Days are not far when music gets its rightful place as a dependable medicine that complements with all forms of medical interventions – be it homeopathy, allopathy, naturopathy or ayurvedic.
It is heartening to note that India, which had been the cradle for music (raga), having employed it as a workable therapy (chikitsa) in everyday life-situations viz., religious rituals, festivities and celebrations, child-birth, illness, death etc. has now woken up to establish her rightful place in the field of music therapy. Though music therapy appears nascent in India, it has been practised for long with beneficial results in many advanced countries especially the U.K., U.S.A., Japan and Australia. Though it is on record that even a text on therapeutic ragas, called Raga Chikitsa has been in existence, many a raga known for their impact on mind and moods has to be scientifically examined for their therapeutic role.
Music Hugs
Millions of men and women in the past from ancient times have, no doubt, greatly benefited by music in various ways. Indian music – folk, classical, bhajans and kirtans – have all contributed in their own way in keeping human tribes in cohesion and in harmony. It has also helped in resolving tensions and traumas inevitable due to upheavals in the sub-continent, caused by foreign invasions, immigrations, forceful occupations and uncertainties in human life, caused by floods or drought.
Whenever we feel lonely, marginalized or insecure, music comes handy. When no one is there to care for us, particularly in old age, music can promise us a dependable companionship. Like a faithful dog, it can follow our being wherever we go and whatever we tend to engage in.
It is our everyday experience that agitated infants can be pacified by the mother’s whispers or songs, though she may hardly call herself a “music therapist”! The labour force engaged either in strenuous or in monotonous exercises like moving the rocks, fishing in the sea, planting saplings, pounding the cereals etc. unconsciously employ sounds and rhythms that could make their travails light and bearable. The fact that musical rhythms cheer up and impart confidence to people especially, when they lack it badly, can be tested by the milling crowd heading for music programs.
The Vizag Survey
In a survey conducted in Vizag recently (April, 2004) only 50% of the musicians who participated believed that music could be used as medicine! On the contrary, 15 out of 16 medical professionals who attended had a firm belief that music could be therapeutic.
This survey indicates that there is a dire need for educating the public on the possible therapeutic role of music. I am glad to note that organisations like Nada Centre for Music Therapy and Apollo Hospital at Chennai are engaged in popularising music as a complementary medicine.
The “Indianness” in Indian Music
Several factors that make our music “Indian” are also found to have therapeutic significance. First of all we have smooth, supple, adjustable and accommodative swaras. They are not as rigid and “matter-of-fact” as the Western notes are made.
By hugging the neighbouring frequencies effortlessly, swaras can extend a mental and emotional flexibility unparalleled in any listener. It is this “love-thy-neighbour” attitude underlying in “swaras” that has contributed towards the mushrooming of innumerable raga scales in the Carnatic system. No doubt, it also enables us to experience a wide range of quickly shifting emotional variations and nuances at every nano-second – as the raga progresses say, in an alapana.
Secondly, Indian music is purely voice-based and not mechanical or metallic. It appears therefore more human than its counterparts. The western notes we know are pre-set, vibrating at an ordered frequency. This system emphasizes on mimicry or reproduction of the musical works of great composers. On the contrary, mano-dharma sangita in alapana or taanam, devoid of intelligible words and phrases, truly reflects emotional patterns, fluctuations and nuances arising from the depth of our hearts. Unadulterated by words or thoughts, the dynamic raga alapana allows us to liberally express even a bit of our suppressed or oppressed feelings through the medium of music thus decongesting all our emotional accretions and blocks, accumulated over a time by failures and frustrations in life.
Music Therapy: An Explosion of Experiments
Recent years have witnessed an explosion in research experiments concerning medicinal aspects of Mozart, the child prodigy from Austria. Mozart had used high frequency notes, rich in harmonics, in pleasing patterns. We do come across similar elaborate patterns in Indian music as in Gitams, Kritis and Varnams too which are pleasing combinations of resonance and rhythms, aimed at soothing our tormented souls, through an attitude of devotion and curiosity.
Over the years, it is somewhat heartening to note that there has been a gradual change in the attitude of the cynics among us on the efficacy or acceptability of music as a therapeutic tool. Some leading universities in the country have come down from their citadels of science and technology to a modest but multidisciplinary subject like music therapy for their MPhil and PhD programmes. Apollo Hospital at Chennai are the forerunners to open their portals to music as a medical intervention. However, considering the mind-boggling number of raga possibilities and tala varieties the Indian musical systems offer, what has been researched so far is not even the tip of the iceberg! Wake up, friends, wake up ! We are sitting on a gold mine of musical heritage without actually realizing its value !
Music, being a holistic intervention, cannot be popped up like an aspirin tablet to get an instant result. It can at best be combined as an adjunct with other forms of therapies, be it a simple massage or a life-saving radiation. There is a great need for innovation to prudently use appropriate, user-friendly music, keeping in view the individual user’s profile (constitution, tastes and preferences, regional background and personal likes and dislikes).
Music : The “Future Medicine”
Immense potential exists in music for developing an army of innovative therapists, as the present-day work culture and competitive pressures threaten to exhaust people at a very tender age with increasing requirements of caressing, loving, pampering, cheering, enthusing and healing tunes for everybody. By inculcating the habit of listening to ‘appropriate’ music one can not only overcome one’s mental inhibitions or inadequacies, but one can remain child-like, curious and youthful in one’s mind and attitude. It is studying the individual’s needs and constitutions, one could devise an experiment called “appropriate” anti ageing music, to keep the ageing millions young at heart and productive to the society.
Particularly for the treatment of depression, stress and stress related disorders, and mind and memory related diseases music has been tested for its efficacy by a battery of scientists, musicologists, gemologists and psychologists in various parts of the world. To those doubting Thomases among us, I have one piece of advice : “only by touching the fire, you can know that fire burns. Experiment with music before arriving at a conclusion, either way!” The so-called “scientific” assumptions and beliefs are not enough to condemn a system, long-loved and cherished by our ancestors through intuitive powers. The dawn of complexity science or Chaos Theory has started acknowledging the wisdom involved in traditions and the lack of wisdom involved in modern science. Further, music therapy as a profession promises a great future for the millions of unemployed youth in the country. Creation of training facilities and workable syllabi are the greatest challenges before us. As it is an interdisciplinary complex science which includes musicology, psychology and general medicine, it is quite a challenging discipline, demanding dedication and sincerity. In this context, I am happy to announce that a dedicated band of musicians, doctors, psychologists and social workers are already engaged in chalking out a model syllabus for training music therapists through the Distance Education Programme in the country. Organisations like IGNOU, Helpage India etc., are showing great interest in channeling traditional music for harvesting health and well-being to all in the coming decades.
Days are not far when music gets its rightful place as a dependable medicine that complements with all forms of medical interventions – be it homeopathy or allopathy, naturopathy or ayurvedic.
India is in transition to reach its rightful heights among the community of nations. Great stress and strain witnessed by all of us in the economic developmental processes of this great nation cannot go unrewarded. I am confident that no other medical supplement can work as effectively or as proactive as music. Whether music can change things or not one thing is certain. It can change us to adjust ourselves to the changing times ahead.
This article was published in ‘Ayurveda and All’ – 28 November 2014 – Pages 26 to 28
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, Nov. 16, 2021