English version of Development of a new Musictherapy
THE STORY ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW MUSIC THERAPY
"Can you develop something for the inner movement of the life processes?". This question was posed to Dr. Hermann Pfrogner (1911-1988), professor in music, specialized in modern twelve tone music. The person asking was Dr. Karl König (1902-1966), the inspired doctor and founder of the Camp Hill Movement in Scotland, with a special interest in embryology.
In 1950 Dr. Pfrogner had already been brought into contact with Annie von Lange (1887-1959), a concert pianist and music teacher. In those days there was a circle of people around Annie von Lange in Neurenberg, all working in the field of music, among which the composer Frits Buchtger (1903-1978) and the singer Maria Fuhrmann (1886-1969). They were working with von Lange on the relationship between anthroposophy and music. Entirely opposite to the development of the abstract and spatial modern twelve tone music, in which individual tones are considered without their own qualitative value, Annie von Lange worked on the experiential practice of the individual tones, on each of the seven individual tones in a scale, related to the seven planets. In the Dornach Archive, she made a study during three years, of all indications about music given by Steiner. Together with the vocal pedagogue Maria Fuhrmann, she stood for a Goetheanistic approach, focussed on the development of learning to distinguish tone qualities. (Von Lange, 1956. Fuhrmann, 1959)
A goetheanistic approach can be understood as follows: not only the perceptible world that comes to us through the senses is what we see, hear and so forth. These sense impressions at the same time have a more unconscious inner activity in the perception process, which ultimately gives these impressions a form. These two complementary elements in perception keep each other in balance. This applies to all sensory perception, also to the activity in thinking, grasping the so-called external reality it understands from within. Goethes "Betrachtung uber die Leitung des Ohres" (Goethes view on the guidance of the ear): The whole Body is stimulated into action". And his consideration in the Farbenlehre: The senses are moved into a kind of opposition that makes perception into a whole. (Goethe, 1810)
Dr. Pfrogner was interested in finding new ways in anthroposophy, eventually became a member of the anthroposophical society in 1968. In the preface to his book 'Lebendige Tonwelt' (1976), he expressed his gratitude to Rudolf Steiner, among others, "without whose image of man, based on oldest wisdom traditions and continuing these completely independent in the present time", his book could not have originated.
Annie von Lange had developed Greek planetary scales. These scales were not the Greek Aulos scales discovered by Schlesinger, for which Rudolf Steiner already encouraged her at the time of his life to investigate them more closely. Von Langes scales were rather based on ancient church music scales with Greek names (such as Ionian, Doric, Phrygian, Lydian, Aolian, Mixolydian, Lokrian). She developed these on central planetary tones, (Stammtone: Root tones) with their own series of intervals, not based on the C major/minor interval scales, as used in classical music with all the transpositions in the musical keys of the quint circle: each key always reflecting the C major (or minorl) scale, on an ever-changing basic tone (primus or root tone). In classical music of "das Wohltemperierte Klavier", this is achieved by a growing number of crosses or b's, in order to obtain the same interval sequence of the C scale. Because this principle of the signs was abandoned, completely different interval series came about on every tone from the C scale, which can be a new basic tone. The scale acquires its own character. (Everyone can listen to this principle by playing ascending scales on a piano without using the black keys).
In mirrored form to the ascending scale, black keys are being used in order to obtain the same intervals in the downward mirrored scale. The basic tone becomes rather a central planetary tone, without the quality of a solid base as a starting point, as was the case with the ascending tone sequence without the black keys starting at tone C.
They become a center around which interval series can occur up and downward in mirrored form. The experience in hearing is one of no longer standing on solid earth, rather there are cosmic sound centers with their own sound qualities. Mirroring a sound sequence reinforces a different hearing experience, compared to the familiar intervals of the ascending C scale. It becomes a different way of experiencing music, than when one is anchored in our physical constitution of the skeleton (our most hard earthly structure), as one can find described in the tone eurhythmy course by Steiner (1927).
This group of musicians listened, immersed themselves in the sound qualities in a meditative, mindful manner, calling this 'phenomenon studies'. Annie von Lange speaks of the practice of emptying oneself out of personal matters, opening oneself to the sound experience as evoked by listening to the quality of the tones and intervals. Remember here Goethe's observation on hearing, where the more unconscious inner movement of the whole body is called upon.
After the death of Annie von Lange in 1959, this work on the musical phenomenon studies continued in the Netherlands, during the annual music conferences "Anthroposophy and Music" in Land and Bosch, starting in 1962. In the period starting in 1961, at a first meeting at Plansee in Germany, the therapeutic direction was taken. On initiative of the eurythmist Sybranda Antonia Reeskamp each person wrote on a sheet of paper their aim with this new practice of deepening music experience. The group gathered there unanimously decided healing was their intention. After this gathering at Plansee, the original question by Dr. König started to be worked out in close collaboration with therapists from the Camp Hill Movement. In particular this took place in the Dutch "Huize Christophorus", where the Bay van der Stock family worked as pedagogues and therapists. Veronica Bay (1922-2913) became eventually an important link to the current school in Switzerland.
The yearly conferences at Land en Bosch in the Netherlands took place untill 1967. From the beginning in 1962 conferences also took place in the various homes of the Camp Hill movement in Scotland, with Dr. Konig, in Ireland with Dr. Engel. Eventually in Germany and Switzerland, always in the Camp Hill homes and villages.
New ways were developed that could be beneficial for the disabled children. Initially people worked for this specific group of children, that come into the world with congenital disorders, or who have suffered serious damage during pregnancy or at birth. Ultimately a good music therapy can have a positive influence on many other diseases and disorders.
Dr. Pfrogner started a close collaboration with the eurhythmist Reeskamp (1909-1984), to try out and further develop his inspirations, while she showed him the eurhythmic gestures for the tones and sequences of intervals he developed. They worked intensively together a number of times to find and express the movements in the etheric body, that were to become the right music that would further the inner movement of the life processes. This happened during working weeks together in Munich, after which the results were later shown to doctors and therapists in separate study meetings, taking place during the clinics in Christophorus (children's discussions in the presence of doctors, therapists and caregivers). After sharing the new developments, through the years the group met several times in working weeks and training weeks, always in the home where the visiting doctor and foreign guests gathered.
In between of these meetings and clinics, the Dutch group met on a weekly basis with the eurythmist, to practice and further deepen their understanding. It was a unique initiative, supported by a passionate group of people who entered into this collaboration mostly in their own time and for their own account. They came together to develop something for the therapy of the children. Here people did not have concrete instructions from Rudolf Steiner, how music therapy should be worked out and applied. People themselves deduced the steps by meditating more deeply into the essence of the tones, intervals and scales, combined these experiences with existing lectures by Steiner on the genesis of man and cosmos, they derived the practical application from therapeutic work with the handicapped children. Annie von Langes insights gave them their base.
