Neuromusicology is an emerging branch of science, born out of the combination of neurological sciences and music; intended to explore the biological and biochemical responses to the sounds of music. The recent developments in this field represent just the rediscovery of the ancient concepts and practices of nada yoga.
Based on textbooks’ understanding of synchronization and entertainment of vibrations, this field takes into account the basic premise that vibrations are ceaselessly synchronized in the universe, bringing about changes in every moment of its conceivable fraction.
Experiments conducted on brain waves with the help of instruments like electron encephalography reveal that the music waves and rhythms can alter the pace or composition of brain waves, thus affecting the mental state or consciousness levels and selecting appropriate tunes and rhythms, every mental ailment can be effectively addressed.
Western science has gone a long way to exploit sounds for the welfare of people. Right from unborn babies in the womb to the terminally ill patients in the hospices, every individual stands to benefit from this research. A huge body of knowledge now endorses that common mental ailments like tension, anti-social behaviour, like arson and violence, negative feelings such as anger and jealousy can be easily tackled with appropriate doses of music, dispensed by an experienced therapist. There are reported instances where music has played a soothing role. By introducing music in the City Square, it is reported that in Edmonton, Canada, the pedestrians’ behaviour has become more orderly and they are more accommodative with each other. In work places, music is reported to have brought in more smiles and bonhomie among the employees; in long queues, music has inculcated a sense of relaxation and tolerance among those waiting their turns.
It has been highlighted that music not only alleviates the anxiety and violence in the minds of people, but imparts a positive behaviour pattern that enables a new approach tempered with love and compassion and, above all, a greater sense of under-standing towards one’s fellow travellers.
Another important aspect of neuro musicology lies in the constant pattern of tension and resolution inbuilt into all forms of music — be it a bhajan or a baroque! For instance, the first line in the popular bhajan ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ creates a sense of tension, which is resolved by the following line, ‘Rama Rama Hare Hare’. Scientists say that the tension built and the resolution that follows in any music, gets translated into an electrical code of pulse in the brain. Conversely, nature’s rhythms have been found to be akin to those we find in music. Particularly, in terms of timings (talas), intensity (amplitude), synchronicity, contrast in frequency (vadi, anuvadi or samvadi), patterning etc., there is a remarkable similarity between the two types of rhythms. Dr. Gordon Shaw and his associates have discovered that specific firing patterns in brain cells resemble the musical works of Baroque, New Age and Eastern music.
From Nada Yoga to Neuromusicology
Recent experiments in neurology, employing sophisticated neuro-imaging techniques, have all gone to confirm that there is a close linkage or synchronization between the musical rhythms and those of the brain waves. Thanks to the recent advances in brain mappings, the scientists are now in a much stronger foot-hold for unveiling the myths and magic of nada, celebrated as the universal principle that governs every manifestation in and around us.
Even present-day physics acknowledges the Big Bang theory to explain the origin of the Universe to sound, curiously known to Nada Yoga, from the very early times. While the origin of the Universe is attributed to the primordial sound energy, symbolized in ‘Om’, regarded as the root-cause of all manifestations around us (and including us!), scientists, as they are also part and parcel of this ‘sound’ web, may have to face more ‘music’ in coming to an objective conclusion on music or its effects.
However, the human scientific quest can never be contained and kept at bay. Our heart responds to music.
Our heart rate can speed up or slow down to match the music we hear. The faster the music, the faster the heart will beat! Like slower breathing, lower heartbeat creates less stress and helps the body heal itself. Conversely, a study done with university ‘students found that, after exposure to loud rock music by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and other similar bands, students had increased heart rate, breathed faster, and were less sensitive to skin stimuli. In another study, it was found that excessive noise may raise blood pressure by as much as 10 percent. But it can be lowered by listening to music that averages between 44 & 55 hertz.
The recent neurological experiments with brain mapping techniques have thrown open new vistas on music, which has all the time been regarded either as myth or as magic. Neurologists have now confirmed beyond doubt that music can easily alter the rhythm of our brain waves, as it can equalize them.
Our brain waves, as a rule, vibrate at different speeds, depending on the activities with which we are engaged: from a peaceful sleep in the lap of a mother to facing a ferocious predator, be it a wild animal or a boss! The slower the brain waves, the more relaxed and peaceful we are. When we are at the wit’s end, our brain waves vibrate at a faster rate as our breathing and heart rates get altered.
Neurologists categorize four types of brain waves: beta, that vibrates @ 14 to 20 Hz, representing our performance at alert levels, alpha wave cycles @ 8 to 13 Hz enabling us to have heightened awareness and calm, theta @ 4 to 7 Hz inducing a period of creativity, meditation or sleep and delta waves @ 0.5 to 3 Hz that guarantees a deep sleep or a meditative state akin to samadhi.
Music can change brain waves from the beta to the alpha range, enhancing alertness and well-being. A musical ‘speed’ of 60 beats per second (in fact, most of the music of the common folk across the world and also certain Baroque and new Age Music contain such an element) is reported to be an ideal music in harmony with the body rhythms such as breathing cycle, respiratory cycle, blood circulation etc.
It is now acknowledged that playing music at home, in the office, or in school can help to focus a person. If you are daydreaming or unorganized, the background music of either Mozart or Baroque, Kalyani or Ahir bhairav played for a few minutes (say, five to ten minutes) should do wonders as it may be helpful in facilitating our mind to organize itself from the chaos or lethargy to which it had succumbed to.
