The Musical Construction of Taom: The Art of Meditation

Taom: The art of meditation app is your only guide where two magical worlds meet for your mindfulness journey for the first time: Storytelling and guided meditations. Taom tells stories and leads you through guided meditations, both of which will help you become more aware in your daily life.

Taom music director, Yaz Hunkar tells about the creative and technical aspects of producing music for the app.

Tell us how the Taom app integrates music into meditation and storytelling?

Meditation plays a significant role in relaxing and taking self-time for people who need it daily. When Taom creates the music of meditation stories, the origin of each element of music is the character/characters in the story and the main topic in meditation. The draft, utilized by time, space, and technology, aimed to create a different experience in every story, with the help of a different selection of musical periods, instruments, and sound effects.

Please explain a little more about the construction.

There are basically three different parts to the story in the Taom application. These are intro music (according to the dynamics of the story), sub-story (accompanying the narrator to the meditation part), and meditation music. Except for some stories, our principle is to set a theme for the tension and period of the story. The narrators’ voices and excitement help us produce the intro music also.

The intro music is the atmosphere of the story. It helps our listeners to get into the mood before the speaker gets in. Our intro music actually differs itself with the help of sound effects. We can call it the magical part of the music. For example, if the atmosphere in the story is a beach, we

create a sound space where you feel like you are really on a beach and listening to the meditations right there. Nature also has a rhythm, and music can adapt to these elements. So, according to the atmosphere of each story, an effect package is created and completed in harmony with its music.

How do you merge the story and guided meditation parts with music?

The substory music is in the tone of the intro theme, and when the voice actor begins to tell a story, the music part acts as an assistant to their tension completely, without going out of emotions. Since this music will be a complete bridge, we need to prepare for the next part of meditation, regardless of the speed and deceleration of the intro theme, and we need to move through meditation without distracting the listener. Therefore, this section does not have sound effects or elements to distract the listener. We keep it as calm as possible, considering the theme’s boundaries. In some stories, for example, in sleep meditations, we don’t utilize the substory music part. Instead, we start with meditation music right after the introduction.

What about the meditation part?

The meditation part is where we soothe and relax the listeners with the “New Age” style. This section contains special atmospheric effects, pads, and plucks designed for the application. In this part, we want to take the audience’s attention from the previous substory and reinforce the narrative as just a focus assistant until the final. In the meditation part, the purpose of this music is not to give some tempo in the details where the listener needs to repeat affirmations. Instead, we create a flow that is entirely based on the individual’s pace. The primary purpose of designing the sounds is to make the experience as memorable as possible and mix art with meditation in the best way possible.

You also have background music for daily life. Tell us more about it, please.

Our background music is under the “music” tab, which is another category on the application. Various tracks help you set your mood for the day. When we’re producing these kinds of music, we’re paying attention to regulating your brainwaves and balancing your chakras, independent of other storytelling meditations. We produce our music with frequencies like 528 Hz, 174 Hz, 432 Hz, and 417 Hz.

In this section, you can choose music that suits your mood, from focus assistant to concentration, creativity to study, chakra healing to anxiety relief music. As a result, you can rapidly ease the situation you are in.