Music provides great solace to all whether ill or not. Music has a great therapeutic role in treatment and prevention of many disorders.
“Music Exalts each Joy, Allays each Grief, Expels Diseases, Softens every Pain, Subdues the rage of Poison and the Plague…” ….John Armstrong (1709-1779), the Art of Preserving Health, Book IV)
Music is interred with human civilization. It has been an inseparable mental companion not only to the aboriginals who feared nature’s fury but also to the modern man who is in constant threat by his own tribe.
Even the science that usually shows skepticism 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 the mind or elevating the moods, thereby, relieving tension and pain. Rather, a formidable body of research has been built, all confirming its therapeutic and prophylactic role. In this process, people who have sole faith in modern medicine have also started coming out openly to accommodate music as a ’contemporary medicine’, having recognized its role in wide-ranging disorders including epilepsy, mental ailments, speech-related disorders, and terminal illness such as cancer and AIDS. The patients would have undergone such treatment would vouchsafe that they had experienced a neo-sense of dignity with music, not only during their struggles for survival but even while awaiting their exit as the passage to the other world became less rough and smooth…
A moment has already started in a big way, particularly in the west for ‘administering’ music not only in restaurants, shopping malls, railway compartments etc., but particularly in those places where tempers run amok viz., the waiting rooms, the ICU’s, the CCU’s, the operation theatre, the street-corners, the examination hall, the boardroom, the hospices and what not.
The ancient Indian civilization, which had prescribed medication for ‘taming’ the mind so as to ascend to a higher level of consciousness, exploited to the hilt the inherent power of music. The esoteric concepts and practices that form a formidable body of knowledge in Nada Yoga or Laya Yoga are not just based on the so-called ‘struck’ sounds (ahata), but also include those ‘unstruck’ vibrations (anahata) which are beyond the reach of the gross auditory organs, but which can be perceived closer to one’s very vitals of existence.
Music or Nada reveals a distinct yin-and-yang pattern, a characteristic common to all living systems in the Universe. Here, the sound and silence – the otherwise two distinct and opposing phenomena, which could stultify each other – are juxtaposed under one shelter for mutual interaction to form a ‘tone’ (for the acoustically driven), or a ‘ marvel’ (to a well-informed connoisseur) or a brahman (to a bhakta who is prone to ‘visualization’). The synergy arising from this strange intercourse of sound and silence thus go for beyond the total sum of their individual effect. The ‘struck’ sounds and their prolonged ‘unstruck’ vibrations have been cleverly tapped from the high resonating, seven-metal Tibetan singing bowls for one’s moods and consciousness levels. The synergy obtained in the conjunction of mind and music is thus of universal dimensions and hence its impact cannot simply be comprehended within the narrow confines of human reasoning. At the same time, it is available aplenty for experiencing!
“The Western Note and the Indian Swara”
For the Western music, a tone is just a tone. Nothing more, nothing less. It has to be mathematically correct and mechanically right. Take for example the amount of care and concern that go while fixing a ‘middle C’. The Indian Swara, on the other hand, is more flexible. It not only accommodates its semitones, harmonics etc. (called anuswaras) to express themselves at appropriate places, but glorifies their presence as a sine a qua non for determining a raga. Having identified that a swara is actually (indeed, naturally) composed of a stack of subordinate vibrations ( semi-tones or harmonics), the whole pattern of vibrations is taken into account for arriving at a pakad, a conglomeration of solfas, through which one is able to weave a unique raga pattern, a typical contribution of the Indian subcontinent to the world of music. It is these swaras and swayambhu swaras that elevate the Indian raga from a mechanistic melody to a spiritual surrendering. It is the Indian psyche – particularly the closely focusing tendency or ekagra that has brought to the fore the refinement in vibrations, otherwise cached and sidelined by the notes or tones.
The subordinate vibrations, overlooked by the West caused flutters in the subcontinent. Apart from evolving a unique raga system, which rendered ‘Indianness’ to its music, it also paved away, in the realm of yoga, for the concentration of swayambhu swaras especially during rechaka (exhalation) and kumbhaka (the interval between the incoming and outgoing breath, as in pranayama).