Notes during the clinics show that medication could be reduced by using this music therapy.
Dr. Pfrogner found his way from the tone-eurytmic TAO meditation: a descending series of tones in the C scale, from the seventh (on the tone B / H) and the sixt (tone A), an evolutionary process of the distant periphery of space descending and incarnating into the embodiment of man in an emotional body in the third (tone E), obtaining the experience of one's own inner emotional space, followed by a second (tone D) in the etheric body going toward the existence of the physical body. This sequence is experienced as an evolutionary process: a descent into an inner experience and eventually ending as a germ in the etheric-physical disposition of the body: The inner movement of the soul with the third and the germinating energy as living "seed" into matter with the second. (B-A-E-D). (Steiner, 1927)
This approach is similar to the "bindu" principle, (point, dot, germ, seed), in the center of the chakra's in Eastern wisdom, whereby life energy fertilizes and forms our material body at different levels. Chakra meaning wheel, discus, according to Vedic mythology hurled by the higher beings and gods from space into man, in the process of creation. Chakra's are the ethereal energy centers in the subtle body. This group of people was looking for this life giving germination power of the inner movement ("innere Bewegung").
The TAO meditation became the model from which other effective descending interval series were developed. Hereby the mirrored planetary scales, developed by von Lange, stimulating an inward looking and hearing, became the specific key for influencing the inner movement in the etheric body.
From the depth of development in an earth body, Dr. Pfrogner found an answering TAO that ascended again.
The next step was the series of descending tones (the Ton interval Stufen) of the dominant seventh chord on base tone C. Dr. Pfrogner connected these stages to "Germ (seventh), Flower (fifth), Maturation (third), Fruit (primus)" as a musical translation of organ-forming forces, into the matterial substance of the body with the primus. This descending series was based on the C scale intervals. This principle can then be applied to the other planetary tones, each related to an internal organ system of the body. Sun the heart (space element), Moon reproductive organs (essence of germinating life), Mercury lungs (element air), Jupiter the liver (element fire), Mars circulatory system,Venus the kidneys (element water) and Saturn the spleen (element earth). Always a seventh chord, modeled on the C scala, but based on a different planetary base tone than the C. The model of the C scale intervals, because the C scale is most connected to our being based in the physical body, with our skeleton, as is described in the tone eurythmy lectures by Steiner (1927).
In addition, the planetary scales that did not follow the C scale intervals, were used to influence the more ethereal field around the organ systems. These therapeutic interval series were embedded in the cycle of the year, in which the four archangels each in a certain season are most active in human organization: Gabriel working in the metabolism and food intake, which forms a basis for Rafael's functioning in the rhythmic system of breath and blood circulation, in which breath and circulation of the blood again support the mind over which Uriel exerts his influence. Finally, this entire sublimation from food to a clear mind in thinking activity is the essence that can result in the activity of Michael, in our outward directed deeds. (R. Steiner, 1912). The seventh was connected with Uriel, the quint with Rafael, the third with Gabriel and the ground tone with Michael.
Towards the end of this creative period in the 60's, archangel motifs were developed in sound, also by Dr. Pfrogner. The archangel motifs were composed out of sequences of thirds, reflecting the activity of these higher beings working together in the inner movement of the soul, furthering our healthy functioning in the etheric-physical body. These motives were performed at the festivities during the year in the homes, with eurythmy choreographies. Not only the music therapy for the individual child took place, but the entire community of staff and children was part of celebrations of festivities in which this more cosmic planetary music had a place. Compositions in the planetary scales and choreographies were made by the eurhythmist Sybranda Antonia Reeskamp and used for annual celebrations in the Christophorus home. She composed for various instruments.
A similar contribution for the community, in an individually difefrent style of composing in the planetary scales, was later made in Ireland by the pianist Marja Slotenmaker (1898-1990), who had moved from Christophorus to Ireland.
Dr. Hans Heinrich Engel, Dr. Pfrogner and the eurythmist Antonia Reeskamp further elaborated how the musical motifs of the planets and archangels had a place in the zodiac and the quint circle. From Dr. Engel came the contribution of the relationship of TAO with the different qualities of ether, the development of the four main organs (heart, lungs, liver and kidneys), related to the four archetypal zodiac signs Leo, Taurus, Scorpio and Aquarius. In 1967/1968 the creative period seems completed and everything is further elaborated with existing knowledge in anthroposophy about the relationship of our body to planets and zodiac. There were plans to make a book about the primordial archetypal images of the life processes, with phenomenon studies, drawings and notes, so that everything was well documented that had been developed through eurhythmic- and music phenomenon studies in the first years.
In the early years of anthroposophy, there had already been a first effort to use music in therapy in the Ita Wegman Klinik, the Lucas Klinik and in Wiesneck. The planetary scales connected to the days of the week were played, which was reported to have a positive effect on the patients. In Wiesneck one experimented with cultural periods to bring a spiritual retrograde development back into progress. (By moving from an older culture to a newer one). Source: manuscript about the development of music therapy.
In the beginning this use of music was not everywhere easily accepted by therapists and musicians in the Camp Hill homes. There was resistance, because one must first think and understand, whilst one is used to a different type of music experience, in which one can unconsciously enjoy and recognize what the music brings, whereas these planetary scales appeal to a more cosmically oriented and more fluid ethereal world in which our physical bodies are embedded. It requires the different attitude advocated by von Lange in listening to the tones and intervals. This approach through an inner effort to listen in a different way, was slowly gaining understanding during conferences and through additional training.
Through von Lange's work, sound series, interval series around a central tone up and down, also mirrored and vice versa, were now used in therapy. The sounds of these music therapies were played by the therapist sitting/ standing behind the child, so that it could be experienced as spatial around the child through hearing in a receptive manner. (not stressing the visual image of the therapist, in front of the child in the room).
To get an idea of the kind of effect of this "innere Bewegung" (inner movement) in listening to music, it is best to consult Rudolf Seiner's texts:
"...The process of assimilating air, however, is felt by the soul as something entirely of a soul-spirit nature, entirely pictorial. It appears in the form of an up-and down undulating tone-configuration, that gives shape to the developing embryonic body. The soul feels itself surrounded completely by undulating tone, and it is conscious of how it fashions its own body according to these tone forces. Thus, at that stage, human forms took shape that are not observable by present-day human consciousness in an external world".
