Recent experiments in neurology, employing sophisticated neuroimaging 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 foothold 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 our 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, imparting unknowingly alertness and wellbeing. A ‘speed’. (in fact, most of the music 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.
Raga Chikitsa, an ancient text in Sanskrit is all about the therapeutic and mood-enhancing characteristics observed in various Indian ragas, the melodies that accommodate not only notes but also the hovering microtones and partials that surround them. Known for a high degree of emotional content and its dynamism, the Indian raga system has remained a time-honoured, constant and unfailing source of strength to our people who have faced such varied and complex turmoil due to unquenched ego of the influential rulers, despotism, migration, frequent dislocations due to contagious diseases, invasions, war, weather, floods, drought etc. The ragas have not only influenced the people in overcoming the misery of the past but are also the continuing source of confidence that enables us to dream for a better and brighter tomorrow.
This article was published in Mystic India – February 2008, Pages 28, 29
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, July 22, 2021