Eric Roy & Kat Stuart of Tranquility Zone
When I visited Beaufort for the first time I saw the sign at the entrance to the Marine Corps Air Station: The Noise You Hear is the Sound of Freedom, but I didn’t get it. Now I know it refers to the sound of fighter jets on maneuvers crisscrossing the Lowcountry sky.
What I’ve discovered since then are other sounds of freedom here—whooshing winds in the pines, lapping waves at the beach, squawking birds in salt marshes. They all sound like freedom from day to day irritations because they give you a chance to embrace the calm of the natural world.
Along similar lines, but totally different, is also the sound of freedom produced by a unique musical group called Tranquility Zone. Eric Roy and his mother Kat Stuart (who goes by Ms. KittiKat) play a variety of instruments that seek to sooth the harsh edges of this world and promote an internal journey of healing reflection. Eric explains, “So I call what we do a meditative musical soundscape kind of performance, and we just try and take people into the tranquility zone…relax them enough so they can let go and get out of their own head and go somewhere else.”
Eric plays unique Russian steel drums called Rav Vasts and multiple Handpans, which are two glued metal shells shaped like a UFO that produce resonant sounds by tapping different spots in the circle of “tone fields” on top. His ace in the hole is a tongue drum tuned to 432 Hz, a frequency often called “Verdi’s Tuning,” a pitch alternative to standard tuning. Eric says he purchased it in 2019 and was immediately mesmerized by its healing vibrations.
Ms. KittiKat plays gongs, bells, singing bowls, chimes and the rainstick, a hollow tube filled with pebbles or beans that mimics the sound of rain. She contributes accents to Eric’s steady melodies and adds her own swirl of pleasing vibrational sounds.
They perform their meditative and immersive “sound baths” for audiences in Beaufort, Bluffton, Okatie, Port Royal and Hilton Head. You might catch them at senior and assisted living facilities, addiction treatment centers, yoga studios, wellness retreats, and as part of something called Sacred Sundays at the Arts Port Royal, which is where I’ve been washed with cleansing vibrations a half dozen times.
They moved to the Lowcountry about five years ago, when Eric himself was in a bad place due to a divorce. He says he had a need for healing because he had lost himself somewhere in the chaos. By creating energy to help others, he transformed himself.
Eric & group
“The whole universe has a vibration and frequency, everything around us has its own vibration, even a table or chair or flower, so everybody has their own personal frequency and vibration, so if we can match that vibration then that’s where the healing begins.”
Describing my own sound bath experience is tough to do in just words. Lost is a chunk of word-resistant dimensionality, but here goes anyway.
Sitting in a room in the middle of an immersive sound bath can be like lowering yourself into a luxurious, fragrant-rich warm bath on a freezing cold night. In this case the “freezing cold night” is your mind and heart dealing with the stress and anxiety of life. But even if you are doing mostly okay, the sound bath can launch you to greater heights.
My experience is multilayered and unfolds in phases. First, I’m kind of listening and waiting for something to happen–a spirit, a feeling, a sense of release. Then I begin to listen to what is actually hitting my ears; the different instruments and accents, the patterns and cascading rhythms, the end of one thing and the beginning on another. Finally I somehow listen from within the sound itself, becoming part of the flow and feel; a free-wheeling connection to the abundance of energy around you. Energy coming from both Eric and Ms. KittiKat and the other participants in the room with their eyes closed and spirits soaring.
I’ve discovered far-flung aspects of my imagination in the 50 minutes or so of the performance. I consistently leave the studio feeling crisp and relaxingly alive. Sound baths make me feel like I’ve hitched a cosmic ride and ended up in a wondrous place. Eric talks about participants being able to “hold onto the wave of life” for brief moments and the power of that grasp.
Bradley Beck of Beaufort enjoys his sound bathing and sums it up with a smile after a recent session. “It’s crazy out there in life and this is a moment to let go and reflect and internalize some peace. The vibrations of sound just wash through your ears into your brain, into your body…I’m still feeling it right now, it’s great.”
Ms. KittiKat explains what she gets out of it and why she keeps doing it, “I just love it that we’re bringing this much pleasure to people and that they get so much out of it, it makes me feel really good.”
If you think of the many hundreds of others over the years who’ve felt really good at sound baths themselves, you might just be able to imagine a positive tsunami of sorts that flows far beyond the edges of this earthly tub.
