“I always believe that our consciousness is connected to something larger, maybe the universe.” – Dr John Sharpley, international composer and pianist
Awakening Consciousness
Dr John Sharpley’s compositions sound vast and expansive, just like the universe.
When he composes, the extraordinary sounds of the universe – which he had once heard from his phenomenal out-of-body experience – is always on his mind. Inspired by his quest to look beyond the physical world, Dr Sharpley is constantly fascinated by wondrous gamuts of sounds, energy, vibrations and frequencies.
When it comes to listening to music, the Singapore-based international composer and pianist thinks it is always best if listeners have their own mind space, as he believes that if he states what the music represents, their imagination will be limited.
He also feels that music can restore us to our humanity, and our sensitivity to the universe.
Music works imbued with deep and profound meaning, and written to uplift and inspire, can awaken people’s consciousness, for example, an artist’s message to humanity.
“I think music has various degrees of awakening consciousness,” he opines.
“There is a calling for artists to wake up, and simply not to think of music just as entertainment, because when you think of it as entertainment, it is like a drug and you are lost.”
He adds that some people are quite conscious. They look beyond their own material world and are always questioning and open to the universe. But sadly, accordingly to Dr Sharpley, most people are quite locked in their small physical worlds and have paved their path to get married, bear children, and obtain an HDB flat before reaching a certain age.
“They are so locked into this really small world,” he laments.
So what is Dr Sharpley trying to communicate through his music?
“I hope for connectivity, that somehow, everything is connected. I always believe that our consciousness is connected to something larger, maybe the universe,” he reasons with a smile.
Storytelling Through Music
“To be quite honest, music itself is quite naked. It will only start to ‘blossom’ when it connects with other art forms, such as poetry, painting, or drama,” he says.
True to his word, Dr Sharpley’s stirring music compositions are often stunningly arranged and orchestrated for opera, theatre, film and dance scores.
One of his operas, Kannagi, was premiered in an Indian temple in Singapore in 2009.
His works epitomise spirituality, drama, and storytelling related to life, as well as current socio-economic and political situations.
One of his upcoming projects will be about the issue of climate change and materialism.
“This is a multinational work that will involve quite a lot of people from different countries. It has orchestra and singers,” Dr Sharpley reveals.
Through this orchestral production, the international composer wants people to seek clarity in where capitalism and materialism have actually taken us, and how we have to make a decision now.
In his opinion, technology has made things easy for us, but this insatiable quest for energy has also brought great and irreparable damage to our environment.
“We are on the way to self-destruction as species are going extinct. This is absolute madness. So this is the time to speak up,” he avows.
“I believe it is our ego that traps us in this material world, [yet] we won’t give it up.”
Southeast Asian Influence
Born in Texas, Dr Sharpley has called Singapore home since 1985.
Living in Southeast Asia has definitely had an impact on his work.
“There are so many things that are incredibly mind-blowing, even in this region,” he exclaims.
He cites the splendour of Sumatra’s Muara Jambi Temple, one of the largest temple complexes in Southeast Asia spanning 2,062 hectares of land, as an example.
The temple compound, comprising 82 ruins of ancient buildings constructed with bricks, was once the nucleus for Buddhist religious education in the Ancient Malay Kingdom from seventh to 14th century AD.
This one and only relic of the Buddhist Hindu culture exemplifies the early exchange of culture and human values.
“Speaking of interconnectivity, Southeast Asia is so connected to the whole world. The interconnectivities are amazing,” says Dr Sharpley, who houses over 300 musical instruments from around the world in his humble abode.
Music Education
“Music education allows one to self-reflect, to reciprocate, to reflect – it is a mirror that bounces back.” – Dr John Sharpley, international composer and pianist
“The best learning is discovery,” Dr Sharpley opines, when asked about his interpretation of education.
“I think that education today has gone [down] a path, since the industrial age, which has been about creating jobs,” he adds ruefully.
In today’s society, education has turned into a pragmatic gateway to finding jobs and earning money, yet this is not really education, Dr Sharpley believes.
“Deeper (music) education is to guide a person to find himself,” he stresses.
“When I learned about Beethoven, I am learning about myself, as we are all interconnected,” he explains, pointing to a study led by Marcus Feldman of Stanford University in 2002 that recognised our 99.9 percent similarity in DNA sequence with the human sitting next to us. And astonishingly, the banana is 60% genetically identical to a human being!
“If we have this interconnectivity with nature, with earth, how much do we have for one another? That’s why we have something called empathy,” he says.
As a result of this ‘connectivity’, when we are absorbed in music, drama or film, we are not only going through the emotions and experiences of the composers or actors, but also reflecting on our own humanity.
Music education allows one to ‘self-reflect, to reciprocate, to reflect’ – it is a mirror that bounces back, Dr Sharpley shares.
From ancient sages to modern molecular science and string theory, studies have proven that all matter in the universe, including our bodies, vibrate. In other words, the universe is a grand symphony of sound!
Dr John Sharpley earned a Doctorate in Music Composition from Boston University; Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Houston; and Diplomas for Piano, Violin, and Composition at the National Conservatory of Music in Strasbourg, France. His composition teachers include Michael Horvit, David Del Tredici, John Harbison and Leonard Bernstein, while his piano teachers include Ruth Tomfohdre, John Perry and Lily Kraus.
