played on instruments extends song from the human performer so that it
resonates, not in the musician’s voice-box, but in an object, such as a
drum. Fundamental musical instruments (after the human voice) are the
drum, the rattle, and the flute. In the Lakota language the names of these
instruments show that musical instruments are conceived as extensions
of the body: The drum is waapapi, ‘things struck with the hands,’ the rat-
tle is wayuˆhlaˆhlapi, ‘things rattled with the hands,’ and the flute is waya-
jopi, ‘things played by blowing.’^83 These instruments, made with a array
of designs and materials, have religious and therapeutic uses throughout
world cultures.
The voice of the drum is the heartbeat of Mother Earth. It is not that
the drumbeat representsher heartbeat, but the drum makes audible the
pulses of nature, of which our heartbeats are an instance. Drumming is a
discipline that can bring about a meditative state. It does this by making
audible a regular rhythm that is stabilizing to one’s heart and other vital
rhythms, and to one’s mental rhythms as well. Stabilization of psycho-
physical rhythms, as yoga demonstrates, induces meditative states of con-
sciousness. Drumming or listening to drumming can accomplish this in a
very powerful and direct way because the drumbeat is not only heard
with the ear, but its vibrations are felt throughout the body. In the social
dimension, the drum can have great unifying power for a group of peo-
ple, be they marching together, dancing, singing, playing music, listening
to music, or participating in ceremony.
Breath is the physical force that produces the sound of the flute.
Riley Lee is an ethnomusicologist and master of the shakuhachi, a Japa-
nese flute traditionally made of bamboo. Asked about the therapeutic
value of playing the shakuhachi, Lee jests that his family could dispel the
myth that this flute-master lives an entirely serene life. Lee observes how-
ever, that playing the instrument has the therapeutic benefits of recipro-
cally requiring and developing relaxation in three areas of the body that
are significant energy-centers, and which tend to accumulate tension: the
jaws, the diaphragm, and the occipital area where the neck joins the
skull. As regards the function of the shakuhachifor religious liberation,
Lee notes the use of the flute by Zen monks who play it as a bridge to
meditative consciousness and liberation, in some cases playing only one
song all their lives.^84 Despite Lee’s admission that his life can be very hec-
tic, to hear and see him play the shakuhachiis to witness the musician-
ship of a person whose psychophysical integration and vitality allow him
to play music whose sound is sublime—uplifting to the spirit—and is
thus both therapeutic and religious.
162 religious therapeutics