Paramusicology
The Study of Sound in Liminal States
Paramusicology is the study of how sound interacts with the unseen - the ways composition, vibration, rhythm, and spatial acoustics influence our perception of the supernatural and the liminal.
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Where traditional acoustics studies the measurable, paramusicology begins with a different assumption: There may be something beyond the veil of mortality, or perhaps another dimension. - And sound is one of the ways we reach it.
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The field draws from ancient ritual practices, psychoacoustics, mythic composition, and centuries of belief that certain tones, chants, intervals, and musical structures can open doors, shift awareness, or invite contact.
Scriabin wrote a piece he believed would end the world.
Mysterium remains as one of the most radical examples of a composer aiming directly at the veil. He died before the ritual could be attempted.​
From peyote ceremony chants and Ghost Dance songs, to the tritone’s reputation as “the devil’s interval,” to Scriabin’s apocalyptic Mysterium, Coltrane’s Om, and Mahler’s fatal hammer in the Sixth Symphony — paramusicology explores the long human history of sound as a bridge to the other side.
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Today, the discipline continues in modern contexts, including immersive environments like Phasmagorica, where spatial sound, ritual pacing, and intentional composition create a controlled space for liminal experience.
Paramusicology is an emerging field - part research, part folklore, part audiology, part occult history.