I know that twelve notes in each octave and the varieties of rhythm offer me opportunities that all human genius will never exhaust – Stravinsky
Music therapy literature is replete with the idea of correlation between the body rhythms and the rhythms in-built in a musical piece. It is normally understood that rhythms in music over a time synchronize with the body rhythm the same way a pendulum clock in a watch-shop gets synchronized with the timing shown by a neighbouring pendulum clock.
The Rhythmic Dose for Health
Rhythms also affect the mind. A tempo of about 60-70 bps (beats per second) would go well with the heart patients as it represents the normal heart rate. In fact, most of the music compositions of yester years both in the East and in the West had unknowingly adopted such a tempo for the welfare of not only the individuals but also of the society. Rhythm, which is slower than heart beat builds up certain suspense as the mind anticipates that the music will speed up.
That’s the reason why the elderly these days react adversely to all highspeed music, pop, jazz, fusion etc. particularly with variable beats, which are not at all conducive for heart-patients.
Slow tempo in music has been found to be relaxing, unlike the rapid tempo which causes stress. Some psychologists believe that the young population opts for fast rhythms, mainly because they find them ‘thrilling’ causing what we may call ‘eustress’, the good form of stress, that exercises our mind and gears up to face mounting challenges in life with sheer confidence.
The concept of ‘Personal Tempo’
El-sheikh, who has conducted some research on the proven effect of music therapy since 1965, is of the view that music has a scientific and measurable effect on human beings in accordance with their ‘personal tempo’. The personal tempo is defined as the rate of spontaneous behaviour of a person’s audio, visual, speech sense relation and response to the music tempo one is subjected to.
Tempo in music, we know, refers to a time interval between two beats.
According to El-Sheikh, music can have three effects on human behaviour. He is of the view that music tempo that matches personal tempo stimulates the right hemisphere of the brain which is in charge of holistic functioning — processing multi-sensory input simultaneously to provide a holistic picture of one’s environment like visual spatial skills. This evokes temporary forgetfulness while giving a golden opportunity to slip away from life’s turmoil and problems.
On the other hand, the music tempo that is faster than the listener’s personal tempo is said to stimulate the left hemisphere of the brain which affects reasoning, creating tension, stress and tires the outer nerve receptors, opening the door to hallucination and partial dreaming. A tempo of a song evokes relaxation and pleasure while being conscious of one’s surroundings as it stimulates both sides of the brain.
For the question whether nostalgia (memories) plays a role in our preference for a particular music, therapists like Abdel-Salhim believe that it all depends on how one relates to the tempo in a musical piece. “If it is a soothing tune,” says he, “once a person reaches ecstasy, then the mind starts to develop nice memories to associate it with the feeling. The face of our beloved, birds humming, all these memories we evoke whenever we listen to such melodies: It is not our happy memories that soothe us; it is the music tempo that does the trick.”
Modification of Behaviour with Music
On a national scale, music is considered a key tool in treating addiction as well as psychotic illnesses. El-Sheikh, who has been practising behaviour modification therapy for the past few years says in an interview published in Al-Ahram Weekly: “Almost 100 per cent of my patients were completely cured after using music as part of therapeutic treatment.”
Assessing psychotic patients, it is determined as to which side of the brain needs stimulation. Accordingly, the tempo in music is adjusted and administered as a complementary medicine to the illness diagnosed. While selecting the therapeutic music, sufficient care is exercised in ascertaining the taste and preference of the patient. Accordingly, classical, semi-classical, light or folk music is employed as a musical input to the predetermined tempo. It is believed by these therapists that negative behaviour in the patients could thus be altered over a few sessions with the appropriate music.
While listening to music forms the major part of the whole exercise, other alternative therapies such as standard exercises, meditation, relaxation etc are also advised, which are found useful in de-addiction programmes.
During the session, varying effects of music tempos are employed as an alternative to drugs. Iris believed that music is useful as a means of empowerment of the addict as he develops confidence in facing the root-cause behind his/her addiction and also in solving them. Thus, addiction is said to be cured with the help of soothing music, coupled with relaxation exercises and meditation.
In recent years music therapy is growing in popularity as more and more people are opting for it – more particularly for its pleasant impact and also the zero side-effects it promises. The present lifestyle which is full of tension gets balanced with musical inputs and hence a therapist is regarded as a welcome figure in hospitals and nursing homes around the globe. More and more people are convinced about the drastic reduction. in their anxiety and depression with the regular arrival of relaxing music in their life.
It is true that music alone cannot cure disease. It however empowers the patients to cope up with the problems caused by disease.
This article was published in ‘AYURVEDA AND ALL’ Oct 2007 – Pages 32, 33.
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, July 12, 2021