Steven Halpern - A conversation with the guru who invented new age music

Halpern, a New Yorker born in 1947, came up in the Sixties with a passion for jazz; before long, however, his drive to find solutions poised between composition and improvisation led him toward the shores of sonic esotericism, extreme minimalism, and microtonal possibilities drawn from Eastern folk tradition, experimenting mainly with piano and synthesizers. Unlike the ambient music coined by Britain's Brian Eno around the same period — we're in the mid-Seventies — "New Age" music was not conceived as background for life's many situations; it rose instead to the role of accompaniment in the endless process of self-improvement that human beings aspire to, becoming the translation into notes of a biophilic, spiritual impulse, with no need to affiliate with this or that religion. These were the early days of modern music therapy, later developed scientifically over the following decades by institutions such as those of Dr. Rolando Benenzon and Cliff Madsen.

Bringing back down to Planet Earth the most ethereal intuitions of the German "cosmic couriers," Halpern gave rise to a genre that has since branched out into hundreds of styles and variants, a genre shared with fellow travelers who have since gone down in history (above all, Iasos and Constance Demby), as well as an inevitable trail of copycats or, worse, peddlers of hokum.

From his ecstatic 1975 debut “Christening For Listening” to the present day, Halpern has enjoyed a prolific, award-winning career, racking up record sales while stubbornly pursuing new challenges and collaborations that could expand the ability of sound to open up the soul and transfigure it - revealing, through a music that becomes light, the face of a man returning to his divine origin.

Steven, you were born a jazz musician; how did you arrive at the epiphany of new age?

After studying every chord, scale and combination thereof, I found it easy to write sophisticated, catchy melodies. But when I was invited to play with certain incredible jazz musicians - people with a style and intensity comparable to Coltrane's, to give you an idea - I realized I no longer had control of the situation, or rather, the music was coming out of my trumpet unfiltered by ego. I understand now that this was the first evolutionary step in preparing me to connect mind and body with my muse, opening me up to the possibility of music that came not from me, but through me. I had read that, in ancient times, artists spoke directly to their muses, and I prayed that I too might be able to connect with them. This was during my college years, and from then on I wanted to learn everything there was to know about Enlightenment. From 1969 onward, my spiritual growth influenced my musical discoveries, and vice versa.

When you finally got to the recording studio, were you prepared?

The first time I set foot in a recording studio, I understood that it would represent, both physically and psychically, the “Sacred Temple of Sound” for the rest of my life. And there, on more than one occasion, I experienced visions of past lives and remembered music I had heard in other eras. Concrete examples are the invocation chants found on the albums “Ancient Echoes”, “Eastern Peace” and “Hear To Eternity”, in which the five sacred vowels are intoned. Even though I knew how to make audible the sounds resonating in my head, though, I would never have been able to do what I did without the four sound engineers I've worked with over the years. What motivated me was the desire to capture on record that meditative music I had begun performing live. At the time there were no albums entirely conceived this way - at most you'd find a couple of tracks here and there, tucked in as a kind of diversion. What I wanted, instead, was for the listener to remain in that “zone,” especially during specific experiences like meditation, holistic massage and making love. I knew there was an audience out there with the same need I had. So, through a genuine cosmic coincidence, at a Christmas dinner in 1974 I was introduced to the owner of a vinyl production studio, and the following week I became his very first client.

Does such a heightened perception of music also come with drawbacks?

Like many other spiritual seekers, my body and mind have become extremely sensitive to noise and dissonance.

Let's settle this once and for all - what exactly is meant by “new age” music?

My contribution to defining the term was aimed at identifying a music of elevation, one that would bring harmony to the mind as well as to the spirit and body. The timbres of the instruments were meant to be soothing, never sustained, with fluid rhythms uninterested in landing on the beat and lacking any obvious rhythmic center.

How does it differ from ambient?

From the mid-70s through to the end of the decade, what we now consider ambient was often lumped together with new age. I remember a 1978 interview on a San Francisco radio station with Brian Eno, in which he admitted he knew my work. The term he coined, in fact, sidestepped the stigma some attached to new age. A few decades later, though, ambient also came to mean that digital electronic music often associated with the rave scene. If you think about it, even subgenres like EDM or chillout are often used interchangeably. In 1995 I even discovered that my album “Spectrum Suite” had been played in the chill room of a rave. What a wonderful thing!

Is there one album that best sums you up?

