Award-winning violinist uses music as medicine

Tom Titus

You might expect a highly honored musician, a master of the

seven-string violin, to be ensconced in a recording studio or perhaps

a garage from which the sounds of his five-piece band emanate.

Robert Aviles, however, can be found in his Circles of Life office

on the penthouse floor of the 11-story Pacifica Tower in Huntington

Beach, where he combines his lifelong love of music with the almost

mystic power of healing, dividing his time between corporate and

creative pursuits.

The Huntington Beach resident and founder of Music Research

Technologies -- a result of his research in combining music, healing

and spirituality -- radiates a positive attitude that’s highly

infectious.

If you’re cynical, as most probably would be, he’ll subject you to

a painless, two-minute test that’ll give you something to think about

whether you buy into his premise.

“Stretch out your arms and lift one leg and try to keep me from

pushing your arm down,” he urged.

I couldn’t -- due to the fact, I assumed, that he’s two-dozen

years my junior and in far superior physical condition. Then he

turned on the music, and we repeated the process. I was instantly

able to repel his pressure, which he insisted was as strong as

before.

Aviles, aside from his fiddling prowess, is president of Layers of

Light, a research group that discovered and developed an energizing

concept known as JAS Energies. He’s constantly on the road, lecturing

and entertaining for civic groups and national, corporate and

nonprofit organizations.

At the heart of his message, though, is the music. He has given

concert performances for as many as 80,000 people -- that coming on

Canada Day in 2000 as the only American on the program. Aviles was

named best artist in the world music category at the Orange County

Music Awards in both 2002 and 2003 and won in the best instrumental

artist category this year while his band was nominated as best live

act.

As for the business end of his life, Aviles originally was headed

for a medical career. After graduating from Orange Coast College, the

Tucson-born Aviles continued his education in pre-med studies at Cal

State Long Beach. After four years, though, he changed his major from

biology to music and plunged into two more years of study in

composition and common-practice theory, eventually earning a master’s

degree in compositional studies.

During his college years, he formed his musical group, Insight --

he’d been playing the six-string violin since age 11 -- and

eventually mastered the seven-string instrument. Insight captured top

honors on TV’s “Star Search” in 1991 and has played at many theaters

in and out of Southern California ever since.

“I founded Music Research Technologies as a result of my research

in combining music, healing and spirituality,” Aviles explained.

He’s conducting clinical research on the efficacy of his music in

reversing a variety of medical disorders.

Aviles has been hailed by critics such as Music Connection

Magazine, which labeled him “one of the finest and most innovative

violinists to come down the pike in a long time.”

He credits a life-changing experience in 1999 as the beginning of

his present, highly successful life path.

“I was in a monastery in Encinitas under a three-day vow of

silence, and the experience was so invigorating that I made up my

mind to become a monk,” he said. “But then I received this vision,

this voice telling me to continue with my music and use it as a

healing tool.”

Since that time, his mission, as he describes it, is “to remove

hatred from people’s hearts and replace it with love, peace and

well-being.”

He started Circles of Life literally in his garage, and became

successful enough to lease the top floor of the Pacifica Tower two

years ago. He has produced 12 CDs, including a seven-disc series

called the Rhythm Series, which ranges from progressive rock to

classical, new age, world, inspirational and seasonal music.

Aviles heaps much praise on his fellow band members -- keyboardist

Tony TerBorg, bassist Bob Fazio (“the best I’ve ever met”), drummer

Hissayuki “Q” Kato and percussionist Joakim Ekberg.

“The chemistry in this group is fantastic,” he said.

The group recently toured the Midwest and East Coast -- from

Missouri to Florida to Maine -- and has a West Coast tour in the

offing. In their first year, Insight earned $1.6 million from recordings. The musicians have donated recordings, proceeds and

performances for dozens of charitable causes, including Huntington

Beach Community Hospital and the Bolsa Chica Conservancy.

And, from the 11th floor of the Pacifica Tower, Aviles has a

panoramic view unmatched in most local offices -- from the Hollywood

sign, on a clear day, to the San Clemente Pier. That alone is enough

to energize most people.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.