Prelude to the 30th Anniversary Edition

Welcome to the 30th Anniversary Edition of Healing Sounds. It is extraordinary that, so many years after the first publication of this book, I should have the honor and ability of being able to write a new beginning. I am calling this piece, for the sake of its relationship to music, “prelude” because, in music, that means “something that serves as an introduction.” It is my intention to provide something short and sweet.

Healing Sounds has changed my life. So have harmonics. They have both been the foundation upon which all my other work has been based. As such, there is literally nothing I would change from the text of the very first edition. Everything in it continues to be true and correct and is relevant now more than ever.

Every book, every teaching, and, in fact, all the recordings that I have created and released have utilized the information, techniques, and materials in Healing Sounds as their core. This is now thirty years’ worth of material that I am talking about, that has included activities and manifestations from all sorts of media--radio, television, internet, recordings, magazines, newspapers, books, and much more including lots of live and in-person appearances whether they were teachings, performances, or presentations--and they all utilized Healing Sounds.

There is information in this book that, gratefully, has now become a sort of mainstay in the field of sound healing, so much so that often people are not aware of Healing Sounds as the source when they repeat information or exercises from it. This is really a blessing because it means that Healing Sounds has been a foundation not just for me, but for the field of sound healing as a genre.

I always hoped that sound healing would be publicly accepted and recognized as more than a fringe area of activity. This has occurred in a greater fashion than I could have ever believed. Sound healing has grown and grown--it well may be considered the staple for much of new, modern thought and the human potential movement. Today, if the subject somehow involves the field of meditation, alternative healing, or any of a number of different topics, you’ll often find some sort of reference to “everything is vibration,” “we need to raise our frequency,” or something like that. These are the basic tenets of sound healing, and they are here for you to encounter and explore.

Most of the above references did not originate with Healing Sounds, but they’re most certainly found within these pages and were most likely popularized through this book. These and many other concepts are abundant in our world now. When I first wrote Healing Sounds, there might have been perhaps a few dozen books that had manifested--throughout the ages--with information about sound as a therapeutic and healing modality. Now there are hundreds, if not thousands. I give thanks for the current abundance of information.

I would suggest that within the pages of this book is so much more information that has yet to be incorporated into the consciousness and awareness of those working with sound for health and transformation. Healing Sounds contains a treasure trove of material--it is a cornerstone of sound healing and it has within it many more jewels of information and techniques yet to be mined.

There is a smorgasbord of information in this book. A potpourri of techniques that can be utilized. A plethora of essential topics and teaching--from Pythagoras and sacred geometry to Tomatis and the power of the ear and listening, from Kabbalastic God Names chanting to chakra/vowel sound resonance, from the Tibetan “Deep Voice” tonality to neuro-resonance with harmonics. Perhaps one of the most important concepts that manifested uniquely in Healing Sounds is the creation of the formula “Frequency + Intent = Healing.” It is more relevant now than ever.

Nothing in this book is stale. Nothing in it needs to be replaced. When I recently reread it, it simply reminded me of all the amazing things about sound, and of the experiences of my life in this field, that continue to be resonant. It’s all still relevant. It’s all still accurate. As I reread it, I was amazed at the extraordinary information in it. I trust that as you delve into these pages, it will be a great learning experience for you.

Knowledge and understanding of harmonics is incredibly useful, particularly for those interested in the use of sound as a healing modality. As attention to the therapeutic and transformational ability of sound continues to grow, it is now time for those with interest in this subject to begin to explore the fundamental and yet oh-so-intricate world of harmonics. The subject, like harmonics themselves, will continue to unfold into infinite new permutations and possibilities.

As you will discover within these pages, harmonics provide an underlying framework of not only sound, but the structure of the universe. Harmonics are part of a natural manifestation of sound that can provide insight that can be adapted throughout all octaves of vibration.

Every sound that we hear in nature is actually a composite sound, composed of a fundamental frequency and the subsequent harmonics that are simultaneously generated at the same time. These harmonics are mathematically related and may well be responsible for the signature vibration of each and every sound that we make and that we hear. Harmonics are also responsible for the timbre or tonal color of different sounds, including instruments and our voice. They literally color our sonic world.

Harmonics has been described in mystical literature as providing a stairway to heaven. Through awareness of them, we are able to alter our hearing and our consciousness and open up to higher realms of being. The universal principles displayed by harmonics are one of the foundational aspects that modern quantum physicists perceive are responsible for manifesting the creation of reality.

Harmonics can change your life as they’ve changed mine. If you think about it, we experience much of reality through our senses, of which there are said to be five main ones. The sense involved with making and perceiving sound--the sense which many of the ancient mystics as well as our modern physicists suggest may be the most sensitive and most important--can be shifted and changed through opening our awareness to sound.

Being able to understand and experience harmonics will shift your consciousness. You will be able to perceive in a new, different, and expanded way. As this occurs, your perception of reality will change and you will be enhanced. It’s almost like a superpower! While there have been no changes to the content of the original text besides the addition of recent research to the end of chapter 7 and a much enhanced bibliography for further exploration, there has also been one other important addition to the material in this book. In order to further enhance your ability to affect and alter the way you understand and perceive harmonics, actual sounds--audio files--are included in this new, 30th Anniversary Edition.

This inclusion of sounds was the only thing missing when Healing Sounds originally came out in 1992. Yes, you could seek out some of the recordings mentioned in it, but oftentimes that was difficult. Now, through the magic of the internet and the phenomenon of audio downloads, you can hear many of the different sounds described in the original text and you can experience some of the important exercises described within.

As you’ll find out, in order to become aware of specific harmonically related sounds (and to learn to vocalize and create them), it’s really important to be able to hear them,--and now you can. Being able to listen to some of the examples that are provided, will, I believe, enhance your interaction with the material in this book.

Shortly after Healing Sounds first came out, I created a recording that was available separately and featured two of the essential exercises from chapter 8 and chapter 9 of this book. It’s now my great privilege to be able to include these recordings as part of these downloads. I’ve also included other recordings that will enhance your experience. I trust that these additions will only add to the life-changing abilities of Healing Sounds and harmonics. At the end of this book is an appendix that describes the different recordings and provides the links so that you may download and listen to them.

Once again, dear reader, I welcome you to these timely pages of sound healing information and materials. If this is new territory and you have never before encountered them, they have been waiting for you for three decades. They will provide a landscape of sonic riches that are precious beyond belief. And if by chance you have passed through these pages before, they await you with new vigor and vitality.

Within these pages you will find a Merkaba--a spiritual vehicle that will take you into a world of vibration that can shift and change the very way that you perceive reality. How extraordinary!

You are about to go on a journey into the realms of sound that will mystify and illuminate you and more--much more! Here is your passport. Welcome aboard, and bon voyage.

Jonathan Goldman

Boulder, Colorado (2022)