The one I prefer is, precisely, “Spectrum Suite”/“Chakra Suite”, because it launched my career, giving me a standing rooted deeply in science, spirituality and even the art of healing. “Spectrum Suite” drew the attention of magazines, radio and TV programs not only in the States but also in Europe and Japan, and so I was one of the first musicians to discuss these subjects with music as the starting point.

What do you remember about recording “Christening For Listening”, surely your first masterpiece?

It was 1975, and it was the first time my engineer and I had recorded a Rhodes piano. The moment I put my hands on the keyboard, the instrument's slow vibrato carried me into that deep state of peace typical of Alpha/Theta brainwaves. I recorded the entire A-side in a single take, without needing any overdubs. I had, in fact, spent three years practicing a sequence of seven key notes, from C to B, in order to acoustically resonate the seven chakras. I have to be honest: a lot of people had asked me to record an album, but at the time all I had was that A-side, and I had no idea what to put on the B-side. So I recorded some improvised pieces and invited composer and multi-instrumentalist Iasos into the studio, who simply said: “Just start the music, I don't even want to know what key it's in.” That's how he recorded these incredible flute melodies, playing with the echo effect. But I was still 12 minutes short. So I called up a drummer friend I had played with back in my jazz days; with no rehearsal at all, we improvised - him on drums, me on bass - and I then overdubbed trumpet, guitar and Rhodes. To this day I don't understand how we managed to lock into each other's tempo and dynamic changes. I had more fun than ever; I titled that medley “Something For Every Body”, a love letter to my formative years in jazz-rock. However, in later reissues, which I renamed “Spectrum Suite”, urged on by therapists who found that rockier section unworkable, I ended up replacing it with “soundscapes” made of drones. A couple of years ago I got an email from a DJ telling me that B-side had instead become the “Holy Grail” for many vinyl collectors; apparently what's especially prized is the off-kilter drum solo, which some hip-hop artists ended up sampling. And who would have expected that... nobody ever asked me for permission. And since the cover, depicting a philodendron leaf, was mistaken by certain religious fanatics for female genitalia, I decided to choose a different one, which I used for the 1985 digital version, depicting a musical rainbow harmonizing the Earth. The reissues in the new millennium, titled “Chakra Suite”, feature yet another cover, one that finally illustrates the relationship between the seven key notes, the seven colors of the rainbow, and the seven chakras.

What's new about “Chakra Suite”?

With the arrival of the CD format, we could finally say goodbye to the hiss of cassette tape, which had been distracting when listening at a deep level. The idea was to revisit the sequence of the seven chakras. I worked in a studio that had the very latest Sony digital recorder and Dolby SR: I recorded simultaneously on both, and then compared the warmth of the sound according to my needs. In the second part of the album I added some previously unreleased material, since the length of the CD allowed for it.

Is yours a mission?

I've always felt I was called to educate the public, doctors, psychotherapists and professionals active in the holistic field about the benefits that come from listening to music composed expressly to uplift the listener, and to support a harmonious healing of body, mind and spirit.

What drives your inspiration today?

It moves through always different approaches. Sometimes I sense a small theme in a dream or during meditation, and so, the next time I have a recording session planned, I reconnect with that state of consciousness and make audible what had come to me. When I'm about to record, I invoke my spirit guides, angels, beings from higher dimensions, as well as certain classical European composers, not unlike what the spiritualist Rosemary Brown did in the recordings made by the BBC in 1969. Since the pandemic, it sometimes happens that I listen back to one of my old tracks and, at a certain moment - say, at 2 minutes and 22 seconds - it triggers in me the awareness of a new composition. Sometimes only the melodic line comes to me. Sometimes the composition arrives complete. I can't explain why, but, as I once heard someone say, "divine gifts should not be questioned, but understood and accepted with gratitude". A very different approach from when I was a jazz-rock musician caught up in my own ego. Back then, I remember our teacher, the legendary jazz musician Ron Carter, demanded eight hours a day of study and practice: that's how I spent my summer holidays, in 1968 and 1969.

A common thread in your compositional approach?

I've always incorporated a lot of space, a lot of silence, between the notes. I was recording in "Conscious" mode before that term took on the meaning it has today.

How has your musical vision changed over time?

For a musician like me, not well-versed in the engineering side of music, the arrival of polyphonic synthesizers greatly expanded my palette of colors, giving me an almost inexhaustible range of timbres and textures. With the advent of digital recording through ProTools and various editing software, I was finally able to apply tiny frequency permutations to individual notes. One case above all is my third album, “Starborn Suite”, from 1978. When it came out, I knew full well that the final edit didn't reflect the sound I had in my head. Now, with new technology, I've created exactly the crossfade effect I felt inside myself when I composed it.

