Tone-Pearls

What are Tone-Pearls?

It is not easy to find an appropriate conceptual category for Tone-Pearls however, in some respect, they might be considered as „musical instruments“.

Tone-Pearls are in no way audio or acoustic equipments. Functionally, Tone-Pearls enhance the listening experience and recording of music.

The scientific background of Tone-Pearls

(Pardon me for the long lines and the complexity of text…)

The story began in early eighties…

Before the discovery of Tone-Pearls, I had spent more than two decades in an interdisciplinary scientific research of acoustics, neurophysiology, psychology and music. Unfortunately, my wish to recognize the essence of music (tone) and human hearing came up against the bounds of contemporary material science. We all have a deep desire to get answers to the most essential questions: in other words to know the world (science comes from the Latin verb scire, "to know"). Thus, the absolute limit of cognition was never acceptable for me.

I was quite happy with acoustics; it provided an adequate description of sound. However, when I tried to grasp the musical sound, the tone, I did not have a leg to stand on. I had the same experience with life processes and with psychology.

The question emerged in my mind: is there a possibility to extend scientific research beyond the limits of material, beyond the limits of directly sensible phenomena, without giving up the scientific method?
Though I had an intuitive conviction, I could not grasp it with a scientific method.

What is a scientific method?

I am a scientist and my research must be based on scientific method. Science cannot be recognized or identified by its object but by its method. A scientist observes the world (directly or through experiments) and thinks about his observations. This thinking should satisfy the laws of thinking and should be in accordance with the observed world. The results of scientific thinking are the recognized laws and relationships of the world, which are not given immediately for our observation. They are given only through our thinking. You can observe several times a fall of an apple from a tree but you will never get the law of gravitation.

World does not provide us a complete knowledge; nature provides only an object for the human perception. We should complete the perceived observation with ideas through our thinking. This is why world is always a puzzle, an enigma, which can only be solved by us.

Using the example of falling apple, our senses provide us only colours, forms, sounds, movements etc. and our thinking adds the concept of apple, falling, gravity. Without thinking we would not even tell: the apple is falling. This statement is not an observation it is a result of thinking.

Ideas, obtained by thinking, in a scientific research should be considered as hypothesis unless they are thoroughly tested and proven. Using the above example of falling apple, the prediction of the falling trajectory can be considered as verification.

The extension of the scientific method to research music, tone and hearing

In a very right moment I alighted Goethe’s „Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften“, an almost unknown and forgotten approach of natural science, and the writings of Rudolf Steiner. I found the missing link...

Goethe -- and later Steiner -- elaborated a new scientific approach, an extension of academic science. They were able to extend the scientific method to the whole world, including life and spiritual world. This new science was what I always searched for.

A new phase of research began.

We were in the position to develop a new scientific research of tone and hearing. The transformation of music to sound in a musical instrument, and later on again to music in a human ear, was in the focus of investigation.
Of course, we were able only to make some initial steps in this field. World and human beings are very complex, you must not simplify them, and you have to grasp them in their complexity. Results of our research will be summarized in a book titled „Metamorphoses of Music“ (in progress).

Discovery of Tone-Pearls

The best test of any scientific theory is application (the proof of the pudding is in the eating). Based on the recognized principles of tone transformation, we created an instrument, the so-called Tone-Pearls. Tone-Pearls may establish a more direct and intimate connection to music. Metaphorically we may say: musical instruments and human ear will be extended in space by the effect of Tone-Pearls; thus, they might be considered – in this respect -- as musical instruments.

We are aware that the above description is rather sketchy and hard to understand. You will find more in the book to be published.
For deeper understanding please, contact us.

Where can I buy Tone-Pearls?

Sorry, but Tone-Pearls are not commercial products, they are rather experimental products of a scientific study, tools of an investigation. There is no intention to sell them. However, you may enjoy Tone-Pearls recording technique by listening to our recordings.

What is the possible application field of Tone-Pearls?

Tone-Pearls have been proved to be effective in the following fields:

Live indoor music (classical music concert, jazz concert, etc.)
Live outdoor music
Recorded music in a listening room
Recording live music
Theatre (speech and music)
Increasing intelligibility in mild hearing losses.