“Therapeutic and Prophylactic Music”
Long before acoustics came to be understood in Europe as a subject of study, the ancient Arab, Greek and Indian civilizations were already familiar with the therapeutic role of sounds and vibrations and the latter-day concepts pertaining to them, it was the Indian genius, which has this discovered Raga Chikitsa, the raga cure. Raga, we all know is the sequence of selected notes (rather, swaras) that lend appropriate ‘colour’ or emotion in selective combination. Depending on their nature, a raga could induce or intensify joy or sorrow, anger or peace and it is this quality which has to be carefully understood while attempting to induce a desired emotional pattern in listeners. Thus, a whole range of emotions could be captured and communicated within the rhythms and harmonies of different ragas.
“Indian Therapeutic Music”
Indian music is both emotional and intellectual. While a listener’s emotional needs are taken care of by the melodies laced with bhavas, his intellectual hunger is created by the mathematical precisions of the 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 creates 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 music one achieves this balance, which not only gives once mental strength to face problems but also induces certain psychological patterns, conducive to good health. Adopting maximum of dose of music as an integral part of one’s daily routine would, no doubt, prove useful in the long run.
Music emanating from certain instruments was also regarded therapeutic, due to the value of their timbre for tonal quality. For instance, in South India, sweet strains from veena were invariable associated with the smooth and safe delivery of baby from the womb of its mother. There used to be 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 imparts a state of equilibrium and tranquility in the listener’s mind.
“The Therapeutic Impact of Tambura”
Tambura, the Indian drone instrument is not just a drone all the way! It is conceived to balance the expanding pitches in a raga by repeated basic pitches such as shadjam and pancham. This acts as a reminder to the singer or the instrumentalist consciously or unconsciously ‘to sustain the purity of swaras and anuswaras, which go into the making of a raga. Apart from this the tambura has yet another role to play. The harmonics emanating from the heart of this instrument over a time period of time – say 15 to 20 minutes a day – tend to bring in harmony and peace in the minds of the listeners who merge into these vibrations, unconsciously. Bikshandarkovil Subbarayar, a Carnatic vidwan who lived in the late 19th century, was known for sending his two tamburas to the stage ahead of his schedule, so that the concert hall was concentrated with harmonics and semitones vibrating out of them thus preparing the audience to be well attuned to the relevant shruti. There’s no doubt, when the actual concert began, the musical compatibility was already there between the musician and the audience sahridayas).
Recent Advances in Music Therapy
Although the legends as in Greece glorify the therapeutic role of music; (as for example, the healing of the deadly wound of Ulysses) and ancient writers in Arabia such as Ibn Sina, recording the application of music as a medicine for ailments and the Indian singer healing The Emperor’s wife with music, a scientific study of therapeutic music has started only in recent decades, thanks to a combination of specialists from various fields such as neurobiology, physiology, psychology, etc. (?).
Music Therapy: Procedure and Practices
There are no hard and fast rules regarding the music treatment sessions. Basically, it is the convenience and the need of patients that counts. Frequency of sessions could be daily or on alternate days. It can last for or anywhere between 1 to 5 hours for optimum results. Higher frequency is always better and would not be harmful as in drugs and other forms of treatment.
Improvisational Music Therapy
In a typical therapeutic session, the patients are provided with an instrument or a piece of notation to the patients to go on improvising the value of the piece in the true traditions of mano dharma sangita to carry on whatever they feel like doing with them tell a rapport develops between the patient and the musical piece, which provides a true companionship and bond on the emotional basis. They should be assured of the fact that their output is not going to be judged and they are free to make sounds out of them as it pleases their ears. All they have to do is to make sounds that please THEIR ear!
They are also persuaded to use their vocal cords the way they want – which could range from mare murmurs to loud shouts. It also creates a ‘musical and emotional’ environment that accepts everything that the patient tries to formulate and rejects nothing. As the patient’s response to the challenges increases, it also provides experience for socialization, improves self-confidence and expression. Rhythm instruments are found to be useful for this type of therapeutic goals, particularly in this 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 unfamiliar ones. In the West, the therapist works usually with piano where the potential of rhythm, melody and harmony is combined with a very wide range of fluctuations of pitch or loudness. A co-therapist may work as a therapist to help support the client if necessary and both therapists may use their voices or other instruments as appropriate.
