User:Duane Estill

Duane Keith Estill('es-Tell) (October 13, 1965) is an author and musician/composer from Corinth,Mississippi. ,, As an author he has published "L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology Unmasked," "A Guide to Coffee: History, Varieties, Preparation, and Home Roasting," and"1,000 Sayings of a Mississippi Philosopher," a modern book of aphorisms covering a wide variety of topics. The "Mississippi Philosopher" is the character behind the series of books and represents "traditional wisdom in rich language and hard headed common sense." Intellectually critical of modern commercialism, stereotypes of Southerners, social inequity at many levels. As He is also a trained musician, composer and has written and recorded over three hundred compositions approximately thirty of which are "relaxation and meditation" compositions utilizing electronic synthesizers, and purpose designed to help listeners relax. Mr. Estill is also a videographer/filmographer who produces short features, commercials, and documentaries.

Mr. Estill's parents are Milbern Wayne Estill and Rita (nee Hutson) Estill, both residents of Corinth, MS. His maternal grandparents were Ruth (nee Gillam) Hutson, Ernest Randall Hutson, Sr. Maternal grandparents were Hubert Estill and Ernestine (nee Rowsey) Estill. Mr. Estill's paternal lineage is French Hugeunot, and is directly descended from the Lord Arles, the Marquis Estelle (which is used as a sobriquet for some of his musical compositions), with the Estelle family holding a wide variety of positions within the 15th and 16th century French aristocracy, primarily in Provence and Marseilles. The family arms was granted by king Charles VI of France in 1487 and is listed in the standard book of medieval heraldry, Reitstapp's Armorial Generale.

There are have been several books detailing the family history, including "The Estill family in the United States" (John H. Estill, 1905) "The French Family of Estelle (Alma Lackey Wilson 1944), and other works completed by professional geneaologists.

Estill was raised in rural Mississippi in the samll town of Corinth. He attended elementary schools in Corinth, graduated from Corinth High School in 1983, then attended Northeast Mississippi Junior college before transferring to the University of Mississippi. Estill graduated with degrees in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Mississippi and a masters degree in Philosophy from the same university. He aslo attended Harding Graduate School of Religion for four years.

Early Life - Education Estill was born and lived until age 18 in Corinth, MS. He has one younger sister, Karen, who was born on January 4, 1972. He graduated from Corinth High School in 1983 and attended Northeast Mississippi Junior College (now community college) before attending the University of Mississippi from 1986 - 1990 receiving a B.A. degree in Philosophy with a double major in Psychology. He then received an M.A. in Philosophy, specializing in the Philosophy of Mind. His master's thesis was entitled "Multiple Instantiability as an argument strategy against the proposed reduction of Psychology to Neuroscience" and was successfully defended.

Development in Electronic and Relaxation Music

Electronic Music Composition

After graduating from the University of Mississippi, Estill entered seminary at the Harding University of Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, a campus and facilities exclusively for graduate study of theology. During this time he expanded his collection of synthesizers and started composing long, ambient compositions using analog synthesizers such as the Oberheim OBX-A, Roland Juno 6, 60, and 106, Roland SH-101, and others. He also started using computers for digital sequencing, specifically, the Computerland MIDI car and Cakewalk Ver. 1.0 for DOS. This continued to evolved until the first "NeuroMusic" pieces were written which were similar to space music and new age music in that they contained sounds of rain, the ocean beach, streams, birds, waterfalls, etc., but different in that they did not contain flute, or drums, guitar, or any acoustic stringed instruments.. This time also marked his first incorporation of "binaural beats" into the music. He had studied a friends PH.D. disseration in Psychology studying the effect of "binaural beat stimulation" and "the relaxation response" in clinical studies, and was soon incorporating long binaural waves in the music which were not entirely audible to the listener, but that the brain did respond too. This music was extensively tested using EEG Biofeedback, and found to have a pronounced effect on the relaxation of the listener. The NeuroMusic pieces were first used in Le Bonheur Children's medical center on children with chronic illness in art therapy sessions, and worked with great success in helping the students to both calm down, and to be able to concentrate on their work. The music was also used by private therapists in many places around Memphis for therapy patients seeking relaxation and stress reduction, or sleep. The first five original pieces were each over an hour long, they were titled "Cerebral Regatta," "Daufin I and II," "Evening Rain," "Receding Thoughts," and "Asian Echoes."

The critical distinction with this music was that it was specifically designed for relaxation, with now "new age" meaning or association. The music is just to relax. While this seems like a trivial distinction, Estill found that there was very little available at the time that was designed for no other reason that to help the listener relax, or sleep, and that the motivation in making the music was completely divorced from any "new age" "astral projection" or other imagery or concepts.