- David Hykes
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David Hykes 
David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir in Delhi, March, 2010Born March 2, 1953 David Hykes (born 2 March 1953) is a composer, singer, musician, author, and meditation teacher. He was one of the earliest modern western pioneers of so-called overtone singing, and has developed since 1975 a comprehensive approach to contemplative music which he calls Harmonic Chant (harmonic singing). After early research and trips studying Mongolian, Tibetan, and Middle Eastern singing forms, Hykes began a long series of collaborations with traditions and teachers of wisdom and sacred art, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the Gyuto and Gyume monks.[1]
Hykes founded the Harmonic Choir in 1975, and has performed and taught Harmonic Chant and the related Harmonic Presence work in America, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Australia and many other countries.[2] Of overtone singing and his own study of the form, music theorist Charles Madden writes, "David Hykes has done everything I had hoped to do, and more." His choir incorporates both basic overtone signing as well as additional advanced forms.[3]
His work is organised within The Harmonic Presence Foundation.[4]
His song "Rainbow Voice" features in the films "Blade: Trinity" (2004), "Blade" (1998), "Baraka" (1992).[5] and "Dead Poets Society" (1989).[6]
Contents
Education
Educated at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio where he studied with avant-garde experimental filmmakers Tony Conrad and Paul Sharits, free jazz with the Cecil Taylor Unit, and contemporary, classical and medieval music with John Ronsheim and David Stock. He received an M.F.A. from Columbia University in New York. For many years he studied North Indian raga singing and the history of Indian music with Smt. Sheila Dhar.
David Hykes is a Dharma student of Choky Nyima Rinpoche, who gave him the name Shenpen Yeshe, "the Primordial Wisdom that brings happiness to beings," and Tsoknyi Rinpoche. He completed twenty years of spiritual studies in the Gurdjieff Foundations in New York, San Francisco, and Paris, as a student of Gurdjieff's successors Lord John Pentland and Dr. Michel de Salzmann. Over the years he has received teachings from Tibetan Buddhist masters including Dhuksey Rinpoché and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as well as the Gyuto and Gyume Monks, whom he helped bring to the United States for the first time in 1985-86.
Notes
- ^ Bellamy and MacLean (2005) p.515
- ^ Campbell (1989) p.64
- ^ Madden (1999) pp.85-89, 95
- ^ David Hykes' Harmonic World
- ^ The Internet Movie Database
- ^ The Internet Movie Database
References
- Bellamy, Isabel and MacLean, Donald (2005) Radiant Healing: The Many Paths to Personal Harmony and Planetary Wholeness ISBN 0-9756878-5-9
- Madden, Charles (1999) Fractals in Music: Introductory Mathematics for Musical Analysis ISBN 0-9671727-5-6
- Campbell, Don (1989) The Roar of Silence: Healing Powers of Breath, Tone and Music ISBN 0-8356-0645-7
External links
Categories:- 1953 births
- Living people
- Throat singing
- Antioch College alumni
- Columbia University alumni
- Sound poets
- Music therapists
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