ of microtones, framed by the tones of the ‘outer’ octave
scale.

The power of music that includes microtones depends not only on playing the melody
with the correct intonation, but also on the musician’s intent. Played unintentionally, a
microtone will just sound out of tune. Played intentionally, the same microtone will
have an entirely different effect on the listener. The energy of microtones can reach
the finer vibrations on the inner octaves of the listener’s being, but only when the
listener is convinced the musician is playing that microtone intentionally. Part of the
experience is induced by the energy in the sound of the music, especially when played
on the instruments designed for microtonal music, and part of the experience is
brought on by the listener listening with his whole attention. To inspire that quality of
listening, the musician must do something more than just perform well. The musician
must be present and listen actively with the aim to intend each and every note.

As with everything, intention is expressed in degrees. The first stage of intention is

imitation. The musician plays a specific microtone because he has heard it all his life
and for him there is nothing strange about it. The challenge is a technical one, a
challenge that all musicians face if they are singing or playing on instruments that
require high degrees of tonal accuracy, such as any fretless stringed instrument.

The second stage is reached when there is a real wish to hear a specific microtone.
The interest has evolved from merely wishing to play correctly, to wishing to
experience the energy of the microtone. When the musician arrives at this stage of
intention while playing in the presence of others who are actively listening, an
impression of another level will be transmitted that resonates with the inner octave
vibrations in the listeners.

The third stage of intention begins when the musician wishes with his whole being.
This stage goes beyond time and place. The relationship between the outer and inner
octave tones then expresses something that transcends the local origins of the music.
At that moment, the universe, in the form of a human being playing this special
music, expresses the universality of the relationships between all vibrations.

To help those who have become accustomed to the music prevalent in western
cultures to be able to listen more deeply to traditional eastern melodies, perhaps some
guidance can be offered. There are three areas of significant differences. The first is
the intentional use of microtones embedded in monophonic melodies.

The second difference is the principle that guides the composition of the melodies
which serve as the framework for the playing of microtones. In most traditional
eastern music, melodies are composed of sequences of tones that follow a pattern that
resembles waves, going up and down the scale of frequencies. The sequence of tones
may at times be orderly and simple, and at other times delicate and complex, weaving
a filigree of fine detail. Simple or complex, it is this wave-like pattern that enables the
energy of microtones to work their magic.

Something of this original knowledge about the relationship between states and sound
can still be found among the musical traditions of the Middle East, the Caucasus,
Central Asia, and East Asia. These ancient musical traditions continue to carry this

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knowledge forward in time, bringing to us the opportunity to feel the depth and
intensity of music composed centuries ago when the knowledge of the power of tones
and microtones shared the human stage with other great works of art, some of which
endures to this day.

The third difference is the playing of melodies without a time signature. This brings
us to the other meaning of the word ‘interval,’ which applies to the dimension of time.
In general, time-intervals make it possible to more easily accept the intensity of
strongly dissonant tone-intervals. When two tones of a strongly dissonant interval are
played simultaneously, the sound may seem harsh and if sustained, difficult to listen
to. When the same two dissonant tones are played sequentially, the harshness is
neutralized. Time-intervals are needed between the tones of melodies that include
microtones so we can be open to their energy and feel the finer vibrations reverberate
on our inner octaves.

When the music has no time signature, as in certain traditions of eastern music, the
rhythm becomes highly elastic. Without a rigid time frame, the timing of the tones
requires the same deliberateness, the same degree of intention required to play
microtones effectively. Deliberately choosing the moment the microtone is played
serves to increases the audience’s feeling of certainty, an experience that can help to
open one to receive the energy of the instrument and the energy of the music it
carries.

Gurdjieff wrote that he listened actively to microtonal music from a very early age.
Throughout his lectures and writings Gurdjieff returned to the themes of music and
vibrations. His regard for the importance of special music in connection with his ideas
about inner work can still be appreciated today through his collaborative effort with
Mr. Thomas de Hartmann. Even though it is not possible to play microtones on a
piano, they found a way to overcome that, and thanks to their efforts, we now have a
tradition of polyphonic music that is based on the knowledge of the inner workings of
the octave, and the inner yearnings of humanity.