("...den Vorgang der Luftaufnahme empfindet aber die Seele noch durchaus seelisch-geistig, noch als einen bildhaften. Er erscheint in Form von auf-und abwogenden Tonbildern, welche dem sich gliedernden Keim die Formen geben. Die Seele fühlt sich überall von Tonen umwogt, und sie empfindet, wie sie sich den Leib nach diesen Tonkraften ausgestaltet. Es bilden sich so Menschengestalten auf der damaligen Stufe aus, die fur ein gegenwartiges Bewusstsein in keiner Außenwelt beobachtet werden konnen".
Rudof Steiner's imagination: from the development of the earth stage in the Geheimwissenschaft, chapter die Weltentwicklung und der Mensch. (Rudolf Steiner, Die geheimwissenschaft im Umriss, 1955, Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart).
"Thus the human being had a vague notion of the play of universal harmonies in his physical body and in that part of the ether body that had remained united with it..."
(..Und so hatte the Menschenwesen eine Art, wie auch gedampfter Vorstellung von dem spielen der Weltenharmonien in seinem physischen Leibe und demjenigen Teile des Ätherleibes, der mit dem Physischen Leibe verbunden geblieben war ...)
"Through the activity of the sun beings and their harmonies the new-born body again reached its perfection and the process described above repeated itself. Man experienced this renewal as the donning of a new garment. The kernel of his being had not passed through an actual birth or death, it only had shed its skin, as it were, by passing over from a spiritual tone-consciousness in which it yielded itself up to the external world, to one in which it was turned more toward the inner life..."
("Durch die Wirkung der Sonnenwesen gestaltete sich of the neuborne Leib dann wieder in seiner Vollkommenheit aus und der oben geschilderte Vorgang wiederholte sich. Und der Mensch empfand diese Erneuerung wie das Anziehen eines neuen Kleides. Sein Wesenskern war nicht durchgegangen durch eine eigentliche Geburt oder einem Tode durchschritten; er war nur ubergegangen von einem geistigen Tonbewusstsein, in dem er hingegeben war an der Außenwelt, zu einem, in dem er mehr dem Inneren zugewendet war .... ")
Rudolf Steiner's imagination: from the lunar stage in the development of the etheric body, In Die geheimwissenschaft im Umriss, see above.
(Only a small selection from his impressive text, where the role of sound, tones and hearing can be found in various places).
It can be noted here, that this group of people understood that the "Geheimwissenschaft" ("Occult Science") and other texts by Steiner about the working of the hierarchies were morer than a story of some archaic creation process, that had taken place in a far distant past. Rather it was seen as a current creative process taking place in the present time, bringing about every individual human embodiment in the pre-birth phase of development and sustaining, nourishing and renewing our organisation throughout the time of life. Furthermore, it was understood that the creative powers and sounds that sustain life in us could be invoked to heal problems that have arisen in the preparation of the incarnation (from the pre-birth phase of development, between death and new birth), as well as for other disease processes that arise during the course of life.
This developmental history of our etheric and physical body, of all our bodies, in which higher beings worked and still are part of our present body, can only be seen internally, as was said in the first quotation: In the introspective meditative state of the mind, in our consciousness. In the old traditions one distinguishes the different states of consciousness: from birth onward during life: 1) waking consciousness focused on the world, 2) sleep state and 3) dream state. Then at the end of life the following phases: 4) leaving the body with the dissolving of the elements in the dying process, 5) the "in between"-time (often designated as Bardo states) that starts with the actual leaving of life out of the physical body, death and 6) passing into the phase of becoming for the new birth.
And 7) the separate state of consciousness practiced during life, called meditative absorption where the mind is 'awake', yet is withdrawn from the senses. The mind "sees" within itself what is there. In this state of mind one is, as in the time between death and new birth, unobstructed by the physical. One can move anywhere on the power of thought and in this state of consciousness, images of archaic character can come from a deep layer of the mind. Steiner calls this way of looking inward "reading in the akasha". It is important to realize that this reading does not take place in an outside world akasha, like often is assumed. Neither is it a collective unconscious, so named by Carl Gustav Jung. The images from this layer of our consciousness are highly individual! Not read in anything collective outside of us, but deeply within each individual mind. The mode of perception here is no longer dualistic of an individual vis-à-vis a world, or an individual vis-à-vis an akasha in the world outside, but of an individual perceiving its own origin while in unification with itself. This experience takes place in every individual mind, trained through meditation, although unique and individual, at the same time of a universal nature in the sense that every person has the aptitude to make these observations. In fact, the word history of origination is not entirely correct either, because in this state of mind there is no concept of time. "Phenomenon", spontaneous origination, or even mystery comes closer to the quality of these experiences and images. On a much deeper level a mystery than our dreams and certainly very much deeper compared to our sensory impressions in the waking consciousness. The word absorptive state is the best qualification.
Now this writer was briefly puzzled, since the oldest wisdom traditions bring these phenomena with the practice of meditation. Usually in the context of the dying process and the "in between state of consciousness" without a physical body. In this stage one can continue to work on the three higher bodies (that have been created in the germ within us), because the impediments of the physical world have fallen away. When we die, the phenomena and beings that are our origination, but in most cases not seen during our lives, appear again. We are transported toward an experience of ourselves, focused on those appearances, as we are no longer connected to a physical outer world. The meditator, prepares to be able to recognize in that phase of consciousness what the teachings say about the situation and to apply what has been practiced during life, namely directing the mind toward the self, inward, so that the consciousness is not lost. (The teaching about the continuity of consciousness through all forms of existence). The goal for the individual identity is to continue giving itself direction. Without training in life, one can be just as helpless in the face of these phenomena as a feather blown around through the winds of karma. If one has not practiced these things in life, one loses consciousness untill one regains it in the descent to the next incarnation. That is what traditional teaching says about the cycle of our lives. The descent process in the prebirth is not explained in all these implications, as Rudolf Steiner does in his Geheimwissenschaft. This descending phase is traditionally seen as the individual essence of a person who will once again assume a body. The amazing thing is that Steiner turns it into a kind of total world creation history more than a reincarnation process of a human individual: developing awareness of the incarnation process in its connection with all phases and stages (called saturnus, sun, moon, earth stage), a grand world plan. The aim of this approach seems to be to re-spiritualize life in this physical form by working in a fruitful way in many areas related to therapy, health, and upbringing. As it were, in order to guarantee and guard, in this earthly existence, the predisposition in us for future phases of development.
