Music: The connection of the spiritual world to the physical world.

I want to thank you Jesus.
I want to thank you God.
I want to thank you for everything you've done.
Praise the Lord for your Son.

What is this about? Underlying cantor. When I look up the word “Cantor” in the dictionary, it gives the definition of a noun, a person who leads the singing at church. I want to use it as an adjective to describe the rhythms a songwriter may place in a song as a subliminal message far beyond what we are aware of with today's knowledge. Only know that it works. Maybe the correct word is or should be “Cantorial”?

I just used an old dictionary (the kind printed on paper) and maybe the best version of the word I'm looking for is “cantus”.

I believe Barak Obama uses this in his speeches. Almost all rock groups with a hit song, use this technique in their music. I will only demonstrate the basics, and not get into where the stresses should be placed.

It is simple, so simple that it may become complicated by “Einstein like” people such as myself (great at theory, but can't tie a shoe).

The very first lines of this article (4 of them) in the song above, please take a look at them. Let's break them down to their basic syllables.

La La La La La La La
La La La La La La
La La La La La La La La La La La La
La La La La La La

At this point it is not necessary to make a melody, yet. But if you do.... then stress placement becomes involved. I'm telling you... this is such a simple concept. Usually, a rock song might use a suggestive cantus for evil purposes. “I want to -bleep- you like an animal”, by Nine Inch Nails skips the subliminal part and just lays it out there.

He could have sang, “I want to love you like my momma would”, which sounds like a warm and endearing thing to say, but the underlying “cantor” was evil, and still is (if you consider -bleeping- like an animal an evil thing).

To use this.... yes. Okay, so perhaps I would “pre-cantor” my song by writing the underlying message of good, or bad, or enlightenment, or whatever emotion you can think of. Maybe I want to convince the voter's to vote for me. So the underlying cantus would be, “Vote for me or you will lose”.

Vote for me or you will lose
La La La La La La La

Now, when you write the song about your 67 chevy (nothing to do with the sublimal cantus), your message will come through to the masses. How? I don't know. But chanting has been used for thousands of years. It will work in your music too.

Every line in the song should have this underlying cantus (your “spiritual” connection to the listener – good or bad). You can send a different subliminal message in your verse, and a different one in your chorus. The key point is to keep pounding your subliminal message.... over and over and over again.

What is happening? Even though the words to my song will not be, “Vote for me or you will lose”, as I score the music, the underlying words will cause my music to convey the secret message (maybe through the vibrations of the guitar strings, how I sing the melody to the actual words to the song... or, hell I really don't know).

And if it works for evil, it will work even better for good. By the way, you can “Vote for me and win”, if you want a positive stroke instead of a negative (which even more suggests good or evil).

If none of this makes sense, go light up a doobie (talking to my Amsterdam friends), and then re-read this article. Make Jimi proud.

Peace Out, Gary Ruff

(I think music is a connection from the spiritual world to the physical world.)