Gurdjieff presented us with a system of knowledge informing us that all matter and
energy vibrates. Modern science has corroborated that revelation. Everything is a
composition of pulsating energies vibrating across the whole spectrum of frequencies.
We ourselves are just such compositions made of finer and denser energies, and by
actively listening to the microtones on inner octaves, we may experience a
relationship with the finer levels of energies that are an integral part of our own being.
Sensing the presence of another level of energy, we find that the higher is accessible
through the inner.

But how, exactly, can that be? As the frequencies of microtones are only slightly
higher or lower than the outer octave tones that frame them, how is it possible that
they can touch another level of energy in us? Gurdjieff’s system describes how this
use of inner octaves can bring to the listener the experience of an energy that is on an
entirely different scale of vibrations from the ones we actually hear.

Gurdjieff showed how the materialities of different levels—called ‘worlds’—stand in

relation to each other: the materiality of world 48 is composed of inner octaves of the

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materiality of world 24, the materiality of world 24 is composed of the inner octaves
of the materiality of world 12, and so on.4

Melodies that include microtones have two levels that relate to each other in the same
way as two adjacent levels in the universe: outer octave and inner octave. Music that
includes microtones needs the outer octave notes that frame them, because our
attention cannot listen actively to a melody composed exclusively of microtones
played on one inner octave.

Moreover, a microtone is only a microtone in relation to an outer octave tone. By

itself it is just another tone, but when a microtone is played within the context of the
outer octave tones of a seven tone scale, it has the power to reach our inner octaves.
Inspired in part by the intentional playing of inner octave microtones framed by outer
octave melodies, our active listening bridges the gap between the two levels in us and
offers another way to become aware of the presence in us of a level of energy higher
and finer than that which is accessible from our common everyday state.

Perhaps our search for ways to understand Gurdjieff’s ideas on vibrations, octaves,
intervals and inner octaves could include the study of traditional forms of microtonal
music, a study that is a full immersion in the experience of the music’s power to
evoke the sense of another level in life. Gurdjieff provided us with all the indications
we need to conduct this research on our own, without telling us in advance what to
expect from it.

~•~
1
Peter Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous (1949), pp. 123–132.
2
Ibid, p. 136.
3
Ibid, p. 297.
4
Ibid, p. 136.

Examples of the laws of three and seven in the music

of Gurdjieff / de Hartmann
by Wim van Dullemen

Although music can never be reduced to rationality, even a superficial form-analysis

of Gurdjieff's music cannot fall to show examples in which he represented these laws
in a musical format. After some brief remarks about the music of Gurdjieff and De
Hartmann, two examples will be played and discussed step-by-step: 'Hymn from a

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great Temple nr.1' and 'Prayer and Despair'.

Music is a world in itself. Each child, man and woman has his/her own experience, of
irreplaceable value, in this God-given realm. Trying to improve your understanding of
music however, demands discipline. In this discipline, we have first to define the
context of a musical specimen and then we have to analyse it to the limit of where the
intellectual insight can bring us. Having reached that frontier, we try to open
ourselves completely to the possible emotional meaning and the reason, in real music
always sacred, why this music exists.

'The intellectual approach is only a small part of the total exercise and should never
have an aggressive impact. It should be like studying a flower, so carefully that it is
not damaged.' [1] The interpretations of the two hymns of Gurdjieff and De Hartmann
given here serve only as an example to encourage others to explore the music their
own way. They indicate a possible way of being open to the music, that is all. No
Interpretation whatsoever can replace music, they present only passing visions that
continually have to be changed and renewed through new efforts in listening,
analysing and playing.

In trying to find examples of Gurdjieff's Laws of Three and Seven, the danger is of
course that we are looking for something we have already found; the most unscientific
approach possible! This is what the Germans call: 'hineininterpretieren'. It resembles
the procedure of the poor devil who started calculating all night long until his
calculations showed him that he actually was a rich man! I shall try to avoid that
danger as much as possible by splitting up the observations in 'facts and fantasies';
that means basic textual analysis and subjective interpretation.

Hymn from a great Temple I

This composition is 'antiphonal' in the extreme. That means it is in a pure call-

response format. This musical practice is widely used in classical music, but only in a
disguised way. In its plain form it is practised only in folk and religious music, f.i. it is
still alive in New Guinean and African musical traditions. The last influence can still
be detected in spiritual and chain-gang work songs in the U.S.A. Another variety can
be heard in Liturgical chanting; where the priest chants a short phrase - f.i. Kyrie
Eleison - and the community answers with the same phrase, with a slight melodic
modification. The reason for the extreme antiphonal character of this piece must be
that we are dealing here with a representation on the keyboard of a Liturgy Ceremony.