Details that an average listener might notice?

I doubt it. But I can hear them, and that too is part of my work as a servant of Music. The 2001 legacy version of “Starborn Suite” finally does justice to the incredible events that led to this album, which represents one of my earliest artistic evolutions.

This one is from John Coltrane: “Forget the rules, it's the feeling that counts”. Are there rules you would never break?

Coltrane said many other inspired things, take his poem printed on the back cover of “A Love Supreme”. One of my university professors refused to pass me because I had broken the rules he expected me to follow. I explained to him that I had followed my own rules. In music, though, the only thing that really matters is this: when I listen to a piece of music, does it uplift my spirit?

What conclusions have your experiments with Kirlian photography led you to?

To conclusions that were evident to all the researchers who studied the phenomenon. We compared biofeedback measurements of brainwaves (EEG), electrodermal activity (already used in a pioneering way on plants by researcher Cleve Backster), and Kirlian photography, which reproduces the human aura, on people listening to relaxing classical music pieces and some of my own compositions. The results were striking. The subjects analyzed, men and women aged 18 to 80, showed a significant reduction in stress and a harmonization of brainwaves in the Alpha/Theta states when listening to my music, rather than the classical pieces.

How do you explain that?

Three reasons. The first: intention. Most music isn't composed with the explicit intention of relaxing or healing. Second: most traditional music has been conceived using the brain's left hemisphere rather than the organ as a whole. Third: a lot of music is built on a tension/release paradigm that unconsciously generates stress. You can find more on this by searching my Youtube channel for the video "The scalus interruptus syndrome".

I'm listening again to the album "Listen And Lose Weight" and I wonder in what concrete way music can actually help.

Every album containing subliminal affirmations taps precisely into the subconscious power of the mind. Our brain is an extraordinarily sensitive instrument that, visually, picks up images outside the center of our gaze that we're not consciously aware of. In the same way, it can perceive statements below the threshold of conscious awareness. A colleague of mine, Dr. Eldon Taylor, has written books on brain physiology that technically explain how this phenomenon occurs.

Couldn't this simply be a placebo effect?

Let me give you an example. I was working on a series of tapes for a European company and had to include affirmations in a language I didn't know. The theme was "Massage Music", but while I was working on it, I kept falling asleep. Later on I discovered that the company had mistakenly given us affirmations meant to induce sleep. So even though I thought I was listening to relaxation affirmations for a massage session, my brain was "reading" words urging me to sleep. The most surprising thing is that the information came through in a language I didn't understand. Obviously, since the experts couldn't find an explanation, they simply concluded that no subliminal effect was possible. But my series of albums with subliminal affirmations, from 1980 to today, has sold millions of copies worldwide.

A field that inevitably lends itself to scams as well.

I'd be lying if I didn't tell you: in the mid-1990s an Italian label released albums that were marketed as containing subliminal affirmations, using my music. The same thing happened in Germany, Spain and Holland. But I had nothing to do with those releases. I've always acted with the utmost integrity, so when people said to me, "Well, how will the listener ever notice the bluff if the words aren't audible anyway?", I simply replied, "The problem is that I know." I filed a lawsuit, which, obviously, I won.

432 Hz music: Iasos told me that, in his view, it's a con, and that at best it's a placebo effect that could be exposed with a "blind" listening test.

My view isn't completely different from Iasos's, but I'd say it's more nuanced. There are many stories told about how and why the tuning of A came to be fixed at 440 Hz rather than 432 Hz. Few people know that, in Mozart's time, compositions were performed within a range oscillating between 428 and 430 Hz, and this varied from city to city and country to country. It should be pointed out, first of all, that there's a lot of bad music circulating online whose only selling point is being tuned to 432 Hz. So we shouldn't generalize. I'll go further: I was one of the first musicians to state that bad music at 432 Hz isn't better than good music at 440 Hz, and the proof is that much of my own music is at 440 Hz and works beautifully. From a scientific standpoint, however, I acknowledge that 432 Hz is a harmonic of the 8 Hz that characterizes the Schumann Resonance, that is, the set of electromagnetic resonances of planet Earth — its brainwave, so to speak. Unfortunately I've never had access to a grand piano tuned to 432 Hz, so I haven't been able to make thorough comparisons. My synthesizer, on the other hand, is tuned to 432 Hz.

And what has your experience been?

