Music is an intrinsic part of every one of us — irrespective of the fact whether we are singers or listeners. In the words of Kabir, “Nada is a music which plays in the body without strings.” Rhythm is the first organizing structure in the infant’s experience. Modern science acknowledges that pulse and rhythmic patterns found in our heart-beat, in our breathing and in our body movements are just a few indicators of rhythms with which all our life processes are intrinsically linked. There is an inherent rhythm everywhere — in and around us. If we could focus our attention, our body rhythms become transparent to us. We could feel how our breathing cycles, heart beats and our baro-receptor feedback loops are made of resonance and rhythms which simply go on and on, till death deprives us of them.
As far as melody goes, it is built in our laughter, cry, screams or songs all following again a fixed rhythmic pattern. A whole range of emotions could be captured and communicated through a wide range of rhythms, tones and melodies drawn from diverse cultural milieux and musical styles, schools and systems.
As in the case of any biological system, nature too is made of cycles and rhythms: seasons change in a cyclic manner and life functions in a cycle of births, growth and death: a cycle without a start or an end. Within the human body itself, life-processes are carried out in a pure rhythmic fashion. Various kinds of rhythms viz., endogenous rhythm, muscular rhythm, pain wave rhythm, pulse-breath frequency, rhythms involved in the processes relating to blood circulation, digestion, respiration, sleep, etc., are well known to the World of Science and Medicine.
All biological processes including our breathing, food-intake and excretion, energy exchange, metabolism, circulation, action of nerves, reproduction — all follow a basic pattern in an orchestrated manner. It is interesting to note that scientists have discovered a musical symphony in the process by which chromosomes condense and segregate during mitosis (nuclear division). It is likened to a musical symphony produced by an orchestra in which several instruments working individually or in unison make an attempt to produce a collective piece of elegance and beauty — as one may come across in a Bach or Beethoven, in a Mozart or a Mendelssohn. As a conductor ensures that each musical instrument enters the symphony at the appropriate time, with a wave of the baton so the conductors of the so-called mitotic symphony called `checkpoints’ prevent errors in chromosome segregation that can lead to disease such as Down’s syndrome or cancer. (David Cortez and Stephen J Elledge 2000).
The Rhythmic Expansion
Rhythms cannot be confined to intracellular functions alone; complexities of periodic rhythms grow right from cellular levels to the tissue levels and onwards to organs and to the entire organism. The nada yogis visualize their impact even beyond the confines of their bodies on the firm belief of their influence over the Universe. The present-day physicists are discovering that the foundation of the Universe is not just matter, particles or quartz, but movement of energy — the vibrations.
Some common rhythms in the body such as heart rate and breathing cycle could be directly experienced as we focus our awareness on them. This awareness is more pronounced particularly when one feels excruciating pain — as in toothache, when a wave of pain sweeps over the affected area, occurring in an interval of say, 15 to 30 seconds. The rhythmic pattern here is one and the same as the one, which forms our sleep cycles during the night.
Musical Rhythms & Body Rhythms
Therapeutic Traditions in Ancient Civilisations
Long before acoustics came to be studied in Europe, the ancient civilizations of the Arabs,: Greeks and Indians were already aware of the prophylactic and therapeutic role of sounds and vibrations. While the Greek legends glorify the music that healed Ulysses from his deadly wounds the Arabian writer Ibu Sina had recorded the therapeutic role of music in his various treatise on medicine. Tansen is said to have cured the Emporer Akbar’s hyper tension with his recipe, rag yaman. It is widely known depending on its nature, a raga could induce or intensify joy or sorrow, anger or peace and capture and communicate a whole range of emotions. All these could be done by manipulating the pace or gait or exploiting certain swaras or ragas through altering or their methods of rendering as in meend or glissando, staccato, iteration, progression etc
It is an age-old practice in all primitive societies wherein by drumming at the rate of 41/2 beats per second, shamanic state of consciousness is induced. Recent researchers like Landereth (1974), Harrer (1977) have confirmed that slow beats modify heart rate and breathing cycle in a significant way. Listening to musical rhythms do have an impact on the brain wave rhythms, which are responsible for our level of consciousness: a stage of alertness (with the predominance in beta waves) or a state of relaxation or deep sleep (with the predominance in alpha, theta or delta waves). A musical harmonic order called `rhythmic functional order in humans’ is responded to be intensified even when a person is sleepy. It has been experimentally found by this 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 pace a tabla or a manjira could lead one to a relaxed state. The literature on music therapy is fast building up confirming that long term musical involvement reaps cognitive rewards — in terms of linguistic skills, reasoning and creativity for enhancing social adjustments love and peace. 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. In the deepest and most general level, the forms of music stimulate the forms of adaptation (that is, assimilation and accommodation) which are deeply rooted in our autonomic nervous system. These intimate connections between our life-processes and music can remain despite illness or disability and are never dependent on our musical skill or mastery.
