Music is an essential part of Gurdjieff’s Work practice which has three core components or focusses: the body (related to the Sacred Dances or Movements); the mind (expressed through the Work Ideas to be found in such core texts as All and Everything, and P.D. Ouspenkys’s In Search of the Miraculous); and the feelings, related to the music, both that which was specifically written for the Movements and the large body of other music composed of Sacred Hymns, Dervish and other Asian Rhythms, Chants and Dances. The inspiration for much of this other music was from Gurdjieff’s own musical experience in Russia (the Orthodox Church) and then in Asia. Meeting with the celebrated pianist and composer Thomas de Hartmann in the early years of the Work, Gurdjieff was able to collaboratively produce more than four volumes of Music that are now available through Schott publishers. The Movements music has a more complex history. The very first piece for the Movements -written by Gurdjieff and de Hartmann was “The Essentuki Prayer”, clearly inspired by the place Essentuki at the base of the Caucusus Mountains where one of the first periods of intensive work began, with de Hartmann, in 1917. The Six Obligatories were also among the first pieces used for the Movements at this time. Music for the 39 Movements were written sometime later by de Hartmann and others, such as Helen Adie.

The Music of the Movements is designed to provide the rhythmic and emotive basis for the array of complex bodily gestures that are demanded of the practitioner and that activate his or her attention.

The other music, diverse as it is, has as its central purpose the activation of the listener’s attention and his or her capacity to be opened to new vibrations and to be truly centred. The influence of much of this music, especially the Sacred Hymns is to take the listener beyond conventional musical patterns and align our sensibilities to something new and often challenging. Shifts in keys, rhythms and intentional discords all act to open new pathways of understanding- beyond reason, beyond familiar musical associations. The clearest utilization of all these elements in the Work is the way this music is often woven into group meetings or readings of core texts. In these settings the music adds a dimension that amplifies the experience and understanding of what is taking place, as well as providing a stronger ground for witnessing the miraculous aspects of the music itself.

One of the best and most thoroughly researched accounts of all of this is Johanna Petsche’s book Gurdjieff and Music: The Gurdjieff/de Hartmann Piano Music and Its Esoteric Significance. Brill, 2015