Jill Mattson – The Egyptians used music for all kinds of crazy things
Egypt was a nation that sang. As late as the 1900s sailors sang when starting their voyage, sang again if there was danger and yet they enjoyed another song another after the danger had past. [1] There were songs for funerals, hymns, festivals, being in love, prayers to the gods, rituals and dancing. The Egyptians sang as they sowed, harvested, wove, fished, tended flocks, carried heavy rocks and labored. The custom of singing at work was common to every occupation. [2]
Singing makes it easier to perform labor by working in sync to rhythm. Scenes of music and clappers (people who clapped) who provided rhythm for workers grace the temple walls and tombs.
There are pictures of percussion units in Egyptian armies that invigorated and encouraged bravery. Martial arts also employed sounds to strengthen warriors and intimidate opponents. [3]
Plato went so far as to credit the Egyptians with taming fish and land animals with sounds. By a special type of singing they lured fish into their nets. [4] In Egypt today you can watch people “charm” snakes; perhaps this art extended to other animals, such as fish.
Viktor Schauberger gives a clue to a possible way this feat could be accomplished. Schauberger, born in Vienna in 1885, was born into a family of woodsmen who oversaw a section of woods in Austria. Their motto was “faithful to the silent forests.” He observed nature and discovered secrets of water. As a young man he designed flumes for loggers who could not get their wood to market. The flumes followed the meandering and spiral paths of water. In addition certain construction could keep harbor and rivers free of silt build up.
In his journey to learn the “ways of water,” Schauberger discovered how to energize water. In an egg shaped container with a propeller at the bottom, he created a spiral motion in the water. Scientists today have shown that water spun in a vortex acquires an electrostatic charge. [5] Schauberger also theorized that when birds flew in a spiral motion over water they created a spiral vortex under water, which brought the fish to the surface. Perhaps the Egyptians were creating spiraling motions and sounds above water to draw in fish.
Sources
[1] Elson, Louis. Curiosities of Music: A Collection of Facts Not Generally Known regarding the Music of Ancient and Savage Nations, O. Ditson Co.,1908, Pg. 9.
[2] Engel, Carl. The Most Ancient Nations: Assyrians, Egyptians and Hebrews with Special Reference to Recent Discoveries in Western Asia and in Egypt, Murray: London, 1864, Pg. 244.
[3] Scott, Cyril. Music Its Secret Influences throughout the Ages, Samuel Wisner: London, 1958, Pg. 162.
[4] Aelian’s description of how the Thrissa fish of Lake Mareotis “was caught by singing to it, and by the sound of crotala (clappers) made of shells…” and how “dancing up, it leapt into the nets spread for the purpose, giving great and abundant sport.” Hickman, Hans. Orientalische Musik and Musikgeschichte in Bildern, Agypten, Leipzig: Germany, 1961.
[5] Davidson, David. Shape Power: A Treatise on How Form Converts Universal Aether into Electromagnetic and Gravitic Forces and Related Discoveries in Gravitational Physics, Rivas Publishing: Arizona, 1997. Pg. 42.
SF Source Jill’s Wings of Light Jan 2025