Because of this, the emotional, cognitive and develop mental needs of people with a wide range of problems arising from such varied causes such as learning difficulties, mental and physical ailments, physical or sexual abuse, stress, terminal illness etc., could be rationally addressed by selecting appropriate music.
Every one of us responds to music — from the new born to the patients at their death-beds and from physically or mentally strong to those who are the weaklings or impaired.
Music Therapy – A Rediscovery
It is strange that the subject of music therapy has not witnessed a revival in India in recent years. This is particularly surprising for a nation, which had in the past, made great strides in recognizing the therapeutic impact of rhythms, resonance and melodies for the well-being of body, mind and spirit. Those ragas which are therapeutic as in the ancient text of Raga Chikitsa were even codified and celebrated.
Music is interred with the very existence of man. It has been an inseparable companion not only to the primitive aboriginal man who feared Nature’s fury but also to the contemporary man who is under constant threat by his own species. In the words of Carlyle, “music is a kind of inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the infinite and let us for a moment gaze in that”.
Even the Science that usually shows scepticism over the very existence of God is dumb before the power of music. No scientific work could question its impact on mind and consciousness or could deny its role in soothing and pacifying one’s mind or in elevating one’s moods. On the other hand, a formidable body of research has been built, all confirming its therapeutic, prophylactic and audio-analgesic role. In this process, even those who have sole faith in modern medicine have started coming out openly in acknowledging music as a `complementary medicine’. Having recognized its significant role in a wide-ranging disorder including epilepsy, mental ailments, speech-related disorders, and terminal illness such as cancer and AIDS, music is increasingly regarded as medicine. The patients who have undergone the musical treatment would vouchsafe that they had experienced a neo-sense of dignity with music, during their struggle for survival. Even while awaiting one’s death, as in hospitals or in hospices, music has lent its dignity in such a way that the passage to the other world could appear more smooth and less painful.
With the publication of Medicina Musica by Richard Browne in 1729, music came to occupy the pride of place not only in restaurants and bars but also in shopping malls, street junctions, automobile and railway coaches etc. Its importance was recognized particularly in those places where one’s patience undergoes its test e.g., in queues, in waiting halls, in ICU’s and CCU’s, and in hospices. Several endroits, such as operation theatres, street-corners, examination halls, board rooms etc. where tempers and anxiety run amok have also witnessed a sea-change after introduction of musical rhymes and rhythms.
The ancient Indian civilization, which had prescribed meditation for `taming’ the mind so as to reach into higher realms of consciousness, had also devised ways and means to tap the inherent power lying in music for holistic health. The esoteric concepts and practices of Nada Yoga or Laya Yoga not only take into account the gross resonance, captured within the sensory limitations of the human ears, viz., 20 to 20,000 Hz., but also the subtle, anahata which is totally beyond one’s sensory reach, but can be perceived by mastering the techniques in yoga.
Music or nada reveals a distinct yin-yang pattern, a characteristic common to all living systems in the universe. Here, the sound and silence – the otherwise two opposing phenomena, which stultify each other, are yoked together under mystic canopy for their mutual interaction in producing synergy. While the acoustically driven recognizes it as a mere sound (or a tone of such-and-such frequency range), a musical connoisseur may find it as a marvel. For the nada yogi, however, it may even represent the very manifestation of God or Brahman. The synergy arising out of this strange combination of sound and silence is however considered to be the very building block that constitutes the entire Universe.