It is revealed that stimulating genres of music, characterized in general, say, by faster pace of rhythms, progressive forms and resonance in higher frequencies (5000 to 8000 Hz) — affect the human brain in such a way that they could help in rearranging the brain wave patterns towards beta forms, which are conducive to extreme alertness and quick mental response to external puzzles — be it the challenge faced by a fighter pilot in a battle front or a mathematical problem to be solved by a school kid.
But, certain other genres of music can also induce tranquillity and relaxation, badly needed in the jostling and competitive urban milieu, by converting the brain wave patterns with predominant mix of alpha and/or theta levels, whose frequencies are slower than the beta ones.
It has been scientifically acknowledged now that slow paced, iterative, resonant music, full of harmonics but the least ‘drama’ in them can transform beta into lower frequencies of alpha and theta. We come across such music in the religious prayers and chants practiced all over the world : Gregorian chants, bhajans and kirtans, vedic chanting such as chamakam to name just a few. Even the secular tunes — the so called `sticky tunes’ – we come across in lullabies or nursery rhythms, or even in folk, pop or film music, which has invaded into our system without any conscious effort on our part and in such a way that there could be an automatic recall – can all play wonders in bringing us down to earth from the dizzy heights from which we operate to successfully survive the competitive or even life threatening events in our day to day life. It has been found that playing or listening to the harmonics emanating from tanpura or for that matter, any drone instrument for sufficiently long time lead us to shift to theta range. And so, with the vibrations and rhythms that emanate from drums played at a distance.
However, the experiments reveal that all people do not respond the same way to a particular music. It is commonly known that people at times create a musical barrier and start under-rating or over-rating certain genres of music, due to their whims and fancies, without any rhyme or reason. In a workshop conducted by this author at India Habitat Centre recently, it was inferred that prima facie, the very first impression for a genre of music among all ethnic groups are almost identical. And it is only after analyzing the music, people’s prejudices or inhibitions start showing their heads. While the calming music is generally regarded as conducive for the patients undergoing surgical interventions, President Bill Clinton of the U.S.A., however, is reported to have opted for his favourite country-western music, while undergoing a tendon repair. The reason given was: it lifted his spirits.
Musical Rhythms Conceived in the Mind
Musical rhythms created by the mind follow the life pattern — in an unconscious and in an unintended manner. Listening to musical rhythms do have an impact on the brain wave rhythms, which are responsible for our state of consciousness: whether we are at a stage of alertness (with the predominance of beta waves) or we are in a state of relaxation or deep sleep (with the predominance of alpha, theta or delta levels, as the case may be). A musical harmonic order called ‘rhythmic functional order in humans’ could be intensified even when a person is sleepy. It has been experimentally found by the author in a workshop conducted at Delhi on the 22nd December 2001 before an enlightened audience, comprising of diplomats, civil servants, yoga teachers and music lovers that by manipulating the rhythmic structure of a tabla or a manjira one could descend to alpha levels and feel ‘relaxation’, happiness’ and ‘peace of mind’ as remarked by the audience themselves. The literature on music is fast building up saying that long term musical involvement reaps cognitive rewards — in terms of linguistic skills, reasoning and creativity and boosts social adjustments. Music exercises the brain and playing the instruments for instance, involves vision, hearing, touch, motor planning, emotion, symbol-interpretation — all of which go to activate different areas of brain-functioning. It has been observed that some Alzheimer patients could play music even long after they have forgotten their near and dear.
These intimate connections between our life processes and music can remain despite illness or disability and are not dependent on musical coaching or mastery. Because of this, the emotional, cognitive and developmental needs of people with a wide range of needs arising from such varied causes such as learning difficulties, mental and physical ailments, physical and sexual abuse, stress, terminal illness etc., could be addressed by exposing them to an appropriate dose of music suitable to their tastes and needs.
Every one of us responds to music — from the newborn infant to the patients suffering from terminal diseases and from physically or mentally strong to those who are handicapped or disabled. Several psycho-therapists have of late, used music to enhance their efficacy in treating neurotic disorders. Client and the therapist improvise music together, building a creative musical process that itself becomes an end in itself. The therapy enhances communication and helps people live more resourcefully and creatively. It helps in controlling blood pressure, emotions, liver functioning and all the psycho-somatic disorders.
Music emanating from certain instruments was also regarded as therapeutic, due to the value of their timbre or tonal quality. For instance, in South Indian, sweet strains from veena were invariably associated with smooth and safe delivery of the baby from the wombs of its mother. There used to be a practice of concluding the concerts, bhajans, kalakshepams etc with the raga Madhyamavati. It is a raga, which takes the first three notes in the cycles of fifths and fourths (samaveda dvaya) and naturally has a high degree of rakti. When sung at the end, it imparts a state of equilibrium and tranquillity in the listener’s mind.
References
Bagchi, K. 2006 Music Therapy: An Alternative Medicine; Delhi: Gerontological Society of India
Sairam T V 2007 Self- Music Therapy, Chennai: Nada Centre for Music Therapy.
This article was published in ‘AYURVEDA AND ALL’ – August 2008 – Page 31 to 34
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, July 21, 2021