This is equally the purpose of ancient esoteric teachings, such as the thousands of years old Buddhism, where in every mantra it is recalled: "After purifying the three poisons (ignorance, attachment and hatred), may we soon reach full Buddhahood of dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya, the three aspects of the embodiment of a Buddha, kaya means body and Buddha is a developmental goal and not exclusively linked to the historical personalities that became Buddha, such as the last great Buddha Sakyamuni. The three "bodies" are the transformation of the (physical) body, of the speech (etheric body) and of the mind, renamed by Steiner as: Geistes Mensch, Lebensgeist and Geistselbst).
It is not the intention to flee the world, since there is no other place to go. The goal is to "free" all creatures from the unenlightened state of consciousness. Even making the vow not to rest until the very last being is "liberated." This liberation can also be understood as the realization of the three future bodies. People anticipate the development of earth and man.
In the eurhythmy one already has a situation of a more "enlightened body", (According to Steiner one moves with the eurhythmy in the transformed bodies Lebensgeist and Geistselbst (In other words Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya), in the sense that here the ethereal flowing speech body is used and the emphasis is not on the physical body, the physical body is maintained and kept healthy by the etheric force body, and in the eurhythmy one focuses on the space of consciousness around the figure, whereby the ethereal flow passes both outside the body and through the body, can also move within the body itself. In music therapy the emphasis is on the relationship between the more peripheral space in which the sounds are and the influx into the etheric body where sound unfolds. Experiencing this as an event, as a phenomenon. Without too much switching to outward looking consciousness and thinking. It is understandable that Dr. Hermann Pfrogner was able to work out his inspirations in close collaboration with a eurhythmist.
On the internet at Amazon I once read a review of the "Occult science" in English-language. The reader exclaimed: "this is better than science fiction!" When it comes to imaginations and grand images, visions, the question is relevant whether the therapeutic insights derived from this are effective. Whether something is provable is much less relevant: there is so much that is experimentally discovered and applied further, discoveries through inspired ideas or even by chance. The only way to "verify" these contents is through the introspective way with meditation. Precisely there are thousands of years of practice and "reporting" available that led to similar findings and systems. Human consciousness has not changed that much at the individual level. It is the philosophy or doctrine, the explanation and the systematization of the experience that takes a culturally determined form. The experience itself is universal. As Steiner indicated in his introductions to the book Geheimwissenschaft, he consulted ancient wisdom to compare his own experiences and to search for a language in which these experiences could be described. Initially he still used the Eastern names, as was customary in theosophy. He later developed his own names. As a result, the origin of these concepts has sometimes been expressed in a very original way, but has also sometimes been lost and it may seem that something totally new has been created. For in-depth study it would be good if the sources he used were known. The authenticity of Steiner's own experience is not at discussion. Individual experience and written records, systems of teaching, are two different things.
This group of pioneers in music therapy took a deepening path through hearing the tones, in combination with Steiner's texts, in order to arrive at an effective and beneficial addition to the therapy. The test was the effect that this therapy had on the children: Several times I read in the reports that medication could be reduced by using this music therapy. I did not name everyone or did justice to every person involved in those early days. From the very beginning, there were also Lies Lebret (music teacher) and Maria Schuppel (1923-2011), a true pioneer, who founded the first training for music therapy in Berlin in 1963 and led it unto 1993. This "Musiktherapeutische Arbeitsstatte Berlin" still exists. I met many of this group of people, in the early 60s as a high school student and later as a starting eurythmy student. Experienced and practiced all mirroring scales and developed motifs with the Eurythmist. Recorded compositions in the planets scales are in my possession and I would like to make them available where useful for eurhythmy or music therapy. (if digitization would succeed). After some research I was happy to find the continuation of these initiatives in a training called "Orpheus Schule" for Musiktherapy, officially recognized and now under the umbrella of the ATKA (Anthroposophical Academy for Therapy and Art). This training appears to be a continuation of an earlier attempt by music therapist Johanna Spalinger to run a school. I have briefly commented on musical developments, as readers are certainly not all musicians. If interested, I refer to the study program, their courses and the literature mentioned.
It was said then, more tan 50 years ago: The future development of consciousness will be through music, but it is not time for that yet, we are to early. These days I have more hope for an understanding, as people are more interested and open to an introspective and meditative way of experiencing. Meditation and mindfulness are advertised everywhere. Still the field of music is a specialized one. Tone meditation as a portal to deeper insights certainly even more seldom. But seen what it has led to in this group of pioneers, the gain could be very valuable and beneficial for many.
Beilharz, Gerhard: Acht Jahrzehnte Musik in der anthroposophischen Heilpädagogik. In: Beilharz, G. (Hrsg.): Musik in Pädagogik und Therapie. Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-7725-2237-8, S. 79–90.
Bock, Friedwart: Hans Heinrich Engel. In: Forschungsstelle Kulturimpuls. Abgerufen am 4. November 2017.
Engel, Hans-Heinrich: Musikalische Anthropologie, Verlag der medizinische Sektion am Goetheanum, Dornach, 1999
Fuhrmann, Maria: Die Praxis des Gesanges unter Geisteswissenschaftlichem Gesichtspunkte, Verlag Die Kommenden, Freiburg i.B., 1959
Goethe, J.W. Zur Farbenlehre, 1810
Von Lange, Annie: Anthroposophische Beiträge zur Musiklehre, (Verlag nicht ermittelbar), 1949
Von Lange, Annie: Mensch, Musik und Kosmos, Anregungen zu einer goetheanistischen Tonlehre, Novalis-Verlag, Freiburg i Breisgau, 1956.
Lindau, Simone , nachgesehen und korrigiert von Maurer, Marlise: Entwicklung der Anthroposophischen Musiktherapie in der Welt, niet gepubliceerd Pdf manuscript, 2016 (containing several inaccuracies)
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Von Wesen und Wertung neuer Harmonik, Steeger, Bayreuth, 1949.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Die Zwölf Ordnung der Töne, Amalthea, Zürich, 1953.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Musik. Geschichte ihrer Deutung, Orbis academicus Band I/4. Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg/München 1954.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Der zerrissene Orpheus. Tonalität – Atonalität – Elektronik, Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg/München 1957.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Lebendige Tonwelt. Zum Phänomen Musik, Langen Müller, München und Wien 1976 (Reprint-Ausgabe, Weilheim/Teck 2010).
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Die sieben Lebensprozesse. Eine musiktherapeutische Anregung, Die Kommenden, Freiburg 1978.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Leben und Werk. Versuch einer Lebensbeschreibung, Novalis, Schaffhausen 1985.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Zeitwende der Musik. Rückblicke – Ausblicke, Langen Müller, München und Wien 1986.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Die drei Lebensaspekte in der Musik, Novalis, Schaffhausen 1989.
