Martin Luther King, the famous American Black leader once said: music is a discipline and a mistress of good manners. She makes people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.
His words can be a gospel for many music therapists around the world, for the role of music in disciplining the public is widely reported in many research journals.
Based on such research reports, the police in Edmonton, Canada once happened to use music in the squares and avenues which had witnessed socially unacceptable behaviour and it was found that there was certain orderliness injected in the way the people conducted themselves.
In India, Nada Centre for Music Therapy in its research findings recorded that violent behaviour in special children got reduced by inculcating and encouraging the “music habit” in them. This was confirmed to this author by many parents and caretakers who dealt with such children day in and day out.
The research findings of the Centre that musical preference in listeners should be the foremost consideration in any music therapy session, has been path-breaking and is being followed not only in India, but now internationally.
Further refinement made in this area by the Centre, by categorising musical experience into three categories, namely, tamasic, rajasic, and sattvic (based on the Triguna Concept in Ayurveda) has attracted the world’s attention by practising music therapists.
This article is a continuation of the above research being carried out since 2000 and is oriented towards those therapists who face Western music oriented clients of mostly urban Indian metropolises.
Thanks to the emergence of the internet and more particularly the portable computing, it has become easy for music therapy professionals to listen to internet radio, live streaming via broadband connections.
All you need now is to download the apps for your listening pleasure. The tips given in the article are not only meant for professional music therapists, but also to every common reader of this article, who believes in music and in self-music therapy for changing his: or her moods and situational impacts in life. They all can use these tips to detect and download the music which is appropriate for their requirements.
Music Hits JukeBox (i0S): This is a treasure-house for both old and new hits. As middle-aged or senior citizens would usually prefer old numbers, music therapists can now have easy access to them without tears. This app contains a long list of oldies, based on years, genres, themes and awards that take you back as far as 40’s, featuring Nat King Cole, Muddy Waters, Bing Crosby and the like. Even music videos, spooled from YouTube are featured here. The only minus point is that only the Apple users can have access to this app.
Big Top 40 (iOS and Android): This helps access the Big Top 40 show and other radio stations in England. It streams the top 40 charts, which is live every Sunday from 4 pm to 7 pm (UK time). This app can help accessing useful information on the playlist, photographs of the artists. The audio-clarity is good despite the internet streaming technology. Apple users can stream the audio to the AirPlay device for playback, if necessary.
Music on YouTube (I0S and Android): This links listeners to music videos on YouTube. One can search for all favourite music videos, as posted on YouTube. The highlight here is that this app has pre-cache videos before playing or cache videos while playing. This allows for smooth and uninterrupted streaming playback while listening or watching the video on the internet. Can also download the video first and playback later even when there is no internet connection.
Selecting Appropriate Music for Music Therapy: A number of research papers are in the net as well as in the library discussing the choice of musical contents in music therapy sessions.
In brief, a trained music therapist can himself or herself easily create and manage his/her own “tailor-made” playlists, exclusive for his/her individual client’s needs. The client’s needs include the familiarity of the music system, the preference of instruments, sounds and timbre, the choice of artists and whatnot. Similarly, a common listener (let us call him a “self-music therapist”!) can manage his or her own set of playlists depending on his or her musical likes and for situations conceived such as anxiety, depression, loss, trauma, dilemma, sleeplessness, sadness, helplessness, a habit of hyper-thinking and the like.
This article was published in Bhavan’s Journal, June 30, 2013 – Pages 70, 71, 72
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, Nov. 8, 2021