Music, the Custom-made
Often an individual based music program is customized, after studying the constitution of the patient and his or her problems. Once a programme is formulated, it is also necessary to review it periodically and incorporate changes so as to suit the change conditions and 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 become part of the therapy process where clinically appropriate, but these remain adaptable to the moment by moment process of the therapist.
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 Tchaikovsky could be utilized by the therapist 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 in overcoming his problems such as depression, trauma and other psychological ailments. Such method is also reported to have considerable impact on lowering one’s heart rate.
Music Therapy Practices: Conducive Environs
The patient should have a comfortable place without noise and disturbances. He should be seated in the way he finds most convenient although yoga postures such as padmasana or vajrasana should be of great help. 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 as such as “I am good’, ‘The environment around is gracious and kind’, ‘ God is kind and protective’ etc. Phrases such as ‘I am loved’, ‘I love me’ etc. result in erasure of depression and 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 can’t 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 is better for the needy. However, instead of playing the music continuously, it can be given with some short intervals of gaps to make it more effective. Periods of therapy could be flexible, depending on the need of each patient and his response to it. Individual duration of therapy can be determined through regular experiments and as one develops experience by trial and error. As the improvement in ailment 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 to suit the individual requirement.
How Music Works
Certain music can provide physiological as well as psychological benefits as one comes across in the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the so-called ‘Mozart Effect’ is a well-known phenomenon discovered long after the death of Mozart. Several clinical trials conducted have gone to show that many of Mozart’s sonatas result in increased wellness and quality of life, regardless of one’s health conditions – both physical and mental.
Music is an intrinsic part of every one of us whether we are active singers or passive listeners.
Pulsations and rhythmic patterns found in our heartbeat, in our breathing cycles and in our body movements are just a few indicators to show how our life is interwoven with rhythms at every turn of our life. These rhythms go on and on, until, perhaps one day we cease to exist in the present form and shape.
Very much like any biological system, the nature is made of cycles and rhythms; seasons change in a cyclic manner; life functions in a cycle of births, growth and death; and so on and on. Within the human body, life processes are carried out in a rhythmic pattern. Various kinds of rhythms viz; endogenous rhythm, muscular rhythm, pain cure rhythm – pulse breath frequency rhythm involved in the processes relating to blood circulation, digestion, respiration, sleep, etc., are also known to the biologists.
All biological processes including breathing, food-intake and excretion, energy exchange, metabolism, circulation, action of nerves, reproduction – all follow certain pattern of rhythms – which are common to all individuals in an orcherested manner.
Some scientists are of the view that all biological processes involve rhythms. The process by which chromosomes condense and segregate during mitosis (nuclear division) is likened by some researchers to a music symphony in which several instruments working individually are coordinated to produce a collective piece of elegance and beauty – as one comes across in a Bach or a Beethoven. As a conductor with a wave of the baton ensures that each musical instrument enters the symphony at the appropriate time, so the conductors of the so-called mitotic symphony called ‘checkpoints’ prevent errors in chromosome segregation that can and lead to disease such as Down’s Syndrome or cancer. (David Cortez and Stephen J. Elledge 2000), such parallel rhythms found in nature make a man made music akin to the nature-gifted one.
Expansion of Rhythms
Rhythms are not 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. Its implications is even far beyond this as it reaches towards reproduction and population rhythms.