Ruland, Heiner: Hermann Pfrogner. In: von Plato, Bodo (Hrsg.): Anthroposophie im 20. Jahrhundert. Ein Kulturimpuls in biografischen Porträts. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2003, ISBN 3-7235-1199-6, S. 597–598.
Steiner, Rudolf: Geheimwissenschaft im Umriss, Leipzig 1910, 1913, 1920, Dornach 1925, 1930, 1937, 1938, 1946, Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart, 1948, 1955.
Steiner, Rudolf, Das Wesen des Musikalischen und das Tonerlebnis im Menschen, Rudolf Steiner Verlag Dornach, 1989
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"Can you develop something for the inner movement of the life processes?". This question was posed to Dr. Hermann Pfrogner (1911-1988), professor in music, specialized in modern twelve tone music. The person asking was Dr. Karl König (1902-1966), the inspired doctor and founder of the Camp Hill Movement in Scotland, with a special interest in embryology.
In 1950 Dr. Pfrogner had already been brought into contact with Annie von Lange (1887-1959), a concert pianist and music teacher. In those days there was a circle of people around Annie von Lange in Neurenberg, all working in the field of music, among which the composer Frits Buchtger (1903-1978) and the singer Maria Fuhrmann (1886-1969). They were working with von Lange on the relationship between anthroposophy and music. Entirely opposite to the development of the abstract and spatial modern twelve tone music, in which individual tones are considered without their own qualitative value, Annie von Lange worked on the experiential practice of the individual tones, on each of the seven individual tones in a scale, related to the seven planets. In the Dornach Archive, she made a study during three years, of all indications about music given by Steiner. Together with the vocal pedagogue Maria Fuhrmann, she stood for a Goetheanistic approach, focussed on the development of learning to distinguish tone qualities. (Von Lange, 1956. Fuhrmann, 1959)
A goetheanistic approach can be understood as follows: not only the perceptible world that comes to us through the senses is what we see, hear and so forth. These sense impressions at the same time have a more unconscious inner activity in the perception process, which ultimately gives these impressions a form. These two complementary elements in perception keep each other in balance. This applies to all sensory perception, also to the activity in thinking, grasping the so-called external reality it understands from within. Goethes "Betrachtung uber die Leitung des Ohres" (Goethes view on the guidance of the ear): The whole Body is stimulated into action". And his consideration in the Farbenlehre: The senses are moved into a kind of opposition that makes perception into a whole. (Goethe, 1810)
Dr. Pfrogner was interested in finding new ways in anthroposophy, eventually became a member of the anthroposophical society in 1968. In the preface to his book 'Lebendige Tonwelt' (1976), he expressed his gratitude to Rudolf Steiner, among others, "without whose image of man, based on oldest wisdom traditions and continuing these completely independent in the present time", his book could not have originated.
Annie von Lange had developed Greek planetary scales. These scales were not the Greek Aulos scales discovered by Schlesinger, for which Rudolf Steiner already encouraged her at the time of his life to investigate them more closely. Von Langes scales were rather based on ancient church music scales with Greek names (such as Ionian, Doric, Phrygian, Lydian, Aolian, Mixolydian, Lokrian). She developed these on central planetary tones, (Stammtone: Root tones) with their own series of intervals, not based on the C major/minor interval scales, as used in classical music with all the transpositions in the musical keys of the quint circle: each key always reflecting the C major (or minorl) scale, on an ever-changing basic tone (primus or root tone). In classical music of "das Wohltemperierte Klavier", this is achieved by a growing number of crosses or b's, in order to obtain the same interval sequence of the C scale. Because this principle of the signs was abandoned, completely different interval series came about on every tone from the C scale, which can be a new basic tone. The scale acquires its own character. (Everyone can listen to this principle by playing ascending scales on a piano without using the black keys).
In mirrored form to the ascending scale, black keys are being used in order to obtain the same intervals in the downward mirrored scale. The basic tone becomes rather a central planetary tone, without the quality of a solid base as a starting point, as was the case with the ascending tone sequence without the black keys starting at tone C.
They become a center around which interval series can occur up and downward in mirrored form. The experience in hearing is one of no longer standing on solid earth, rather there are cosmic sound centers with their own sound qualities. Mirroring a sound sequence reinforces a different hearing experience, compared to the familiar intervals of the ascending C scale. It becomes a different way of experiencing music, than when one is anchored in our physical constitution of the skeleton (our most hard earthly structure), as one can find described in the tone eurhythmy course by Steiner (1927).
This group of musicians listened, immersed themselves in the sound qualities in a meditative, mindful manner, calling this 'phenomenon studies'. Annie von Lange speaks of the practice of emptying oneself out of personal matters, opening oneself to the sound experience as evoked by listening to the quality of the tones and intervals. Remember here Goethe's observation on hearing, where the more unconscious inner movement of the whole body is called upon.
After the death of Annie von Lange in 1959, this work on the musical phenomenon studies continued in the Netherlands, during the annual music conferences "Anthroposophy and Music" in Land and Bosch, starting in 1962. In the period starting in 1961, at a first meeting at Plansee in Germany, the therapeutic direction was taken. On initiative of the eurythmist Sybranda Antonia Reeskamp each person wrote on a sheet of paper their aim with this new practice of deepening music experience. The group gathered there unanimously decided healing was their intention. After this gathering at Plansee, the original question by Dr. König started to be worked out in close collaboration with therapists from the Camp Hill Movement. In particular this took place in the Dutch "Huize Christophorus", where the Bay van der Stock family worked as pedagogues and therapists. Veronica Bay (1922-2913) became eventually an important link to the current school in Switzerland.
The yearly conferences at Land en Bosch in the Netherlands took place untill 1967. From the beginning in 1962 conferences also took place in the various homes of the Camp Hill movement in Scotland, with Dr. Konig, in Ireland with Dr. Engel. Eventually in Germany and Switzerland, always in the Camp Hill homes and villages.
New ways were developed that could be beneficial for the disabled children. Initially people worked for this specific group of children, that come into the world with congenital disorders, or who have suffered serious damage during pregnancy or at birth. Ultimately a good music therapy can have a positive influence on many other diseases and disorders.
Dr. Pfrogner started a close collaboration with the eurhythmist Reeskamp (1909-1984), to try out and further develop his inspirations, while she showed him the eurhythmic gestures for the tones and sequences of intervals he developed. They worked intensively together a number of times to find and express the movements in the etheric body, that were to become the right music that would further the inner movement of the life processes. This happened during working weeks together in Munich, after which the results were later shown to doctors and therapists in separate study meetings, taking place during the clinics in Christophorus (children's discussions in the presence of doctors, therapists and caregivers). After sharing the new developments, through the years the group met several times in working weeks and training weeks, always in the home where the visiting doctor and foreign guests gathered.