The Western Note and the Indian Swara : Affinities & Differences
In the Westerner’s eyes (or, rather, ears), a note is just a note. Nothing more, nothing less. It has to be mathematically correct and mechanically precise. Take for example the amount of care and concern that go into tuning a piano. The Indian system of ragas on the other hand encompasses not only swaras (lit. “self-shining”), but even their partials, those stacks of subordinate vibrations (semi-tones), which appear for an acute observer of resonance. In fact, it is the selective application of such harmonics to appear themselves at appropriate places, that lends a raga, its unique identity in an otherwise virtual ocean of ragas. In other words, it is just not a mere thread of tonal vibration, but a stack of subordinate vibrations that go into the spinning of a raga wick. The subtle way in which the subordinate vibrations in a swara encounter their counterparts in the preceding or succeeding swaras determines the pakad, a short cut involved in identifying a raga by presenting a musical phrase and not a sentence. It is not enough if a student is offered a notation or the solfa-syllables to master a raga. As the selected harmonics cannot be properly reflected in these, the Indian system of music is dependent on guru-shishya parampara and which again makes the Indian system of raga unique in the world of music. It is these partials in swaras that elevate the Indian raga from being a mere mechanistic melody to a lofty divine form.
Apart from lending an Indian touch to the music, it is these partials which have paved the way for effective meditation. In the realm of yoga, the concentration on the swayambhu swaras especially during rechaka (exhalation) and kumbhaka (the interval between the incoming and outgoing breath) has heightened one’s experience of one’s own consciousness.
Indian Therapeutic Music -A Musical Alchemy
Indian music is a combination of experiences, both emotional and intellectual. While a listener’s emotional hunger is met by selecting the melodies laced with required bhavas, his intellectual thirst is quenched by the mathematical precision involved in the complex and elaborate tala system. It is also a well-known fact that the Indian classical music attaches importance to serenity and thoughtful state of mind as its primary aim. In other words it caters both to emotions and intelligence a la fois, thus enabling balancing of the analytical mind (mastish) and emotional or intuitive mind (buddhi). In other words, by listening to a certain kind of music one is able to achieve equanimity, a quality propagated in several schools of yoga.
Music emanating from certain instruments is also regarded for their therapeutic value. The credit here goes to the unique texture or timbre (tone colour). For instance, in South India, sweet strains from the veena have been believed to ensure a smooth and safe passage for the baby’s arrival from the womb of its mother. Certain ragas are also considered as having an ‘equalizing effect’ on the mind. For example, there has been 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 (samvada dvaya) and naturally has a high degree of rakti. When sung at the end, it is no doubt, imparts a state of equilibrium and tranquility in a listener, who would have been exposed to a variety of emotions emanating from a number of ragas. While Saama raga is to restore mental peace, Bhupalam and Malayamaarudham when sung before the dawn serves as an agreeable invitation to people including the Lord of the Seven Hills — to wake up from their slumber. Relief from paralysis is reported to be there by listening to pieces of Dvijaavanti Raga. Those who are prone to depression, are often recommended with a dose of lilt in Bilahari to overcome their melancholy. Nadanamakriya, yet another raga, is supposed to ‘soften’ the adamant people and even hardened criminals.
Therapeutic Indian Ragas
To cure insomnia, one listens to bits and pieces of Nilambari raga; likewise martial fervours are believed to be instilled in people by making them listen to pieces in Bilahari or Kedaram; Sriraga, when sung or listened, after a heavy lunch is said to aid in digestion and assimilation.
Relief from paralysis is reported to be achieved by listening to pieces of Dvijaavanti Ragas.
Some of the ragas are taken here for a musical analysis to uncover their secrets.
