It is not easy to distinguish music therapy from sound healing. Sound healing is the use of basic sounds and vibrations for healing while music therapy could be an extension of sound healing. The art of combining sounds to make music. Music therapy can be quite a complex study and in universities it can take 4 years or more to graduate from such a study.
There are two types of music therapy: active and receptive.
In active music therapy, the patient actively participates, playing music (song, improvisation, use of various musical instruments)) with or without the music therapist, thus leading through music to develop a bridge of communication, a deeper perception / understanding of Self.
In receptive music therapy, the patient listens (accepts) music, which is pre-recorded or live music and to which the participant responds verbally or not. It aims to free the patient from stress and allow him to go deeper into him or herself. It helps to relax the physical body, to release negative emotions and at the same time to place / create new positives.
How Music Affects Us
-Music helps emotions to emerge, to perceived and understood.
-Music can slow down and regulate brain waves. The waves of the brain can be modified by both music and sounds that one makes on one’s own, using one’s voice.
-Music affects the breath since a deeper, slower breathing rate contributes to calmness, emotion control, deeper thinking and better metabolism. Shallow, rapid breathing can lead to superficial and scattered thinking, impulsive behavior and a tendency to make mistakes and get into accidents. By slowing down the tempo of music or listening to music with longer, slower sounds, one can usually deepen and slow down the breathing, allowing the mind to calm down.
-Music affects the heart rate, heart rate and blood pressure. The human heartbeat is highly tuned to sound and music. The heart rate responds to musical variables such as sound frequency, tempo, and volume, and tends to accelerate or slow down to match the rhythm of a sound.
-Music affects body temperature and consequently on our ability to adapt to changes in heat and cold. -Music can increase endorphin levels. Endorphins (released by the pituitary gland), the “drugs” of the brain, can reduce pain and introduce a “natural” anesthetic. Therapeutic chemicals created by the joy and emotional richness of music, enable the body to create its own anesthetic and increase immune function.
-Music can regulate stress-related hormones.
-Music and sound can increase immune function. Current research in immunology shows that insufficient oxygen in the blood can be a major cause of immune system deficiency and degenerative diseases. Certain types of music – as well as song, chants and various types of vocal expression – can actually oxygenate cells.
-Music changes our perception of space. Certain types of music can improve the brain’s ability to perceive the physical world, to form mental images, and to recognize variations between objects. In other words, music can affect the way we experience the space around us. Slow music contains more space in its tones than fast music. Music is a sound wallpaper. It can make our environment look lighter, more spacious and more refined or it can make our space look more tidy, more adequate and energetic.
-Music changes our perception of time. We can choose music to slow us down or speed us up. Some types of music help to alleviate a stressful atmosphere. In some cases, it can even make time seem immobile.
-Music can enhance memory and learning. The presence of light music with an easy rhythm in the background helps some people to concentrate for longer periods of time, others may distract them. – Music can increase productivity.
-Music increases romance and sexuality.
-Music can inspire a passion, or eradicate it.
– