Meru Foundation research demonstrates the existence of geometric patterns in the Hebrew text of Genesis.  The discovery of these patterns was based on a scientific examination of the sequence of letters in the text.  This 35-year research study has developed a wide range of three dimensional models recognizable in physics, biology, and genetics as well as most religious traditions. 

One research goal was to confirm that pattern existed by assigning musical tones to the letters and listening to the resulting sequence of tones.  Meru Foundation research has been published for peer review in the Noetic Journal; reprints are posted on our research website at at www.meru.org. Copies of the Noetic Journal can be ordered through Meru Foundation's secure server at www.meetingtent.com.

1. The Creation Overture: A Musical Commentary on Genesis 1:1-3 (9:59) 
     ©2002 Daniel S. Gil. All Rights Reserved
     The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Karol Petocz, Conductor

Composer Daniel Gil received his B.A. from The Berklee School of Music in Boston in 1997. His Western music influences range from Gustav Mahler to Dmitri Shostakovich and Aaron Copeland. However, what distinguishes Gil’s work is that he is an heir to the Judaic tradition of ‘Holy Song’ passed down to him from the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Gil also possesses a deep understanding of the Hebrew text acquired through lifelong study. 

After assigning musical notes to each Hebrew letter, Gil then employed the architecture of harmonic structure (or chords) generally according to the standard rules and principles called ‘Common Practice’ (the methods by which most Western classical music is composed). Gil adds that in his Creation Overture,  “the music itself is projecting and communicating Torah commentary in the literal sense.”  (Torah is the Hebrew Bible).

2-3. The Music of Genesis by Stephen James Taylor, original concept by Stan Tenen
      ©1992, 1994 Stephen James Taylor, BMI, Kiba Dachi Music, BMI, Publisher; and Stan Tenen for the Meru Foundation.

Composer Stephen James Taylor is known for his fusion of blues, gospel, African tribal music and classical counterpoint into lyrical film scores. Among his credits are To Sleep with Anger, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and A Question of Faith, as well as the acclaimed T.V. series I’ll Fly Away.  The Music of Genesis, composed in 1992, renders the 27 Hebrew letters in a microtonal scale based on ascending and descending perfect fifths, with nine computer-generated instrumental voices assigned to the letters in groups of three as specified in Meru research. 

This music is excellent as tonal background for meditation or healing.  Two versions are presented here, each played through twice to provide approximately a half-hour of consistent music.


 2.  2210 notes (Gen. 2:11), each note approximately 0.5 seconds long, played twice (19:10)
 3.  252 notes (Gen. 1:7), each note approximately 1.5 seconds long, played twice (12:40)

This is a "raw" rendering of the first 104 Hebrew letters of Genesis using a chromatic scale (like a piano keyboard).  Stan Tenen first used this simple means of turning the text-string into music in the early 1980's, in order to listen for possible patterns in the text.  It is easier to hear patterning in a long, sequential string of data, than it is to see it.  (He also explored various microtonal renderings, not reproduced here.) Even this raw text-string has musical qualities that intrigued the Tenens into exploring further.  

This early chromatic rendering, covering exactly the same portion of the Hebrew letter-text as Gil's The Creation Overture, was reproduced by Cynthia Tenen using computer software available on Meru Foundation website www.meetingtent.com, Music from the Torah, which allows the listener to experiment with the Hebrew-letter text using several pre-set chromatic and modal scales. (The Music from the Torah software is copyright to Kevin Acres, of Research Systems Ltd. in Australia.)