A special instrument

A bridge to another world

Günther Loacker discovered the monochord a few years ago - and it has changed his life for the better.(Bild: Maurice Shourot)

Günther Loacker is a self-employed tiler and developed wine cellars until an instrument changed his life. We visited him in his mystical vault in Nenzing.

Instead of giving the wine the leading role, Günther Loacker now gives priority to his hobby: the soothing sound. And this is how it came about: A few years ago, he suddenly remembered his aunt's zither playing, which he enjoyed listening to as a child. "I thought I should buy a zither, but I would have had to practise too much for that," he admits. As luck would have it, shortly afterwards at a craft market in Lochau he made the acquaintance of a so-called body monochord - a stringed instrument that is placed on the body when played and whose vibrations are said to have a healing effect.

The man from Nenzing welcomed us to his wine cellar. His sonorous hobby should also enrich other people.(Bild: Maurice Shourot)

"I stroked the strings and got goosebumps," Günther remembers the moment. It was also a perfect coincidence that the sales clerk also offered courses on how to make your own - and Günther made his first instrument a short time later in the Allgäu region. Today he says: "The monochord has influenced my life - it has turned my attention from the outside to the inside."

Instrument for more harmony in life
Although Günther Loacker has managed without the internet for over twenty years - he has neither a smartphone nor an email address - he did not feel balanced in his everyday life. "I always enjoyed my work, but I knew that it couldn't be everything." If we are plagued by everyday stress, worries or moods, the human body loses its inner harmony. "It wasn't until I had the monochord on me that I knew I couldn't jump away." From the very first sounds, he felt a close connection with the instrument; it was almost as if he had found a new home.

The monochord is played directly on the body - usually on the back or stomach.(Bild: Margit Power - stock.adobe.com)

After a few years of "self-experimentation", the need to make the monochord accessible to other people grew. And so he went into the recording studio - he is currently recording his fifth CD. However, the Nenzing native emphasizes that the instrument has the greatest effect during a sound massage, i.e. when it is placed directly on the body. The sound waves in particular play a role here, penetrating the body and flooding it with a feeling of calm. Sound travels four times faster through water than through the air - and the human body is known to consist of around 70 percent water.

The first monochord existed around 2500 years ago - a simple board with a single string stretched across it. This was used by the great Pythagoras to develop his theory of harmony, and he also used the instrument to illustrate the connection between music and mathematics.

In ancient times, the monochord was used to demonstrate music theory and physical relationships.(Bild: Maurice Shourot)

The sound activates self-healing powers
Günther Loacker uses the archaic body of sound to accompany body, mind and soul. This starts with pregnancy and extends to accompanying the dying - in the truest sense of the word, the instrument becomes a bridge to another world. The overtone-rich sound carpet makes the monochord vibrate and gently penetrates to the cellular level. There, the vibrations are said to stimulate the metabolism, purify, relax and provide new energy. The now deceased Nobel Prize winner Dr. William Tiller also studied the healing effects of sound. He was a professor at the renowned Stanford University and attributed great importance to sound in medicine: "In the future, it will be about influencing the energetic vibrations in the body."

Günther Loacker offers his monochord playing to anyone who is open to it. The many positive responses are his greatest motivation: "The instrument has given me a purpose in life because I can enrich people with it."