The Probable Therapeutic Components in some Ragas
Kalyani (Yaman) : A Remedy for High Blood Pressure As we have already noticed, it is the intuitive use of resonance hidden in the tones that lend individuality to ragas. Not only that. According to this writer, it is the way the swaras are selectively used which has a definite impact on mind and moods. For instance the soothing touch inherent in the tivra madhyam in the raga Kalyani (Yaman is the Hindustani equivalent) which is interspersed with the other six swaras which are all shuddha render a compassionate personality to this raga, which could be the reason for its acknowledged role in bringing down one’s (high) blood pressure. The other ragas identified for similar effects are : Ahir Bhairav, Anandabhairavi, Bhairavi, Bhupali, Darbari, Durga, Kalavati, Puriya, Todi, etc.
Malkauns (Hindolam) : A remedy for Low Blood Pressure For those who suffer from low blood pressure, the morning raga, malkauns (whose Carnatic equivalent is Hindolam) is prescribed. The oscillations in Gandhar, Daivat and in Nishad one comes across in this raga, according to this writer could be the reason behind elevation one’s spirit as well the blood pressure. He finds magic in the pivotal note, the Madhyam, which makes it a feminine raga. The glides one notices in the swara combinations such as `Ni-Da-Da-Ma’ and in ‘Ma-Ga’, according to this writer, could be a reason for its application in improving one’s self-confidence.
Bageshri : A remedy for Sleep Disorders A romantic, late night Hindustani raga, introduced to the Carnatic system by Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar is prescribed for sleep disorders and insomnia. This writer is of the view that the occasional inclusion of Pancham, besides the sharpness (Komal-type) in Gandhar and Nishad could be the secret for its soporific role!
Bilahari : A remedy for Depression Recommended for depression, this raga is ideal for starting the day. This writer feels that this raga should be sung/heard at the very early hours of dawn by those who suffer from dejection and depression. Any prayer song made in this raga could prove quite beneficial in uplifting one’s moods. Other ragas such as Bhupalam, Kedaram and Malaya Marutham, could prove equally effective in overcoming the bad effects of depression.
Durbari : An Anti-Stress Raga A majestic, late night raga, Durbari is considered ideal for soothing nerves and reducing tension. It is often used in devotional music as it brings peace and tranquility. According to the present writer, smooth glides in all its seven notes (it is a septatonic raga) could be the major reason for smoothening the flow of nerve impulses. He pointed out that the Emperor of Music, Tan Sen, administered this raga to the Emperor of Hindustan, Akbar the Great, to make him recover from his stress and mental tension in governance. Other stress busters such as Durga, Kalavati, Hamsadhwani, Shankarabharanam, Tilak Kamod etc also promise to relieve those who are stressed by the constant expectations of people and society alike .
Shiva Ranjani : For Intellectual Excellence An ideal raga for the night, which is accredited with the improvement in one’s intelligence quotient, this writer feels that that the common man gets the taste of this raga from the least expected source of all: the Bollywood films! It may also be seen that any `filmi abasement’ of this raga leads to a hit song as in the films, Mera Naam Joker (`Jaane Kahaan Gaye Woh Din’) and Ek Duje Ke Liye (`Sola Baras Ki’) and in many others. At one point of time, every producer in the North and in the South used to insist that at least one song should be composed in this raga so that at least one becomes a hit!
| Sairam’s 10-Point Music Therapy 1. Listen with your heart and not just your mind 2. Enjoy music. Don’t analyze it. 3. Listen to good music for about 15 minutes four times a day. 4. Make driving, eating, bathing or cooking more enjoy-able with music 5. Never listen to music on an empty stomach 6. Actual singing or playing a raga is preferable to passive listening 7. Learn to play a musical instrument 8. Get children into the habit of listening to music 9.Always have gentle, soothing music playing around a sick person 10. Have a good music library at home |
Madhyamavati : The Leveller Madhyamavati is the raga often chosen by the Carnatic Vidwans for ending their Katcheries (concerts) with mangalam. The reason is quite simple. This raga has certain unique qualities to equalize the upheaval of emotions, often brought in by singing or listening to various ragas that heighten them. Akin to Madhyamat Sarang, this writer feels that perhaps the repeated oscillations at Rishabh in this raga could be the cause for equalizing the mind. Another favourite raga for mangalam is Saurashtram.
