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John Levine writes music you're not supposed to listen to and while you're not listening, you're being lead along a route cleverly calculated to go ... nowhere. Exposed to this sound, your mind relaxes, focus and concentration improves, muscles ease. Levine suggests this kind of music may even help the body recover more speedily from illness. It is this hope, the most ambitious and yet to be proven, that impels his ambition and fires up his gift.
John was a graduate of the Sydney University School of Music.
However he turns as easily from avante garde classical to rock, TV commercials to original scores for modern ballet.
In his twenties, he was offered a chance at second keyboard for Dire Straits, then at the height of their fame. You might think this the opportunity of a lifetime, but not to John Levine: "I looked at the band members", he says, "I saw a group of lonely, sad, dispirited men. No way was I going there." He turned down the offer.
He set up a professional recording studio and conventional success followed. Levine collaborated on productions with local legends, INXS and Midnight Oil and played with award-winning band, Katmandu. As musical director and composer for the Kinetic Energy Dance Company he wrote original pieces for modern dance productions. He was spotted by the advertising industry and produced material for such major names as Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann Ericsson, on accounts for Max Factor, Coca-Cola and others.
Music, meditation and well-being
But another thread runs through John’s tale. At university Levine became deeply interested in meditation. He studied at the Sydney Transcendental Meditation Center and then pursued a wider, more varied understanding of meditational practices. Alpha Relaxation with Jacob Bloom, Systematic Desensitization Relaxation Techniques at the University of NSW, Mind Language with Robert Murphy.
He was also introduced to the newly fledged "relaxation" or "new age" music and was vastly under-impressed. While he understood the underlying idea, that music can influence and improve emotional wellbeing, he felt the available material lacked emotional depth, intelligence and intent.
At the same time, he discovered the music of Keith Jarrett, legendary composer and pianist. "Just on a meditational, feeling, heart level, Keith Jarrett [has always had] a profound influence on my musical core. I went to a performance at the Sydney Opera House and he played a piece where I felt like he "tranced himself" and the concert hall into another galaxy."
Levine thought deeply and read widely about the palliative role of music in all societies. He felt that if music was properly conceived and executed it formed a natural synergy with meditation. He suspected this combination might not only enhance your sense of physical well-being but also help you focus and absorb information more efficiently and with less effort.
He was energised by Don Campbell's best-seller, The Mozart Effect, which caused a worldwide sensation in the early '90s. Campbell had picked up on a study by US researcher, Francis Rauscher, who suggested that the motoristic music of composers like Mozart and Bach can positively affect learning skills. Though this idea and Campbell's book are now frequently questioned, they galvanised awareness of music beyond pure entertainment and still fuel debate and active engagement in research.
Levine also took on board the work of Alfred Tomatis, a maverick French doctor. Tomatis studied the organic function of the ear and its relationship to the brain. Among many groundbreaking insights, he proposed that the voice cannot reproduce what the ear cannot hear; this concept, known as "the Tomatis Effect", is now generally accepted medical theory. Above all, Tomatis explored how sound brings about changes in our behaviour and mood. He applied his theories to autistic children with dramatic, if controversial results. His methods are used in specialised centres around the world.
More than anything else, Levine was inspired by research into brain waves. Beginning with Dr Hans Berger in 1908, there has been ongoing study into frequencies, or waves, of brain function: alpha, beta, theta and delta waves have been identified. Each of these brain frequencies has been found to stimulate different states of emotional and behavioural excitation or calm, creativity or action.
The more he learned, the more certain Levine became that he could write music deliberately aimed at stimulating the brain to produce the waves we need to function at different levels. For instance, when we want to intensify concentration, retain information and study more productively, we could listen to music that "makes" the brain operate at low alpha-high theta level, optimum for the job.
Encouraged by his discoveries and egged on by friends, Levine wrote, played and recorded a 60-minute composition he called "Silence of Peace". It's a strange title until you consider the amount and volume of "chatter" that crowds our brains every waking moment and how we might feel if there was less inner clamour.
Levine suggests that four minutes into listening to "Silence of Peace", our brain waves may "notch down" to alpha state. This is the same mental calm and freedom we enjoy when we first wake from relaxed sleep. Quite a claim. But tantalising for anyone who battles to balance the sensory and emotional overload of our urban lives!
In 2002-3, Levine composed and recorded seven CDs of original music. He wrote three companion pieces to "Silence of Peace", each designed to stimulate the brain in specific ways. "Silence of Spirit", "Silence of Balance" and "Silence of Heart" not only provoke mood change, they represent Levine's understanding of metaphysics, the balance of body, mind and soul.
"Silence of Heart" is Levine's special favourite. He recorded it in one, continuous session where he entered such a profound state of entrancement, that he cannot recollect actually playing the music. Listening to the tapes the day after, he thought the engineer had mistakenly tagged another artist's work onto his!
He also produced "Siesta in the Orange Grove", "Amber" and two volumes of children's melodies, "My Little Sea Shells".
Alphamusic
Levine named the rebirth of his musical career Alphamusic, to signify the importance he places on alpha waves. The brain produces alpha waves when our mind is completely relaxed, for instance, as we awaken from deep sleep, or when we meditate. In this state we are most likely to have our most creative insights and experiences.
He shows nursery school teachers how to use Alphamusic to calm their kids. With glee, he tells of a phone-call where a teacher reports that one of her 3 year-olds independently chose a John Levine CD and placed it in the player because, said the little one, the class needed to "calm down"!
At St Matthews' Primary School in Cambridge, his music is played during all Math's classes, as well as during exams. According to their headmaster, the school plans to adopt this as a general practice.
John Levine plans to conduct a number of Alphamusic lectures and workshops. If you would like to know more about an Alphamusic Workshop, or have John make a presentation to your special interest group, please call, +44 08451 302 854 or email John at