First of all, the sound comes out more muted, and naturally the music will sit lower in pitch. But I once had a seminal experience. I was recording the album "Om Zone 432 Hz" and, while mixing a track with Melissa Phillipe's voice on headphones, I suddenly felt inspired to improvise vocally, even though I'm not an experienced singer. Without any rehearsal or warm-up, I sang like I never had before, and with flawless pitch. Not only that: when I mixed my voice with that of Silvia Nakkack, which I had placed at the beginning of the album afterwards without having used it during my own recording, the two blended perfectly — a very rare occurrence. If you notice, the first people to push for the adoption of 432 Hz were opera singers, since it made it easier for them to reach the higher C notes. So, to sum up, under certain conditions, 432 Hz music can sometimes have something special about it.

Are there musical instruments that are more effective than others in improving the listener's sense of wellbeing?

Absolutely. I began my professional career with the instrument best suited to healing, namely the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Harold Rhodes created it specifically to be a healing instrument — it's like playing a keyboard made up of a series of tuning forks. When I record playing a concert grand piano, I always have the sound engineer soften the harsher tones. What I mean is that, comparing the two instruments, the Rhodes always gets my highest score when it comes to relaxation and meditation. Among the other effective instruments I've tested, I'd mention the bamboo flute, the transverse flute, the cello and crystal bowls.

What does "improvising" mean?

Being creative without repeating what's already been done before. Being connected to the present moment, ready to welcome the inspiration that passes through us. Studying the rules and feeling free to ignore them, and above all, embracing the creative spirit we channel through ourselves and the instruments we play.

What was the Spectrum Research Institute?

The name I chose to define my biofeedback studies on body, mind and spirit. It was also a publishing division of my personal label and the publishing house behind my first book, "Tuning The Human Instrument". It was made up solely of myself, but when necessary I'd draw on outside collaboration from professional scientists for research and experiments.

Your idea of success.

Success, to me, means touching the hearts of millions of people, sharing the benefits that music offers to those who truly listen to it. Whether or not they know the intentions of the composer-healer, the music will speak to them on a spiritual level. I remember that at several spirituality-themed conferences I attended in '69, it was predicted that a new music would be born capable of bringing harmony and peace. At the time I had no idea that this prediction would come true. I hadn't recorded a single note yet and knew nothing about labels or the music business. I could barely pay my rent.

Had you planned a career in music?

Of course not. But then a series of "mystical" coincidences led me to cross paths with many extraordinary teachers, from whom, in one way or another, I learned enough to turn this mission into a job that has now lasted almost 50 years. Still being able, to this day, to summon healing music capable of producing uplifting experiences is a wonderful consequence of that success. After all these years, remaining firmly in the music business with my independent label Inner Peace Music is proof of the soundness of the "calling" to what I consider my spiritual-musical "ministry". And the vision, today, is as clear as it was on day one.

Which musicians have you had the most fruitful collaborations with?

Specialist critics have often snubbed the part of my discography devoted to collaborations. On the production side, I've developed the ability to set the conditions for magic to happen even together with other musicians. But it's not enough for them to be skilled. Their intention, when they're at the instrument, has to resonate on high frequencies. In the first decade I recorded with the leading new age artists, from Iasos to Emerald Web, from Bettine Clemen to Dallas Smith.

I recall a great album with flautist Paul Horn, "Connections".

Recording with him was a lifelong dream come true, ever since I heard the album where he played inside the Taj Mahal. Believe it or not, he was the first musician I ever asked to collaborate with. But the time wasn't right yet to go "to that place" together; he preferred that I first build up my own career on my own strength, and he wanted to be sure I'd be able to properly handle a collaboration between us. Finally, in 1984, I found myself in the recording studio with him — a Grammy winner and meditation teacher, someone who wanted to step into the new age world to bring his music to a new audience.

I imagine the sessions were anything but boring.

First of all, I hired a bassist and a drummer I'd never personally met before. Once in the studio, I laid out my ideas and we recorded the backing track for what would become side B of the long playing. We started with a stretched-out piece, with a very soft mood. And we all felt the magic. We decided to record some duets without even rehearsing them once. My only instruction was that the first piece had to be in D minor. The others followed my lead. We recorded two versions, both remarkable. But the real turning point came with the track "Shared Secrets". I had this simple chord progression, F minor, D flat, B flat major. I remember it like it's happening right now: I start with the first chord and Paul begins playing the most exquisite melodic line imaginable over those chords, and keeps developing it further. I listen with such focus that I stop feeling my hands on the keyboard, and I pray to somehow keep supporting him. Then it happens. Our eyes meet: we realize we're playing the same melody. He plays what I'm feeling and I play what he's feeling. He smiles, nods, and keeps playing. Then he takes his lips off the flute — it's time for my solo. I close my eyes. At a certain point I send him a mental message: "Come back in", and at that exact instant, he starts playing again. Another smile. He had recognized my musical worth. Since then we've become great friends, and often share stages at new age festivals and conferences. I helped him set up his own independent label, rented him part of my offices, and he made use of my manager's services. He says I'm the one responsible for his new career as an independent artist.

