This is wonderful to share with others as it invokes the great King to come from his abode. The instruments being played have great representations... I found some nice writings on the sacred instruments and mantras and what's their significant and what it means ...
The esoteric metaphysics defines all sounds as music and all music as mantras, sacred formulae, as far as the awakening mind is concerned. The sacred formulae denote the condensation of infinite truth as non-substantive purity. Mantra ultimately is the eternal state which dissolves the subject-object distinction rendering empirical assertions and intellectual definitions meaningless. It is the highest form of beauty, not merely in appearance but in actuality, an actuality that is pure, perfect and infinite, wherein all concepts of good and bad disappear.There is also a rational and intellectual approach to music. All sounds and music are the effects of cause and conditions, that is, the principle of interdependence, inter-relationship and interaction functions throughout the art. All events are compound, nothing is independent, everything is subject to the dynamic law of causation and effect. Dynamism implies an ever-unending change, the process of evolution and devolution.
Here music becomes a symbol of the true state of nature. The ever changing sound in its subtle form signifies this transitoriness which, despite appearances, is indivisible from the underlying reality, the Absolute, the Unmanifesting.Sacred music, in so far as its symbolic and functional aspects are concerned, plays a vital role in the life of initiates as a process of subjective transformation which brings peace, harmony and awareness of truth in its totality. The truly beneficial approach, we believe, is the subjective assessment of music in its true nature. It must be admitted that all these profound concepts make no mention of encouraging "creative endeavour" as a means of exercising individual ingenuity and imagination. This absence of emphasis on individual innovation and creativity also characterizes our whole approach to art, pictorial and plastic as well as musical. Here too what is all-important is the refer-rent, the metaphysical message which is symbolized by the art, through the canonical forms.
The nature of sacred music can be considered under two aspects; namely, the devotional aspect and the symbolic aspect. Devotional music is functional insofar as it features actually in any performance of temple liturgy or mystical dance. These two aspects are, however, complementary to each other and in fact inseparable.The symbolic aspect embraces the widest possible range of musical concept because its scope goes beyond empirical views and definitions. Every conceivable sound, whether originating from animate or inanimate things, is source material for music and is at the same time symbolic. For there is no difference whatsoever in the nature of the message each conveys to a spiritual aspirant or to one who is awakening to reality. Even the essence of functional music lies in its symbolic value. The symbolism, it must be clearly stated, will be utterly meaningless and useless unless there is intense understanding of its true meaning coupled with a deeply felt urge to follow the path.
Generally speaking functional sacred music is constituted by temple liturgy, including devotional songs and ritual music both vocal and instrumental. All these enter into the training of monks and nuns, and each will specialize according to the particular traditions to which he or she is attached. There are a few simple chants and recitations common to all. Besides the common temple liturgy, certain types of ritual are performed jointly by monks, nuns and initiated laymen. In some cases non-initiates join in as well.
It is no exaggeration to say that as a spiritual exercise the purpose here is to seek elimination of suffering and the cause of suffering through contemplation and transcendental awareness. If the true purpose of music is considered in its proper perspective, any misconception about Tibetan sacred music and dance will naturally be dispelled.
If the true significance of sacred music is to be found, it must be viewed, not so much as an expression of aesthetic perception or creative ingenuity and achievement, as in its true nature, which is related to the Absolute. This does not mean, however, that sacred music has no contribution to make in the field of appreciation of beauty, as I shall now try to explain.
We Tibetans believe, as stated earlier, that beauty as form or sound, physical or spiritual, must needs contain some higher content and purpose, a transcendental overtone. This assumption is the basic of all aesthetic judgment. With total attention and awakening, one observes the object of beauty and first analyses it as it appears to oneself, according to one's own perception of beauty. After that one reflects more deeply on this perception and discovers its relationship to beauty itself. Having thus penetrated into the actuality by identifying beauty as imagination or idealistic creation, one is bound to face a situation where-in all subject-object distinctions disappear and the unity of things as infinite awareness and awakening is achieved. Such a state of mind is full of joy, harmony and peace. It has often been pointed out by spiritual teachers that merely psychological or sensual appreciation is only too likely to create attachment which in its turn will breed lust and other passions.
