Acoustic Mandala Project: Sound Meditation

Acoustic Mandala Project returns to the Rubin Museum of Art with an immersive sound meditation experience. Traditional sound meditation instruments will be used in concert with a bespoke eight-channel spatial sound system, exploring acoustic and electro-acoustic layers and textures of sound and their properties in space.

OM or Aum is the primal vibration from which all other vibrations are believed to emerge, including all light, sound, and physical matter.In the field of acoustics, vibrations of vibrations are called overtones, and these resonances are based on simple natural ratios. For example, doubling a sound wave’s frequency creates a note one octave higher. This tuning system has fallen out of favor in western music since the 17th century’s advent of Equal Temperament, which uses scales that don’t conform to the natural overtones of nature.

Acoustic Mandala Project creates soundscapes based on these original primal vibrations, which can facilitate a transformative and healing experience. In the context of a sound meditation, participants lie down on yoga mats and don eye masks, while the facilitators utilize gongs, Tibetan bowls, bamboo flutes, overtone singing, and other instruments to create an immersive sound experience.

About the artists

A prolific musician and producer, David Ellenbogen has studied and performed music in West Africa, India, and South America. He is known for his work with Brooklyn Raga Massive as well as his radio shows on WKCR and NYC Radio Live. His 24-hour Ragas Live Festival is entering its sixth year. He formed Acoustic Mandala Project with Joshua Geisler (Cirque du Soleil) six years ago and has since facilitated many sound and yoga retreats, from the Catskills to Costa Rica.

Classically trained musician and multi-instrumentalist Josh Peck has spent the last 14 years in New York City as a composer and music producer for film and television. Inspired to reconnect to music in a new modality, he began studying the therapeutic properties of sound under the guidance of sound meditation teacher Alexandre Tannous through the perspectives of Western scientific, Eastern philosophical, and shamanic societal beliefs.

His approach recognizes sound as the manifestation of nature’s mathematics and as one of the most universal and accessible tools for building presence, heightening awareness, and providing space for personal transformation.