In between of these meetings and clinics, the Dutch group met on a weekly basis with the eurythmist, to practice and further deepen their understanding. It was a unique initiative, supported by a passionate group of people who entered into this collaboration mostly in their own time and for their own account. They came together to develop something for the therapy of the children. Here people did not have concrete instructions from Rudolf Steiner, how music therapy should be worked out and applied. People themselves deduced the steps by meditating more deeply into the essence of the tones, intervals and scales, combined these experiences with existing lectures by Steiner on the genesis of man and cosmos, they derived the practical application from therapeutic work with the handicapped children. Annie von Langes insights gave them their base.
Notes during the clinics show that medication could be reduced by using this music therapy.
Dr. Pfrogner found his way from the tone-eurytmic TAO meditation: a descending series of tones in the C scale, from the seventh (on the tone B / H) and the sixt (tone A), an evolutionary process of the distant periphery of space descending and incarnating into the embodiment of man in an emotional body in the third (tone E), obtaining the experience of one's own inner emotional space, followed by a second (tone D) in the etheric body going toward the existence of the physical body. This sequence is experienced as an evolutionary process: a descent into an inner experience and eventually ending as a germ in the etheric-physical disposition of the body: The inner movement of the soul with the third and the germinating energy as living "seed" into matter with the second. (B-A-E-D). (Steiner, 1927)
This approach is similar to the "bindu" principle, (point, dot, germ, seed), in the center of the chakra's in Eastern wisdom, whereby life energy fertilizes and forms our material body at different levels. Chakra meaning wheel, discus, according to Vedic mythology hurled by the higher beings and gods from space into man, in the process of creation. Chakra's are the ethereal energy centers in the subtle body. This group of people was looking for this life giving germination power of the inner movement ("innere Bewegung").
The TAO meditation became the model from which other effective descending interval series were developed. Hereby the mirrored planetary scales, developed by von Lange, stimulating an inward looking and hearing, became the specific key for influencing the inner movement in the etheric body.
From the depth of development in an earth body, Dr. Pfrogner found an answering TAO that ascended again.
The next step was the series of descending tones (the Ton interval Stufen) of the dominant seventh chord on base tone C. Dr. Pfrogner connected these stages to "Germ (seventh), Flower (fifth), Maturation (third), Fruit (primus)" as a musical translation of organ-forming forces, into the matterial substance of the body with the primus. This descending series was based on the C scale intervals. This principle can then be applied to the other planetary tones, each related to an internal organ system of the body. Sun the heart (space element), Moon reproductive organs (essence of germinating life), Mercury lungs (element air), Jupiter the liver (element fire), Mars circulatory system,Venus the kidneys (element water) and Saturn the spleen (element earth). Always a seventh chord, modeled on the C scala, but based on a different planetary base tone than the C. The model of the C scale intervals, because the C scale is most connected to our being based in the physical body, with our skeleton, as is described in the tone eurythmy lectures by Steiner (1927).
In addition, the planetary scales that did not follow the C scale intervals, were used to influence the more ethereal field around the organ systems. These therapeutic interval series were embedded in the cycle of the year, in which the four archangels each in a certain season are most active in human organization: Gabriel working in the metabolism and food intake, which forms a basis for Rafael's functioning in the rhythmic system of breath and blood circulation, in which breath and circulation of the blood again support the mind over which Uriel exerts his influence. Finally, this entire sublimation from food to a clear mind in thinking activity is the essence that can result in the activity of Michael, in our outward directed deeds. (R. Steiner, 1912). The seventh was connected with Uriel, the quint with Rafael, the third with Gabriel and the ground tone with Michael.
Towards the end of this creative period in the 60's, archangel motifs were developed in sound, also by Dr. Pfrogner. The archangel motifs were composed out of sequences of thirds, reflecting the activity of these higher beings working together in the inner movement of the soul, furthering our healthy functioning in the etheric-physical body. These motives were performed at the festivities during the year in the homes, with eurythmy choreographies. Not only the music therapy for the individual child took place, but the entire community of staff and children was part of celebrations of festivities in which this more cosmic planetary music had a place. Compositions in the planetary scales and choreographies were made by the eurhythmist Sybranda Antonia Reeskamp and used for annual celebrations in the Christophorus home. She composed for various instruments.
A similar contribution for the community, in an individually difefrent style of composing in the planetary scales, was later made in Ireland by the pianist Marja Slotenmaker (1898-1990), who had moved from Christophorus to Ireland.
Dr. Hans Heinrich Engel, Dr. Pfrogner and the eurythmist Antonia Reeskamp further elaborated how the musical motifs of the planets and archangels had a place in the zodiac and the quint circle. From Dr. Engel came the contribution of the relationship of TAO with the different qualities of ether, the development of the four main organs (heart, lungs, liver and kidneys), related to the four archetypal zodiac signs Leo, Taurus, Scorpio and Aquarius. In 1967/1968 the creative period seems completed and everything is further elaborated with existing knowledge in anthroposophy about the relationship of our body to planets and zodiac. There were plans to make a book about the primordial archetypal images of the life processes, with phenomenon studies, drawings and notes, so that everything was well documented that had been developed through eurhythmic- and music phenomenon studies in the first years.
In the early years of anthroposophy, there had already been a first effort to use music in therapy in the Ita Wegman Klinik, the Lucas Klinik and in Wiesneck. The planetary scales connected to the days of the week were played, which was reported to have a positive effect on the patients. In Wiesneck one experimented with cultural periods to bring a spiritual retrograde development back into progress. (By moving from an older culture to a newer one). Source: manuscript about the development of music therapy.
In the beginning this use of music was not everywhere easily accepted by therapists and musicians in the Camp Hill homes. There was resistance, because one must first think and understand, whilst one is used to a different type of music experience, in which one can unconsciously enjoy and recognize what the music brings, whereas these planetary scales appeal to a more cosmically oriented and more fluid ethereal world in which our physical bodies are embedded. It requires the different attitude advocated by von Lange in listening to the tones and intervals. This approach through an inner effort to listen in a different way, was slowly gaining understanding during conferences and through additional training.
Through von Lange's work, sound series, interval series around a central tone up and down, also mirrored and vice versa, were now used in therapy. The sounds of these music therapies were played by the therapist sitting/ standing behind the child, so that it could be experienced as spatial around the child through hearing in a receptive manner. (not stressing the visual image of the therapist, in front of the child in the room).