Tambura and the importance of Drone in Music : Tambura or tanpura, the Indian drone instrument is just not a drone of achala swaras, the tonic and the fifth spilling out monotony all the way! It is conceived to balance the expanding pitches in a raga by repeated basic pitches, which acts as a constant reminder to the performer to maintain the purity of the pitch despite the flow of several consonant and dissonant swaras that may constitute a raga. Further, the harmonics emanating from the heart of this instrument over a period of time — say 15 to 20 minutes a day —also assure harmony and peace all around — an event better experienced than explained in a seminar like this! Bikshandarkovil Subbarayar, a Carnatic vidwan who lived in the late 19th Century, was known for sending his two tamburas to the stage much ahead of his arrival, so that the concert hall is afloat with harmonics and semitones that prepare the mind of the audience to be well-attuned to the relevant shruti. There’s no doubt, when the actual concert began, a great degree of compatibility was already established between the artiste and his audience!
Music Therapy : Procedure and Practices :
Though no hard and fast rules regarding the music treatment sessions have been laid down, a daily session at a fixed timing is recommended by some Western therapists. Basically, it is the convenience and the need of patients that counts. The session could last for anywhere between 1 to 2 hours and with a few intervals for optimum results. Higher frequency is always better and would in no way, be harmful unlike other medications or drugs, which exhibit significant side-effects. While undergoing music therapy, one should however, avoid an empty stomach.
In a typical therapeutic session, the patient is provided with an instrument or a piece of notation to go on improvising the value of the piece. In the true traditions of mano dharma sangita, the patient is encouraged to carry on whatever he feels like doing with them till an emotional bond develops between the patient and the musical piece. It should be made clear to the patient that his musical outputs will never be judged and that he is absolutely free to make the way he wants to sound his music. All that, patient has to attempt to do is to make the sound as pleasant as possible. He is also persuaded to use his vocal chords the way he wants— which could range from mere murmurs to loud shouts. It also creates a ‘musical and emotional’ environment that accepts everything the patient tries to formulate. There’s no rejection whatsoever. As the patient’s response to the challenges increases, it also provides experience for socialization, improves his self-confidence and communication. Rhythm instruments have been found to be useful for this type of therapeutic goals, particularly in the case of hyperactive patients. The therapist can also prescribe speech, movement, drama etc. to enhance the value of such methods. Familiar songs or tunes of the patients provide better effect than the unfamiliar ones. In the west, the therapist works usually with piano where the potentials of rhythm, melody and harmony are combined with a very wide range of fluctuations of pitch or loudness. A co-therapist may also work with a therapist to help support the client if necessary and both therapists may use their voices or other instruments as appropriate. It has been clinically found that creative endeavour in music has comforted disabled children, trauma victims and individuals under geriatric care in a significant way.
Creative Music Therapy
An approach in which co-creative sessions between the therapist and the patient, aimed at activating the innate musicality, using a variety of standard and specialized instruments has also become popular in recent times, particularly in the West. Combining aesthetic sensibilities with ongoing analytical assessment, such improvisational music has helped patients to overcome their physical, emotional and cognitive barriers. Such improvisational, creative music is administered for helping disabled children, victims of accidents and trauma, individuals under psychiatric or geriatric care and self-referred adults seeking to overcome their emotional problems and stress. Known as Nordoff Robbins System, this approach has its growing popularity in the U.S.A, U.K., Germany, Australia, Scotland and Japan.
Music, the Custom-made:
In the developed world, an individual-based music programme is often customized, after studying the individual constitution of the patient and his problems. Once a programme is formulated, it is also necessary to review it periodically and incorporate changes so as to suit the changed conditions in the patient. Music is thus improvised uniquely for each patient and for each session. Audio recording allows the therapist to monitor the music process from session to session. Particular songs, bits, pieces or styles of music may also become part of the therapy process.
Music with Guided Imagery
As the musical melody progresses, the therapist explains imaginative events, situations, characters which are further elaborated by the patient. Several symphonies in the Western classical system, particularly those of Beethoven, Bach, Haydn, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky etc could be utilized by the therapists for activating the imagination of the patient vis a vis the melody played, which not only induces satisfaction in the patient but also greatly helps in overcoming his problems such as depression, trauma and other psychological ailments. Such method called ‘Bonny Method’ is also reported to have considerable impact in lowering one’s heart rate.
