New Zealander Justin St. Vincent recently released an online book entitled, "The Spiritual Significance of Music." When I found out about his project, I immediately contacted him. Since I've had such a powerful, life-changing experience with rock 'n' roll and spirituality, I was very interested in what he discovered through asking musicians and sound healers from all over the world one question: What is the Spiritual Significance of Music? Below is our interview on February 9, 2009. Find out more about this fascinating look at spirituality and music at Justin's website xtreme music. LF: Can you tell me a bit about your book, “The Spiritual Significance of Music”?
JSV: “The Spiritual Significance of Music” explores the dynamic relationship between music and spirituality. After several years of extensive research, I have produced a portfolio series structured around exclusive interviews with authors and musicians. I greatly admire and appreciate all the contributors to this project, and it has been a real blessing to be introduced to an incredible variety of perspectives on music and spirituality.
LF: What inspired you to put together such a massive project?
JSV: Inspiration is a funny thing. Sometimes inspiration can begin like a spark, and then it quickly rages like an uncontrollable fire that is birthed in the soul, and blossomed by the spirit. I imagine it was probably my passion for exploring music and studying spirituality that propelled this project forward. The anthology grew over many years, and continues to develop at an exponential rate. The colossal and epic nature of this massive project is attracting many music-makers and music-lovers. It is truly wonderful to witness a diverse audience being exposed to “The Spiritual Significance of Music”.
LF: What is your own background with music? How has it inspired you personally?
Music found me at an early age, and has been miraculously life-changing ever since. By my university years, music had sparked an intense interest and it was then that I was invited to be a radio DJ. I started to produce my own radio programs under the audaciously vague title of Xtreme Music on Xtreme Radio. That spawned a successful portfolio of award-winning radio shows on both sides of the Atlantic, achieving a worldwide listenership over a four-year involvement with student radio. My enthusiasm for the power of broadcasting continues into my professional career in radio and television advertising, marketing, and sales. Exploring new music and researching spirituality worldwide are personal development goals that I love and naturally hold close to my heart.
LF: How did you gather responses to the question, “What is the spiritual significance of music?” Email, an interview in person, a variety of ways?
JSV: “The Spiritual Significance of Music” involved over three-thousand interview invitations being sent via e-mail, and around one-hundred personal letter invitations were mailed to individual musicians. E-mail was the best method to compile hundreds of interview responses. Each response explores the intimate nature of music and spirituality. I then produced a brief biography, editorial edition, and layout preview for each contributor who very kindly provided fantastic feedback from their interview invitation. Every response was then checked and cleared, ready for proofing towards “The Spiritual Significance of Music”.
LF: Based upon the responses you received from over 500 musicians, authors, healers, etc… to your question, “What is the spiritual significance of music?” what major themes emerged?
JSV: It is incredible to witness the wonderfully iridescent responses to “What do you believe is the spiritual significance of music?”. Many major themes emerged from authors and musicians including the power of sound, the healing nature of music, and the incredibly powerful influence and impact music has on the human spirit. Authors Edition provided an extremely intellectual treatment of well-documented and well-researched findings in sound and spirituality. The reoccurring aspects were fascinating because responses were coming from different expressions of faith. This greatly benefited my intention to create a portfolio offering readers a holistic exploration of thoughts on music and spirituality. Each contributor has offered a unique thought, which has been highlighted in their quotable quote from their interview response. Hopefully the project’s “Encore” conclusion has encapsulated the major themes that emerged throughout the each edition of the anthology.
LF: Were there any major surprises, or responses that you didn’t expect?
Always. I was frequently challenged, inspired, and surprised by many of the interview responses, especially those that differ greatly from my personal beliefs about music and spirituality. Nevertheless, I feel that I’ve learnt something new from every contributor, and I greatly value their input towards this publication project. Metal Edition repeated provides me with food for thought, and has been the most popular edition with online readers. This challenging edition continues to attract many more explorers towards each of the portfolios freely available online via Xtreme Music.
