Movement One

--- The bowl is hit by itself then fades into music and her inner voice ---

This symbolizes her first understanding of a deep life, not just one on the outside. This is the black (doesn’t mean bad) energy center. She looks deeply for real stability. As you hear the first bowl, she is falling into a different world. An internal world of herself she knew was there, but believed unreachable or make believe. She dreams about animals bringing her water, then guiding her to fire and water. In this dream, she has a hard time keeping up with the animals, understanding their symbolism and their reason to help her.

Movement Two

--- The music is faster here with a beat to it ---

This is her study and growth music that symbolizes her actions and learning. This is the brown energy center. She uses her will power to create action and study. She wakes the next day, as almost a different person, from all the internal experiences she felt the day before, she feels she is someone she has been hiding from herself. She experiences power coming up in her and her need to learn.

When the music (with a beat) is playing, we see her begin to study, go for walks, take yoga, zumba or Tai-chi / kickboxing. Maybe we see her meditating or praying. She tries acupuncture and you see her wince the first time, etc. We see her change her diet. We see her maybe falling at yoga or struggling at kickboxing. We see her pulling faces about the food she has to eat, etc. We see her with so many books that she is dropping a few. Maybe we see her doing push-ups, riding a bike and unplugging her TV from the wall. She slowly sees her progress and feels this new person inside her.

Short Transition Segment
(inside movement two) we could see this as the passing of time

--- The black and brown energies work together here. Stability and action at work. ---

The same music begins again and here we see her very different. She is becoming proficient in her learning. We see her actions become powerful and clear. She has less ego, but more productivity. We see her organizing her house for better energy. She enjoys her walking (now faster), yoga, kickboxing, etc.

She notices the different animal’s voices blending together to make a music of their own. She finds simple ways to heal other people. We see her giving many things away. She has become aware of the power in just listening to others.

Movement Three

--- The music here is slow moving ---

This is her enlightening dream sequence. This is the white energy center (bright yellow). Her connection to all things in spirit .

The music fades, from the study and action sequence, into dream music. She dreams this time, about leading animals to water. She is not afraid of the tiger or the snake. She flies with the birds and swims deep into a lake. She realizes that she is just an animal with a spirit inside her, like all other creatures on the earth. She realizes that they are all from the same source.

She does a circle meditation that reaches hundreds of souls and even reaches back in time. She remembers her teacher say: “try to recreate the sound of the bowls in your head or relate many other sounds to the bowls”.

From the dream, she feels a closer connection with all things.

Movement Four

-- The music here has a tender beat to it ---

She explores more. She reaches for and finds places to heal and be inspired. She moves from one place to the next to create excitement and wisdom. This is the green energy center. What she chooses to digest, from all things for mind and body.

The music fades from the dream into a faster moving sequence. We see her climbing snowy mountains, canoeing down fast creeks and riding horses. She is meeting with gurus, masters, healers, artists and the people wherever she goes. She smiles at every person she sees. She is moved by the different music of each place she visits. She sees herds of animals, looks closely at beautiful spiders and insects. She can relate the beauty of the flowers and trees to herself.

Short Transition Segment --- We see her meditate or pray with different people, beliefs or religions. She realizes that all religions or beliefs are the same. She realizes that each one has things to offer.

The music begins to repeat. We see her trade a ring and other jewelry for people’s art. She seems to communicate well with people and animals, without knowing any additional languages. She sings with people in different places. She follows birds to water and carries some back.

She finds peace and power by just observing others.

Movement Five

-- The music here has a strong rock beat to it ---

The unnecessary becomes the necessary. All of her training and understanding is used. This is the red energy center. She survives and leads others to survival.

The music fades from her journey into the real world (think “James Bond” music). Sitting at a small foreign airport (airstrip), she discovers a man watching and following two teenagers. She is aware of kidnapping and slavery in the area. She watches him as he confers with another man. When people begin loading onto the plane from the airstrip, the men race towards the kids. Because of her training, she easily catches up to the men. Just as you expected, she uses her kickboxing skills to help the boys escape. She helps them to get on the next plane. The music fades as she see the plane take flight.

Movement Six

-- The music here is African fire percussion (with other instruments) --

This energy is blue and related to blood running through the heart (blood is not red until it mixes with air). This is similar to fire turning from blue to bright white as it is lit. Blue is the pulse of the body and what it dances within life.

The music fades quickly to a hot African desert at sunset. She is dancing around a big fire with many others. She is being driven and moved by the rhythm of the drums, mixed with the sound of the fire. She uses it to dance inside herself while she dances outside.

People of different kinds have traveled here to dance and drum this night. Many people brought their own instruments. After some dancing, she wishes she could play a drum. Soon, a man motions her holding a mallet and chanting. She runs toward him when she sees he has a crystal bowl, just as the one used in her session. She plays the bowl as she feels to play it.

This symbolizes her connection-to all things, each in their own rhythm.

Movement Seven

-- The music here is thunder, water and air --

This energy is purple, symbolizing the air and water we all share.

The music fades into loud thunder. She is in the amazon when a torrential rain storm begins. Rain begins to pour heavily. She sees water rushing through the forest, like small rivers everywhere. She finds a small open shed with a metal roof, to take cover in. Being moved by the experience, she occasionally runs out and dances in the rain. The rain storm calms and the creatures of the forest return to their evening songs.

Next the music fades in, to bring her back home. She realizes her Crystal Journey is just starting.

Tech and Production Talk

There are a couple reasons why this audio production is different. My goal was to write music around the tuning and tamber of the crystal itself. The crystal bowls were crafted very carefully to ring at a particular note and sustain it. The problem here is that no matter how well they are crafted, they can’t be tuned like a trumpet, a woodwind instrument or any other instrument, after they are manufactured. They come out of the creator’s hands very well tuned, for how hard this process is to build one.

Hitting a bowl hard will actually produce a slightly different tuning, than hitting one softly. The use of the bowls, in this production, meant that some strikes were loud, some were hit softly and in some, just the roll of the mallet inside the bowl was used. This also meant that the tuning, throughout the piece, would change slightly in each movement.

Another goal was to not change the actual sound of bowls. For example, I didn’t use equalization to modify sound or software to tune the bowls. In this way, the original sound isn’t changed and would carry all its original attributes. The impact sound of the bowls was strong. Those medium diaphragm drum (oriented) microphones sounded better than the ultra-fidelity large diaphragm microphones, I was planning on using. I was amazed how long certain bowls would continue to ring at high volumes. Not all bowls were made of crystal, some were made of copper, etc. Using over-head mics was impossible. The long ring time of the different bowls made phasing a nightmare.

Crystal Talk

Can the sound of bowls really heal? Here’s how I initially approached the project. The bowls are not mine. I just looked at the bowls as just other instruments. Music can move anyone in different ways. A slow sounding flute here sounds different than a loud fast trumpet there. Certain instruments or melodies can make the moment feel tender or full of action and excitement. The bowls are exactly the same. Played loud, soft, fast, slow, alone or together they are different... and feel different.

Whether or not you feel the healing or understand their meaning, bowl sounds can calm or excite us.