Music Therapy Practices: Conducive Environs:
Many therapists recommend that the patient should have a comfortable place for treatment without much noise or other disturbances. He should be seated in a most convenient way although yoga postures such as padmasana or vajrasana are often recommended. Simple steps involved are : (1) Close the eyes (2) Play or mutter soft/slow music, (3) Focus on the breathing process (for instance, by simply placing hands on abdomen one becomes aware of the movement of that part of the body during breathing), (4) One could use meaningful mantras such as “I’m good”, “The environment around is gracious and kind”, “God is kind and protective”, etc. Phrases such as “I’m loved”, “I love me”, I’m good” etc. Such assertions are said to result in erasure of depression. As one absorbs music, one absorbs all positive vibrations from Nature, which are conducive to good health and well-being.
The Duration of Therapy:
There cannot be any hard and fast rules on the duration of musical inputs. The prescribed music can be played even when the person is in deep sleep or coma. As rhythms are linked to the heartbeat, more music one receives should do wonders. However, instead of playing the music continuously, it can be given with some short intervals of gaps to make it more effective. Duration of therapy could be flexible, depending on the need of each patient and his response to it. Individual duration of therapy can however be determined through trial and error as one develops experience. There is a general consensus that an hour’s dose of appropriate music at a fixed time of the day every day with intermittent intervals should be ideal. As the improvement in ailments takes place, there would be a need for changing the musical inputs by the therapist. The first step would however involve the correct diagnosis followed by the selection of appropriate raga or melody to suit the individual requirement.
Vibroacoustic and Vibrotactile Gadgets :
Several gadgets such as vibrating platforms, beds, chairs, leg-rests etc. are commercially available in the West which extend a “physical experience” of 25-80 Hz sine wave tones. Thanks to these gadgets, the people with hearing impairment could physically experience (as vibration through their bodies) the middle to low frequency content of music and other sounds. Hearing impaired people can thus enjoy making and experiencing music. The physical experience of vibrations is said to be an effective therapeutic treatment for a variety of ailments such as autistic disability in children, Alzheimer’s disease, Asperger’s syndrome in adults and children; brain damage, emotional disturbance, Huntington’s disease, learning impairments, Parkinson’s disease etc. It is considered ideal for sensory impairment and terminal care. It has also been found that various low frequency sine tones will have localized effects within the body. They are said to be helpful in speech correction and in restoration of metabolic and physiological deficiencies. A frequency range from 25 to 45 Hz is said to be useful for ailments connected with feet, ankle, calves, knees, upper thighs and sacrum; a range between 45 to 60 Hz is said to be affecting coccyx, sacrum and lumbar region, where as 60 to 80 Hz is reported to affect thoracic cavity, shoulders, neck and head region.
The Gift of Music
There is a growing awareness in the West that certain music can provide physiological as well as psychological benefits. Several experiments conducted on the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart have revealed that many of Mozart’s sonatas result in increased joie de vivre and quality of life, regardless of one’s age or health conditions. Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, acknowledges the role of music in many neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s because of its unique capacity to organize and reorganize cerebral functions, when it has been greatly damaged. Design music sessions using music improvisations, receptive music listening, song-writing, guided imagery, learning through music have proved to be useful in ensuring emotional well-being besides improving communication and cognitive skills through musical responses.
| Musical Opportunities. It is the birth right of every child to be trained in singing and music., Every citizen should have easy access to music — and certainly not to noise – during social interactions. In earlier clays, the aristocrats in India like Zamindars used to entertain their tenants and labourers with performers and musicians like Yakshagana Bayalata, Kathakali, Sadir Katchery, Moothu etc. In the temples, concerts could be arranged on festival days where musicians and instrumentalists use powerful and far-reaching sounds as for example, in nadaswaram, drums, cymbals and the like which touch the nooks and corners of the village even without any amplifier facilities. In some Western countries, low paid workers and those who are to work in noisy factories are given free passes to attend musical concerts. There is a real joy when people attend to live music. Even in factories and offices, melodious music has already started creating a conducive atmosphere of harmony and bonhomie reducing tension among the clients and the employees. Psychiatric and medical hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation facilities, day care treatment centres, community health centres, drugs and alcohol programmes, senior centres, nursing homes, correctional facilities, schools and colleges and all such areas where human interact can improve their functioning with music, providing a better quality of life to one and all. |
Musical Experience
Musical experience is unique in the sense that it can impart an experience of extraordinary freedom to rise beyond limitation of one’s physical beings. In other words, one’s consciousness level could be increased to the next higher realm, with the appropriate dose of music.