It should be pointed out that Tibet claims to have inherited both the orthodox forms of the Buddhist tradition, respectively known as Theravada and Mahayana. Monasteries following the older monastic pattern do not employ any music except chanting in their congregational service; the only instruments admitted there are the conch shell and the gong for calling the monks to assemble. Since all Tibetan monasteries, however, practise some forms derived from Mahayana, individual monks are always allowed to use a small hand-bell in association with the vajra or symbolic scepter, as well as a little drum, in their private devotions provided no one around is disturbed thereby.
Those monasteries that follow Mahayana esotericism perform various rituals requiring music. In fact each such monastery has a well-trained orchestra comprised of monks and also a dance troupe including both senior and junior members, with the chief abbot often acting as master dancer.
Each monastic band requires a pair of long, straight brass instruments to provide a foundation tone in the form of sustained bass drones, while cymbals of two sizes together with drums give rhythmic variety. The melodic element is provided by a kind of shawm called gyaling, a powerful double-reed instrument not unlike a bagpipe chanter. To this collection may be added on occasion a type of flute hollowed out of a human thigh-bone which contributes a note of indeterminate pitch to the general symphony. This instrument carries important mystical properties as a sonorous symbol of mortality and impermanence.
The size of the instruments, their range, as well as their symbolic nature, determine their employment for specific purposes.
For instance, big brasses are used for open air performances because of their very powerful tone. As a means to communicate with higher forces, four monk-musicians play them on the eve of festivals from the roof of their temple overlooking the village below the mountain on which the monastery is usually situated. This is precisely an invitation to the deities and guardian spirits to attend and partake of the ritual performance and feast. At the same time, the people living below or around, far or near, also consider this as an invitation to attend the festival. The combination of brasses and shawms with their differing tonal range and pitch fills the air with music and produces on the mind an almost magical effect.The LiturgySomething needs to be said about the strictly vocal portions of the temple liturgy which hover, as it were, on the frontier between plain speech and what would nowadays be regarded as music: both a strongly marked rhythmical element and a stylised voice-production confers on the choral office even at its plainest an unmistakably musical character. Normally the temple services will include recitation of Scriptures as well as poetical eulogies in honour of the Buddha and his chief disciples; to which must be added appeals to the guardian divinities who watch over the Doctrine and hymns of various kinds. Every monastery has its own syllabus of chantings and readings which are regularly performed at congregational services held in the assembly hall. All these chantings are carried out from memory; young novices receive a most rigorous training in this respect during their first few years at the monastery. In certain special cases, scriptural readings are carried out at a very fast tempo which to outsiders might seem rather disconcerting. This happens when some pious layman commissions a reading of a whole sacred book which might run into several volumes for the purpose of gathering merit, which can then be shared with other beings "even down to the smallest blade of grass"; such a reading can even last for several weeks at a stretch.
Whatever the nature of a liturgical reading or chanting, this is the responsibility of the Lama-preceptor whose office it is to supervise both its efficiency and quality.
Monasteries that follow an esoteric tradition have special forms of ritual other than those just mentioned. In the latter case instrumental symphonies are associated with the temple chanting, as also with the sacred dances. Ritual, as known to the Lamas, has assumed multiple meanings. As a preliminary to meditative practice by an initiate, it serves to heighten his consciousness.
Musical sounds, canonically ordered, affect a man's psychic condition in such a way as to render him more receptive to the truth. The same applies in the visual arts; a painted icon, in which every detail corresponds to some aspect of enlightenment, is a powerful instrument in promoting the contemplative spirit and so is a sonorous icon—the nature of all truly sacred music is such; it pertains to method, its aim being to awaken a corresponding wisdom in the soul.At a more emotional level, ritual becomes an exercise in devotion as also a means of communion with supernatural influences. At a psychological level, the same ritual will help to foster analytical insight. At a transcendental level, it becomes a meditative trance by means of which a total spiritual transformation can be brought about. Sacred music is relevant to all these aims.
In Tibet rituals are classified under three types :
firstly, meditation, itself consisting of two stages; secondly, worship and inward transformation; thirdly, specialised types of ritual such as those aiming at the elimination of evil influences, the stimulation of intellectual power and so on. The nature and purpose of each ritual will determine the corresponding music and chanting, the composition, the tonal range and the ensemble of instruments to be called into play.Source:
http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/uploads/ArticlePDFs/92.pdf