LF: Can you share excerpts from two or three of your favorite responses? Why are these particular insights so meaningful to you?
JSV: I love the brutally honest response from Billy Gould, bassist in Faith No More, who says: “Personally, I’m not sure whether there is any spiritual “side” of music, but there is a spiritual significance of life…” I enjoy this interview excerpt because it was this response that initiated my thinking away from “The Spiritual Significance of Music”, and focused a personal belief towards the spiritual significance of people. I also love the spiritual potency that Rigel Walshe, bassist and vocalist in Dawn Of Azazel, credits towards music: “Few things in the modern world can rival the significance of music.” A couple of weeks after this interview response was received, I had the spontaneous pleasure of meeting Rigel at a Stigma gig showcasing cover-songs on winter’s night at the Rose and Crown on Customs Street here in Auckland, New Zealand. There are literally hundreds of insights that are meaningful to me, but it’s much more fun to be the silent witness seeing readers exploring the insights they enjoy.
LF: Is there any performer or band that you would have liked to have received a response but didn’t?
JSV: There are many more musicians that I would have loved to feature within this interview portfolio. Three major influences that are not included within the anthology include: Mike Patton, Trey Spruance, and John Zorn. However, the project continues to amass an amazing amount of interest from music-makers worldwide, so the exciting news is that there will be plenty more musicians added to the portfolios every month.
LF: In the Encore PDF (available on your website www.xtrememusic.org) which summarizes your findings, you use the acronym P.I.C.T.U.R.E.S to illustrate that The Spiritual Significance of Music paints P.I.C.T.U.R.E.S on a canvas of silence. Can you take one of the letters, say P for Pursing Passion or T for Touching Transcendence, and give an overview of what that means to a music lover?
You are absolutely right, “Encore” does try to encapsulate a summary of this anthology, based on the acronym P.I.C.T.U.R.E.S:
Pursuing Passion
Initiating Intention
Cultivating Community
Touching Transcendence
Underscoring Unity
Receiving Resonance
Experiencing Ecstasy
Sourcing Spirituality
JSV: This was one of many ways I wanted to offer readers some conclusions from “The Spiritual Significance of Music”. It also provides a framework for my personal perspectives to answer the question: “What do you believe is the spiritual significance of music?” I hope that music-makers and music-lovers are blessed by some of the thoughts expressed in the “Encore”. It was produced to give seekers with some answers, and to encourage readers to explore more. I continue to enjoy producing additions to these portfolio because it providers readers with a reflection of various perspectives, without any religious agenda, and without promoting one belief system above another. In doing so, I hope this portfolio series offers a holistic approach to exploring music and spirituality.
Touching Transcendence can be the ultimate experience for a music lover. It is also strongly associated with Receiving Resonance and Experiencing Ecstasy, and it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between these important aspects of “The Spiritual Significance of Music”. Every music lover experiences sound in a special way because music resonates with the human spirit, and your spirit is as unique as your finger print. I enjoy Touching Transcendence as it is the purest and most profound feeling that can be an absolute and abundant blessing to the soul. Some music lovers may believe that Touching Transcendence brings them closer to God.
LF: What is your intention with The Spiritual Signficance of Music? What impact do you hope it has, and where are you headed personally...another book?
JSV: My intention is simply to bless readers worldwide with an exploration through music and spirituality. I anticipate music-makers and music-lovers will enjoy exploring, searching, and discovering “The Spiritual Significance of Music”. My hope is that many more musicians will continue to invite their friends, family, and fans to explore this epic anthology of exclusive interviews. I also anticipate producing an exclusive Special Edition that provides readers with unreleased responses from a secret selection of interviews with noteworthy authors and popular musicians. In addition, my next publication project is: “SOURCING SPIRITUALITY: A SPIRITUAL COMPASS IN FAITH, HOPE & LOVE”.
LF: Thank you for your time Justin.