Meditative music where melody and rhythms is combined with inspirational words and expressions (lyrics) as in bhajans, kirtans, Veda recitations etc. do enhance meditation and concentration and enable the mind to focus inwards.
This form of internalisation or inward looking brings about its own advantages such as strength and security and peace and tranquillity to those who are mentally challenged. Through music and by letting one’s mind go after it, one experiences a deep state of relaxation, which cannot be even guaranteed, with the help of chemical or synthetic drugs without their accompanying side-effects.
| How Does Music HealThough the mechanism of healing is still a mystery to modern science there is a great deal of belief that music stimulates the pituitary glands, whose stimulus affects the nervous system and the blood flow. It is also believed that for healing with music, the cells of the body have to be vibrated. It is through these vibrations; it is said that the diseased person’s consciousness is changed effectively to promote health. Several psychiatrists have confirmed the usefulness of music therapy for neuroses. Lively music is found to be useful for depression, while melodious music played on string instruments has been found to be useful for anxiety neurosis patients. Faster music is however reported to be preferred for patients with mania. European experiments have endorsed that a fifteen minutes music session of soothing melodies can lull a patient into a sense of wellbeing before a painful operation. Music is found to nudge some patients to make voluntary movements, which they cannot do otherwise. |
CONCLUSION
There is a growing body of literature, which recognizes the utilization of music therapy as an effective and respected treatment option. It is a well-acknowledged scientific fact that expressive music activities like singing or playing instruments improve coping mechanisms and self-confidence. For the terminally ill, music provides greatest solace. Besides a comforting environment, it is found to be of great help in pain management. A combination of touch therapy, imagery and music provides an environment for a peaceful passage. Thus, music therapy has established itself as a dependable health care system using music and music activities. It is increasingly being accepted as a complementary healing system, especially in the advanced countries, where the cost of medical cover has gone beyond the reach of the common man. In combination with other healing methods such as acupuncture, anesthesia, medication, surgery, yoga etc. music is found to be greatly efficacious. Regardless of differences due to age, disability or musical upbringing, it has proved useful to one and all.
Soothing and organizational properties of music helps the mentally handicapped. Limitless creative opportunities available in singing or playing instruments provide avenues for their self-expression, which is, otherwise, unavailable to them. Music exercises aid in organizing one’s thought processes and help in overcoming one’s inhibitions and restrictions. The creative process of music takes over one’s mind and emotion and leads to the feeling of wholeness and completeness with the Universe in all levels of existence: physical, moral or intellectual. It helps in overcoming all forms of inadequacies or frustrations in life. Music as a therapy, is not exclusive for just a disease; it is meant for all patient groups. From the terminally ill to the temporary sufferer, it suits everybody as it involves no side effects Alzheimer patients, chronic pain sufferers, premature infants, terminal patients etc all respond to the healing power of music. Symptoms of anxiety, depression and pain in the terminally ill are overcome by the healing power of music.
Thanks to music, multiple handicap patients gain a variety of skills. It provides a solid foundation for learning various skills including speech, language, self-care and adaptation. In long term care settings, music is used to exercise a variety of skills.
Cognitive games help with long and short term memory recall. Music, combined with movement as in modern gym and aerobic sessions, improve physical capabilities. Music by itself or in combination with other media such as art, aroma or dance offer unlimited scope for experience for the sensory-deprived, which is often caused by coma, injury or degenerative diseases.
(Note the information provided here is offered as a service and not meant to replace any medical treatment).
This article was published in Mystic India – November – December 2005 – Pages 14 to 23
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, Mar 17, 2021