Use of the Solfeggio frequencies is ancient. Chants using six of these frequencies were some of the secret methods used by Gregorian monks to attain greater spiritual states and earthly conditions of better health and harmony. Similar uses of the sacred frequencies were also widely utilized even further back in history with Sanskrit and other groups.
Today, if you sing in a choir, you know what notes to sing by reading the sheet music. However, before the advent of widespread printing, choirs from bygone eras had to sing in unison and harmony using a different method known in 11th-century Europe as the “Guidonian Hand.” The choir conductor would hold up his hand and point to specific fingertips, one after another, to let the singers know which note to sing next. The innovation of this method to convey music is accredited to an 11th-century Italian Benedictine monk, named Guido of Arezzo, hence the name the “Guidonian Hand.”
Later, Guido advanced music even further by introducing staff notations to help show the order of the musical scale and allow chants and hymns to be more easily learned and sung. Guido chose six sounds in Latin, “UT RE MI FA SOL LA,” for the musical notations. These sounds were based upon the first syllable of each half-line from a popular short hymn that even today is considered by many to be the most soul-resonating hymn ever written, the Hymn to St. John the Baptist. It’s one of only a handful of ancient hymns that have survived into modern times.
The Catholic Church claims that over 150 of the ancient hymns and chants have been lost. Guido’s six special tones became what we know today as the notes C, D, E, F, G, and A. In the 19th century “UT,” representing “C on the musical scale,” was changed to “DO.” The “TI sound was added later giving us the modern diatonic scale of C, D, E, F, G, A, and B, and the vocal expression of those notes as “do re mi fa so la ti”.
Some people assume that “Solfeggio” was the name of a person, but it is actually just a Latin word based upon the root “solfège,” which is a combination of the syllable’s sol and fa. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first known use of the word “Solfeggio” was in 1774, in conjunction with using these tones and scale progression to teach pitch and sight singing.
Multiple scientists and medical researchers have studied and noted the effects of different types of music and singing chants such as Gregorian and Sanskrit, on the human body. Dr. Alan Watkins, a neuroscientist at Imperial College, in London, found that when they were singing, chanters had the lowest heart rates and blood pressure of their day. Studies by other researchers have indicated that singing the old Solfeggio-based hymns provided measurable relief from fatigue and depression.
The sound waves of the Solfeggio frequencies and any other sound or frequency can be seen visually, such as these pictures showing the 6 original Solfeggio frequencies played on a Cymascope at Somaenergetics. The wellness benefits of the Solfeggio frequencies were forgotten over time but were rediscovered by various researchers during the last few decades.
In 1988, Dr. Glen Rein, a biochemist, converted the Solfeggio frequencies into scalar audio waves and played the tones to samples of human DNA in test tubes.He measured UV light absorption when the DNA was exposed to four different types of music to determine if the tones had any effect on DNA: Gregorian chants, Sanskrit chants, Classical music, and Rock music. Absorbing light is an essential function of DNA; so greater light absorption is indicative of greater DNA cell health. Dr. Rein noted that the Gregorian chants caused a nearly 10% increase in light absorption by the DNA! Sanskrit chants increased light absorption by around 5%, classical music showed an increase of around 2% and rock music created a loss of light.
Subsequent experiments by other researchers found that discordant types of music such as heavy metal, had a very negative effect on DNA. Dr. Rein concluded, based upon his experiments and observations, that the Solfeggio tones had a resonance with DNA that could lead to use for healing damaged cells, while discordant music could cause damage to the human body and brain on a cellular level. For better or worse the sounds we hear do affect our health and well-being.
More recently, in 2018, there was a Japanese study that specifically looked at how the 528Hz frequency affected the endocrine system. They discovered that music keyed to 528hz had “an especially strong stress-reducing effect, even after only 5 minutes of exposure.”
We are inundated every day with a myriad of sounds at home, at work, out in public, and especially at loud concerts and public events. Understanding that sounds and music can have a serious beneficial or damaging effect on our mental, spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being, should prompt all of us to be more aware and proactive about the music, sounds, and volume of sounds we allow, or choose to be around.