A memory that seems carved into your mind.

Another image just came to mind. At one point Paul is so inspired and so energetically charged that he wants to use an echo filter and a loop device. The track is "Fantasy Flight". While he's improvising these melodies drawn from all the journeys of his life, I light up a joint without him seeing me. The lights are low. An idea comes to me, and instantly, Paul brings it to life! What he played is, for me, the most beautiful solo he or anyone else has ever recorded.

A connection you haven't had with other musicians?

Actually, there have been so many magical moments. Like the recording session with Georgia Kelly, on a full-moon night in June 1978, when an ancestral chant ran right through my body. I've never felt anything like it since. Recently, after chasing him for ten years, I finally managed to get another Grammy winner, former Oregon oboist Paul McCandless. I had some tracks ready that I knew he'd give a new melodic dimension to, and that's exactly what happened. The best piece is "In The Realms Of Healing", from the anthology "Sound Healing 432 Hz". After just two minutes of him playing in the studio, the sound engineer and I both had goosebumps.

Any advice for new generations of composers?

First of all, you need to know your instrument to perfection, and, very importantly, pay close attention to pitch. I've had experiences with certain so-called "vocal healers" who were so out of tune that they made me get up off the table and run out of the studio. I'd also recommend expanding your knowledge by reading the books on musical mysticism by the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan; the bibliographies of my books "Tuning The Human Instrument" and "Sound Health" contain plenty of other inspiring titles. Finally, I strongly recommend making meditation part of your daily routine, learning in this way to "navigate the spectrum of Consciousness", as my mentor, the legendary researcher Jean Houston, used to tell me.

What are you working on?

I've just finished the music and artwork for a pioneering album designed for people undergoing therapies that involve, under medical supervision, the use of psychedelic drugs. It's called "Psychedelic Therapy Music". Let me be clear right away: no drugs are needed to enjoy my music - in fact, all you need to do is listen to it to get an "auditory high".

Is there a religion that satisfies your spiritual needs?

I'd describe myself as someone strongly oriented toward spirituality but not affiliated with any particular religion. I resonate with Truth, whenever I encounter it.

What do you foresee for the new age of the future?

I hope more and more people will open themselves up to the benefits this kind of music brings, so they can raise their vibrational frequency and harmonize body, mind and soul. I hope more and more people will listen to music deeply, rather than as mere background noise. I hope new generations will be inspired by what we've done and add something of their own, keeping alive that spirit of healing which is at once so ancient and so modern.

A couple of personal questions. Your idea of happiness?

There's a kind of entirely natural ecstasy, whenever body, mind and spirit are aligned with God, the Universal Intelligence, or whatever we want to call it. Let's just say that, being fortunate enough to connect my heart with the hearts of so many other people through music, I often feel an indescribable happiness. Being of service to the highest that dwells within others, with gratitude, brings me great joy.

Your heroes?

Among many, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Hendrix, Scriabin, the pianist and poet John "Jack" Clarke, and, last but not least, my sound engineer and co-producer since 1996, Warren Kahn.

Music aside, who do you admire most?

Spiritual teachers like Ram Dass, Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, Dr. Baskaran Pillai and John Bradshaw.

What's the most extraordinary aspect of being an artist?

In 2000, during a conference, Ram Dass told me: “It's such a blessing that whatever you do to serve others also serves your own soul.” Many years ago I understood that if I limited myself to composing pieces for myself alone, pieces that didn't resonate with others, sooner or later I would stop. When I'm in the recording studio, I've learned to reach a state of total concentration, a mode in which I become a pure channel of resonance. It's a completely natural altered state that fills me with infinite bliss every time a piece of music that never existed before manifests itself to me. Just think, today I was having an acupuncture treatment and at a certain point I found myself merging with the music playing in the background. A bamboo flute, an electric piano… after a few moments I realized it was my album “Deep Theta 2.0”. I was so happy to have composed, played and produced it… Anyway, to get back to the point, the most beautiful thing about being an artist is that you're always faced with new challenges, new opportunities for the spirit to reach further vibrational dimensions that we can channel through our “being human”. A musician with a clear spiritual awareness never gets bored, because there will always be new visions and sounds to explore.

Ride the wave of great music

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