To get an idea of the kind of effect of this "innere Bewegung" (inner movement) in listening to music, it is best to consult Rudolf Seiner's texts:
"...The process of assimilating air, however, is felt by the soul as something entirely of a soul-spirit nature, entirely pictorial. It appears in the form of an up-and down undulating tone-configuration, that gives shape to the developing embryonic body. The soul feels itself surrounded completely by undulating tone, and it is conscious of how it fashions its own body according to these tone forces. Thus, at that stage, human forms took shape that are not observable by present-day human consciousness in an external world".
("...den Vorgang der Luftaufnahme empfindet aber die Seele noch durchaus seelisch-geistig, noch als einen bildhaften. Er erscheint in Form von auf-und abwogenden Tonbildern, welche dem sich gliedernden Keim die Formen geben. Die Seele fühlt sich überall von Tonen umwogt, und sie empfindet, wie sie sich den Leib nach diesen Tonkraften ausgestaltet. Es bilden sich so Menschengestalten auf der damaligen Stufe aus, die fur ein gegenwartiges Bewusstsein in keiner Außenwelt beobachtet werden konnen".
Rudof Steiner's imagination: from the development of the earth stage in the Geheimwissenschaft, chapter die Weltentwicklung und der Mensch. (Rudolf Steiner, Die geheimwissenschaft im Umriss, 1955, Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart).
"Thus the human being had a vague notion of the play of universal harmonies in his physical body and in that part of the ether body that had remained united with it..."
(..Und so hatte the Menschenwesen eine Art, wie auch gedampfter Vorstellung von dem spielen der Weltenharmonien in seinem physischen Leibe und demjenigen Teile des Ätherleibes, der mit dem Physischen Leibe verbunden geblieben war ...)
"Through the activity of the sun beings and their harmonies the new-born body again reached its perfection and the process described above repeated itself. Man experienced this renewal as the donning of a new garment. The kernel of his being had not passed through an actual birth or death, it only had shed its skin, as it were, by passing over from a spiritual tone-consciousness in which it yielded itself up to the external world, to one in which it was turned more toward the inner life..."
("Durch die Wirkung der Sonnenwesen gestaltete sich of the neuborne Leib dann wieder in seiner Vollkommenheit aus und der oben geschilderte Vorgang wiederholte sich. Und der Mensch empfand diese Erneuerung wie das Anziehen eines neuen Kleides. Sein Wesenskern war nicht durchgegangen durch eine eigentliche Geburt oder einem Tode durchschritten; er war nur ubergegangen von einem geistigen Tonbewusstsein, in dem er hingegeben war an der Außenwelt, zu einem, in dem er mehr dem Inneren zugewendet war .... ")
Rudolf Steiner's imagination: from the lunar stage in the development of the etheric body, In Die geheimwissenschaft im Umriss, see above.
(Only a small selection from his impressive text, where the role of sound, tones and hearing can be found in various places).
It can be noted here, that this group of people understood that the "Geheimwissenschaft" ("Occult Science") and other texts by Steiner about the working of the hierarchies were morer than a story of some archaic creation process, that had taken place in a far distant past. Rather it was seen as a current creative process taking place in the present time, bringing about every individual human embodiment in the pre-birth phase of development and sustaining, nourishing and renewing our organisation throughout the time of life. Furthermore, it was understood that the creative powers and sounds that sustain life in us could be invoked to heal problems that have arisen in the preparation of the incarnation (from the pre-birth phase of development, between death and new birth), as well as for other disease processes that arise during the course of life.
This developmental history of our etheric and physical body, of all our bodies, in which higher beings worked and still are part of our present body, can only be seen internally, as was said in the first quotation: In the introspective meditative state of the mind, in our consciousness. In the old traditions one distinguishes the different states of consciousness: from birth onward during life: 1) waking consciousness focused on the world, 2) sleep state and 3) dream state. Then at the end of life the following phases: 4) leaving the body with the dissolving of the elements in the dying process, 5) the "in between"-time (often designated as Bardo states) that starts with the actual leaving of life out of the physical body, death and 6) passing into the phase of becoming for the new birth.
And 7) the separate state of consciousness practiced during life, called meditative absorption where the mind is 'awake', yet is withdrawn from the senses. The mind "sees" within itself what is there. In this state of mind one is, as in the time between death and new birth, unobstructed by the physical. One can move anywhere on the power of thought and in this state of consciousness, images of archaic character can come from a deep layer of the mind. Steiner calls this way of looking inward "reading in the akasha". It is important to realize that this reading does not take place in an outside world akasha, like often is assumed. Neither is it a collective unconscious, so named by Carl Gustav Jung. The images from this layer of our consciousness are highly individual! Not read in anything collective outside of us, but deeply within each individual mind. The mode of perception here is no longer dualistic of an individual vis-à-vis a world, or an individual vis-à-vis an akasha in the world outside, but of an individual perceiving its own origin while in unification with itself. This experience takes place in every individual mind, trained through meditation, although unique and individual, at the same time of a universal nature in the sense that every person has the aptitude to make these observations. In fact, the word history of origination is not entirely correct either, because in this state of mind there is no concept of time. "Phenomenon", spontaneous origination, or even mystery comes closer to the quality of these experiences and images. On a much deeper level a mystery than our dreams and certainly very much deeper compared to our sensory impressions in the waking consciousness. The word absorptive state is the best qualification.
Now this writer was briefly puzzled, since the oldest wisdom traditions bring these phenomena with the practice of meditation. Usually in the context of the dying process and the "in between state of consciousness" without a physical body. In this stage one can continue to work on the three higher bodies (that have been created in the germ within us), because the impediments of the physical world have fallen away. When we die, the phenomena and beings that are our origination, but in most cases not seen during our lives, appear again. We are transported toward an experience of ourselves, focused on those appearances, as we are no longer connected to a physical outer world. The meditator, prepares to be able to recognize in that phase of consciousness what the teachings say about the situation and to apply what has been practiced during life, namely directing the mind toward the self, inward, so that the consciousness is not lost. (The teaching about the continuity of consciousness through all forms of existence). The goal for the individual identity is to continue giving itself direction. Without training in life, one can be just as helpless in the face of these phenomena as a feather blown around through the winds of karma. If one has not practiced these things in life, one loses consciousness untill one regains it in the descent to the next incarnation. That is what traditional teaching says about the cycle of our lives. The descent process in the prebirth is not explained in all these implications, as Rudolf Steiner does in his Geheimwissenschaft. This descending phase is traditionally seen as the individual essence of a person who will once again assume a body. The amazing thing is that Steiner turns it into a kind of total world creation history more than a reincarnation process of a human individual: developing awareness of the incarnation process in its connection with all phases and stages (called saturnus, sun, moon, earth stage), a grand world plan. The aim of this approach seems to be to re-spiritualize life in this physical form by working in a fruitful way in many areas related to therapy, health, and upbringing. As it were, in order to guarantee and guard, in this earthly existence, the predisposition in us for future phases of development.