I have no doubts whatsoever - based on textual evidence, f.i. the length, limited range
and absence of large intervals - that in this composition the 'calls' - 6 in total - were
sung by a community. Neither do I have any doubts, although I cannot prove it, that
this music was the result of an impressive effort by Gurdjieff to pass on all the sounds
of a particular liturgy exactly as he remembered them; including non-musical sounds,
like mumbling of prayers, sacred gestures and the sounding of heavy objects. [3]

The 'response' part is highly characteristic of this hymn. It is a seven-note pattern in

the low bass region that is repeated in the same form throughout the piece seven
times. De Hartmann has emphasised that each note should be struck with force.

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Therefore the response was not chanted. It could be a staccato low growl by one or a
few elderly men, but more likely it is the sound of an unusual heavy and large
stringed instrument. Further in 3 places notes in the lowest keyboard-region are hit,
without any melodic or rhythmic function. These echo the liturgical sounding of three
(!) different large objects; bells or massive gongs.

To illustrate the musical pattern of this composition I refer to my graphic

representation (illustration 1). I am indebted for this particular musical notation-
system to the inventors of it; Georg Balan and the directors of the 'Musicosophia'
Institute in Germany, who were so kind to instruct me in its use.

It shows that the ceremony opens and closes with the same musical statement. In
between are the six calls and seven responses. The seven responses are divided by two
highly irregular rhythmic interventions that each time push the calls higher up in the
melodic scale. Much could be added about this piece, where each note does have a
function, but I have to limit myself in this written account. Obviously it will be hard
to deny a total analogy between the Law of Seven and the musical structure of this
piece, that in all likelihood represents a ceremony performed to anchor the specific
characteristics of this law into the life of the community.

Prayer and Despair

(second hymn from the album 'Sacred Hymns)

Basic Textual Facts:

'Prayer and Despair' consists of one small melodic formula that is repeated throughout
(hereafter referred to as: 'the formula'). This form of music is called 'iterative' and is
usually associated with primitive or simple traditional folk music. The formula of this
hymn, however, is not only of an astonishing beauty, but is a mathematical pattern in
which the numbers 3 and 7 are interwoven. It has 3 units, divided over 7 counts, the
first unit being in its turn also divided in 7 smaller sub-counts. ( see overhead 2)

The composition starts with the statement of the formula in its pure form, played in
the middle region of the instrument. Then it is repeated a number of times in the bass
region, adding more and more embellishments. [4] This process is repeated 3 times,
until an entirely new melodic influence intervenes, after which the piece ends with the
last Statement of the formula.

Formula + left hand repeats give respectively the numbers 14, 7 and 8, suggesting
strongly that the formula itself is part of a greater cycle of 7.
The 7 subcounts of the first unit of the formula are enlarged in 7 counts of the formula
and again enlarged in the 7 (with the one 8 as exception) repeats of the formula. 3
cycles of 7 embedded within each other.

The formula - in either pure or embellished formal - is repeated 32 times. This chain
of repetition is broken up in 3 well-defined places, where the formula falls apart in a
bass line to sustain the melody. These deviations are melody driven and are indicated
below. The most striking of these is the 32-component [5], where a new melody is
coming in.

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Start:
right hand formula; 7-counts
left hand formulas in counts: 8-7-7-7-8-8-7-7-7-8-7-7-4
right hand formula renewed
left hand formulas in counts: 7-7-7-8-7-7
right hand formula renewed
left hand formulas in counts: 7-7-9-6-11-8-7
right hand formula renewed twice
new melodic Intervention in counts: 4-4-32
right hand formula renewed for the last time
end.

In the context of the 'Laws' of Gurdjieff it is of course difficult to avoid the

association between the two break-ups (see above 8 and 9) and the two intervals in the
'Law of Seven' and not to interpret the 32-component at the end of the piece as a
breakthrough of a new octave. The more so because this whole composition is an
extremely complex labyrinth of musical units of three and seven.

Each time the left hand takes over the formula, a higher placed melody starts; a long
line without any rest or pause; it never breaks or stops: an 'unending'-melody. It
becomes temporarily silent each time the formula is renewed.