Some rhythms such as heart rate and breathing rhythms could be directly experienced as we devote our attention to them; in certain situations, when one feels excruciating pain – as say, when we get a toothache, 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
Musical rhythms created by the mind follows the life pattern – in an unconscious and in an unintended manner. Listening to musical rhythms do have an impact on the brainwave rhythms, which are responsible for our state of consciousness: Whether we are at a stage of alertness (with the predominance of beta waves) or we are in a state of relaxation or deep sleep (with the predominance of alpha, theta or delta levels, as the case may be). A musical-harmonic order called ‘rhythmic functional order in humans’ could be intensified even when a person is sleepy. It has been experimentally found by the author in a workshop conducted at New 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 structure of a tabla or a manjira one could descend to alpha levels and feel ‘relaxation’, ‘happiness’ and ‘peace of mind’ as remarked by the audience themselves. The literature on music is fast building up saying that long term musical involvement reaps cognitive rewards – in terms of linguistic skills, reasoning and creativity and boosts social adjustments. 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 Alzeimers patients could play music even long after they have forgotten near and dear.
These intimate connections between our life-processes and music can remain despite illness or disability and are not dependent on music coaching or mastery. Because of this, the emotional, cognitive and developmental needs of people with a wide range of needs arising from such varied causes such as learning difficulties, mental and physical ailments, physical and sexual abuse, stress, terminal illness, etc. could be addressed by exposing them to an appropriate dose of music suitable to their tastes and needs.
Every one of us responds to music – from a newborn infant to the patients suffering from terminal diseases and from physically or mentally strong to those who are handicapped or disabled. Several psychotherapists have off late, used music to enhance their efficacy in treating neurotic disorders. Client and the therapist improvise music together, building a creative music process that itself becomes an end in itself. The therapy enhances communication and helps people live more resourceful and creatively. It helps in controlling blood pressure, emotions, liver functioning and all the psychosomatic disorders. It is relevant here to recall the words of Paul Nor‘doff, a musicologist, who commented that once a musician begins to work as therapist, he will find new depth in the art of music itself. Developing a clinical musical skill would no doubt release the world music from the narrow clutches of entertainment to a greater expansion towards service to humanity.
Musical Experience
Musical experience is unique in the sense that it can import an experience of extraordinary freedom to rise beyond limitation of one’s physical being. 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 are combined with inspirational words and expressions (lyrics) as bhajans, kirtans, Veda recitations etc. do enhance meditation and concentration and enable the mind to focus inwards – far from the madding crowd around. This form of internalization for inward looking brings out its own advantages such as strength and security and peace and tranquility to those who are trauma victims. 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.
Some ragas are traditionally believed to have certain therapeutic effects: listening to specific kinds of music at a specific time of the day is believed to have creative effects on some ailments. Although no clinical endorsements are forthcoming, there’s enough scope for future research.
Music Therapy
In recent times, the subject of music therapy does not seem to have received adequate attention as in the West. This is surprising for a nation, which had in the past, made great strides in combining emotional melodies and intellectual beats and which has even codified those ragas which are therapeutic as in the ancient text of Raga Chikitsa. The musical tradition of the country had dissected the ragas to arrive at their very crux, so that which raga could be helpful to which conditions.
Therapeutic Carnatic Ragas
To cure insomnia, one listens to bits and pieces on 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 heavy lunch is set to add in digestion and assimilation; while Saama raga is to restore mental piece, 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.
Conclusion
It is a well-known 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.
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.
Musical exercises aid in organizing one’s thought process and helps in overcoming one’s inhibition 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 terminal ill to the temporary sufferers, it suits everybody and guarantees no side effects to 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 and in modern gym and aerobic sessions, improves physical capabilities. Music by itself or in combination with other media such as art, aroma or dance offer unlimited score for experience for the sensory deprived, which is caused by coma, injury or degenerative diseases.
Musical Opportunities
It is the birth right of every child to be trained in singing and music. Every citizen should be exposed to the maximum amount of music in his life. in earlier days, the aristocrats in India like zamindars use to entertain their tenants and labourers with performers and musicians like Yakshagana Bayalata, Kathakali, Sadir Katchery, Koothu 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 noise factories are given free passes to attend musical concerts. There is real joy when people attend to live music. Even in factories and offices, melodious music should be a normal input for creating a conducive atmosphere of harmony and peace in employees who work in tense situations.
This article is published in Ayurveda and All Oct 2004 – Pages 50 to 55
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, Mar 10, 2021