This is equally the purpose of ancient esoteric teachings, such as the thousands of years old Buddhism, where in every mantra it is recalled: "After purifying the three poisons (ignorance, attachment and hatred), may we soon reach full Buddhahood of dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya, the three aspects of the embodiment of a Buddha, kaya means body and Buddha is a developmental goal and not exclusively linked to the historical personalities that became Buddha, such as the last great Buddha Sakyamuni. The three "bodies" are the transformation of the (physical) body, of the speech (etheric body) and of the mind, renamed by Steiner as: Geistes Mensch, Lebensgeist and Geistselbst).
It is not the intention to flee the world, since there is no other place to go. The goal is to "free" all creatures from the unenlightened state of consciousness. Even making the vow not to rest until the very last being is "liberated." This liberation can also be understood as the realization of the three future bodies. People anticipate the development of earth and man.
In the eurhythmy one already has a situation of a more "enlightened body", (According to Steiner one moves with the eurhythmy in the transformed bodies Lebensgeist and Geistselbst (In other words Sambhogakaya and Dharmakaya), in the sense that here the ethereal flowing speech body is used and the emphasis is not on the physical body, the physical body is maintained and kept healthy by the etheric force body, and in the eurhythmy one focuses on the space of consciousness around the figure, whereby the ethereal flow passes both outside the body and through the body, can also move within the body itself. In music therapy the emphasis is on the relationship between the more peripheral space in which the sounds are and the influx into the etheric body where sound unfolds. Experiencing this as an event, as a phenomenon. Without too much switching to outward looking consciousness and thinking. It is understandable that Dr. Hermann Pfrogner was able to work out his inspirations in close collaboration with a eurhythmist.
On the internet at Amazon I once read a review of the "Occult science" in English-language. The reader exclaimed: "this is better than science fiction!" When it comes to imaginations and grand images, visions, the question is relevant whether the therapeutic insights derived from this are effective. Whether something is provable is much less relevant: there is so much that is experimentally discovered and applied further, discoveries through inspired ideas or even by chance. The only way to "verify" these contents is through the introspective way with meditation. Precisely there are thousands of years of practice and "reporting" available that led to similar findings and systems. Human consciousness has not changed that much at the individual level. It is the philosophy or doctrine, the explanation and the systematization of the experience that takes a culturally determined form. The experience itself is universal. As Steiner indicated in his introductions to the book Geheimwissenschaft, he consulted ancient wisdom to compare his own experiences and to search for a language in which these experiences could be described. Initially he still used the Eastern names, as was customary in theosophy. He later developed his own names. As a result, the origin of these concepts has sometimes been expressed in a very original way, but has also sometimes been lost and it may seem that something totally new has been created. For in-depth study it would be good if the sources he used were known. The authenticity of Steiner's own experience is not at discussion. Individual experience and written records, systems of teaching, are two different things.
This group of pioneers in music therapy took a deepening path through hearing the tones, in combination with Steiner's texts, in order to arrive at an effective and beneficial addition to the therapy. The test was the effect that this therapy had on the children: Several times I read in the reports that medication could be reduced by using this music therapy. I did not name everyone or did justice to every person involved in those early days. From the very beginning, there were also Lies Lebret (music teacher) and Maria Schuppel (1923-2011), a true pioneer, who founded the first training for music therapy in Berlin in 1963 and led it unto 1993. This "Musiktherapeutische Arbeitsstatte Berlin" still exists. I met many of this group of people, in the early 60s as a high school student and later as a starting eurythmy student. Experienced and practiced all mirroring scales and developed motifs with the Eurythmist. Recorded compositions in the planets scales are in my possession and I would like to make them available where useful for eurhythmy or music therapy. (if digitization would succeed). After some research I was happy to find the continuation of these initiatives in a training called "Orpheus Schule" for Musiktherapy, officially recognized and now under the umbrella of the ATKA (Anthroposophical Academy for Therapy and Art). This training appears to be a continuation of an earlier attempt by music therapist Johanna Spalinger to run a school. I have briefly commented on musical developments, as readers are certainly not all musicians. If interested, I refer to the study program, their courses and the literature mentioned.
It was said then, more tan 50 years ago: The future development of consciousness will be through music, but it is not time for that yet, we are to early. These days I have more hope for an understanding, as people are more interested and open to an introspective and meditative way of experiencing. Meditation and mindfulness are advertised everywhere. Still the field of music is a specialized one. Tone meditation as a portal to deeper insights certainly even more seldom. But seen what it has led to in this group of pioneers, the gain could be very valuable and beneficial for many.
Beilharz, Gerhard: Acht Jahrzehnte Musik in der anthroposophischen Heilpädagogik. In: Beilharz, G. (Hrsg.): Musik in Pädagogik und Therapie. Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-7725-2237-8, S. 79–90.
Bock, Friedwart: Hans Heinrich Engel. In: Forschungsstelle Kulturimpuls. Abgerufen am 4. November 2017.
Engel, Hans-Heinrich: Musikalische Anthropologie, Verlag der medizinische Sektion am Goetheanum, Dornach, 1999
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Goethe, J.W. Zur Farbenlehre, 1810
Von Lange, Annie: Anthroposophische Beiträge zur Musiklehre, (Verlag nicht ermittelbar), 1949
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Lindau, Simone , nachgesehen und korrigiert von Maurer, Marlise: Entwicklung der Anthroposophischen Musiktherapie in der Welt, niet gepubliceerd Pdf manuscript, 2016 (containing several inaccuracies)
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Von Wesen und Wertung neuer Harmonik, Steeger, Bayreuth, 1949.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Die Zwölf Ordnung der Töne, Amalthea, Zürich, 1953.
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Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Die sieben Lebensprozesse. Eine musiktherapeutische Anregung, Die Kommenden, Freiburg 1978.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Leben und Werk. Versuch einer Lebensbeschreibung, Novalis, Schaffhausen 1985.
Pfrogner Dr. Hermann: Zeitwende der Musik. Rückblicke – Ausblicke, Langen Müller, München und Wien 1986.
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Steiner, Rudolf: Geheimwissenschaft im Umriss, Leipzig 1910, 1913, 1920, Dornach 1925, 1930, 1937, 1938, 1946, Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart, 1948, 1955.
Steiner, Rudolf, Das Wesen des Musikalischen und das Tonerlebnis im Menschen, Rudolf Steiner Verlag Dornach, 1989
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