So the composition consists of three basic components: the formula itself, the
variations of the formula in the bass and the melody line. These are placed in three
defined and limited regions of the keyboard and do not intermingle. These three
components suggest to me totally different atmospheres that, although they do not
touch each other, maintain a balance together, like three planets circling around each
other in a blue sky.

In the middle of the piece the whole delicately balanced construction is threatened by
a flood of left-hand arpeggios. This flood, representing no doubt the 'despair'
component, is brought about by a harmonic shift in the formula as played in the bass.
Instead of the fifth note of the scale (a) the formula stops, again and again until the
end of the entire composition only at the fourth note (g), creating tension because the
unfinished 'sub-tonic' is denied the harmonic solution of the 'tonic'.

It is noteworthy that whereas the bass cannot resolve the tension of the sub-tonic 'g',
the formula in the right hand goes on unaltered - and keeps sounding the resolution-
note 'a'. Further it should not be missed that even after the new melodic Intervention,
that sounds like grace from heaven, the bass cannot raise the 'g' to the 'a' level and
diminish the tension. That leaves the piece with an open end: the bass is unresolved,
the prayer, the 'formula', is in harmony with itself, but neither 'formula' nor the new
melody that sheds its light and consolation can reach or influence the unfinished state-
of-affairs within the bass-formula.

Interpretation:
With reference to the limitations of any interpretation given earlier in this article I will
quite simply give my vision as stimulated by the basic facts.

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This piece has at least a title - thank God - and therefore we know that it is about
prayer and despair.

The 'formula' represents the inner praying of man. Its sounds resigned, quietly and
withdrawn, in between all the turmoils. It has to be renewed all the time, has to be
continuous.

The unending melody line sounds far off, another world, where creation is expanding
all the time.

The bass line stands for the earth. The first interval occurs; how remarkable that
listeners are not mentally aware that something is happening, but their feeling and
sensation notice a difference. The bass line continues in a seemingly harmonious state
but then......it reaches the first long held note ('fermate'). This note sounds like a
sombre warning, something is going to happen, tension accumulates, but we do not
know what is going to come. This note is the 'g'. Would it be accidental that the last
'warning-gong' of the First Temple Hymn was a 'g' also?
Would it be accidental that g-minor is the tonality that Mozart exclusively employs
for his most desperate moments? [6]

No. This note is a symbol for the unfinished state of the earth and the suffering caused
by that. The despair comes in like roiling waves that shake the house. But the prayer
inside man is renewed, again and again. Then, after the prayer has been repeated
twice, a heavenly melody breaks through like a ray of sunlight. This tenderness
pervades everything, but the bass sounds again soft, like a sombre echo, the 'g' as a
remembrance that the state of the earth is not and cannot be altered.

What strikes the most is the inner relation of the three components: earth - inner
prayer - heaven. Only the inner prayer is able to reach the harmony note 'a', provided
this prayer is according to the intricate pattern of three and seven. This suggest that
without the inner prayer, not only the whole construction would fall apart but the
earth note would have to fall down the scale from 'g' back to 'd', which means here
'Holy The Firm' below the low end of the octave. This musical piece becomes
unforgettable the moment one realises that it tells us that only the inner prayer of
mankind keeps this creation in balance.

If one can visualise the mathematical construction while remaining open towards the
emotional impact of this composition, one is overcome by such awe that all further
words stop.

Wim van Dullemen

[1]...Quotation from Uwe Fricke, Director of the Int. School for Education in
Conscious Music Listening, Germany, from a private conversation '97
[3]...A transcription of sounds in another medium is called 'onomatopoeia', and I do
have reason to believe that they occur in the musical work of Gurdjieff.
[4]...De Hartmann did not 'bar' this manuscript, which is an unusual practice.

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[5]...Remember that the total repeat of formula is also 32! I doubt if the slightest note
in this piece is accidental and the recurrence of the number 32 is reminiscent of Bach's
famous number trick in the first prelude of 'Das Wohltemperierte Klavier' .
[6]...Misha Donat 'Mozart's Piano Concertos' 1993, included in the Philips-cassette of
the piano performances by Mitsuko Uchida.

Hymn from a great Temple I

The Formula:

consits of: 3 units and 7 counts

first unit consists of: 7 counts

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Architecture of the 'magnified' formula: 3 concentric circles:

first seven counts form one unit in seven counts; these seven counts form one count in
a greater cycle of seven counts.

Architecture of whole composition:

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