5G Lyre

The lyre is an ancient harp-like stringed instrument built with a U-shaped or rounded body, and two arms extending upward, connected by a crossbar. In Greek mythology, it was created by Hermes from the horns of a sacred cow stolen from Apollo's herd, and it is the instrument played by Orpheus, a Thracian bard, poet, musician, and prophet whose legends center around his ability to influence all living and non-living things with the music he played on his lyre.

The lyre is used by Portuguese marching bands as a symbol of music, love, harmony, and peace. One of the most iconic marching band instruments is the lira (bell lyre), a tuned percussion instrument in the glockenspiel family, shaped like the ancient lyre but with tuned metal bars arranged in two rows like piano keys instead of strings. It is played with hard mallets and usually plays the melody in a high, bright, and piercing bell-like tone.

The ancient greeks knew that music can influence human emotion, cognition, and physiology, being able to bypass rational thought and speak directly to the subconscious. A simple melody can evoke memories and stir joy, grief, or longing, but non-musical sounds are also able to influence brain activity through a phenomenon called brainwave entrainment. By playing two tones that are close in frequency, a third frequency emerges - an audible beating pulse whose frequency is equal to the difference between the two tones. If the frequency of this pulse falls within a particular brainwave range, it may guide the brain into that state. These brainwave frequencies are associated with different levels of consciousness, so by selecting the appropriate frequency difference between the two played tones, one can encourage specific mental states (listed in the table below).

Music specially designed for brainwave entrainment and behaviour modification has been used by humans for millennia to deepen spiritual experiences, induce trance states, motivate exhausted limbs, and forget the fear of violent death. In 2022 I began sketching ideas for a new non-lethal musical instrument that combines the influential capacity of music with the sonic qualities of the bell lyre. I named it 5G lyre (as it was inspired by the antenna designs and purpose of the fifth generation of cellular network technology standard), and it consists of a phased speaker array, a multichannel DAC, and a computer, beaming sound to specific spatial coordinates. The sound beam can be steered and focused by delaying the signal sent to each speaker, creating constructive interference in one direction (focusing the sound) and destructive interference elsewhere (reducing sound off-axis).

The instrument can be used discreetly hidden inside a drumshell, and is able to beam sound to groups or individuals in an audience without them realizing they are being targeted. This can be exploited by performers, who can use the sound beams to entrain different mental states in several targeted individuals simultaneously. If the frequencies of the transmitted sound waves are high enough (10 kHz or higher), the performer can even attempt to hypnotize their targets by using frequency modulation to hide speech in these high frequencies. While the modulated speech is unintelligible to the targeted listener, their subconscious mind will understand and may follow the transmitted suggestions - a technique commonly used in advertising.

Music in the 21st century is not defined by traditional performance, but by its psychological, informational, and perception-shaping nature. It focuses on influencing audiences, disrupting societies, and controlling narratives through subtle, often non-attributable means. Although the technology used by the 5G lyre is not new, its application in a musical context as a marching band instrument is a total innovation. There are no established rules or traditions dictating how it should be used, and composers, arrangers, and performers are encouraged to experiment with its sound, technique, and role in different musical contexts.

A five-minute-long piece I wrote in 2023 to test the 5G lyre is being released this year by Favela Discos on the A side of a 7" single. The B side of this record features a reconstructed version of the premiere of another piece of mine, Ponte Internacional sobre o Rio Guadiana.