Notes from the Field Station: Himalayan Singing Bowls
Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2011
Art, music and meditation came together at the Sandy Edmiston Labyrinth on May 23 when Barbara Elliott, a local graphic art designer and member of the New Wilmington Kiwanis Club, presented a dramatic program with an ancient art-form: singing bowls made of various metals and quartz crystal.
Handheld bowls vibrate and produce sound when stroked on the outer rim with a small rod; much as a wineglass does when rubbed with a finger.
Ms. Elliott described the bowls that she has collected: two of amalgamated metals and one of pure quartz. When she stroked the outer edges of the bowls, sound waves reverberated throughout the Labyrinth on an evening when only bird songs could otherwise be heard. She said her bowls have individual personalities. Each will "sing" at a frequency that varies with temperature and humidity. Some bowls, she said, may even "refuse to sing" under certain circumstances.
She allowed members of the Kiwanis Club to try their hands at making a bowl sing. Most of those who tried succeeded.
She gave a brief history of singing bowls. Buddhist Monks in Tibetan monasteries of the Himalayan Mountains made the bowls and used them in meditation. They spread from there throughout Asia at least 3,000 years ago.
Wikipedia states, "today singing bowls are employed worldwide both within and without spiritual traditions, for meditation, music, relaxation, personal well-being and religious practice. Singing bowls are used in health care by oncologists, psychotherapists, massage therapists, recovery, stress and meditation specialists. They are popular in classrooms to help facilitate group activities and focus students' attention."
The Kiwanis Club members found one more occasion to experience Westminster's Field Station, a place not just for science but also for art, music and meditation - the whole person.
Clarence Harms, Director
Field Station
724-946-6001
harmsc@westminster.edu
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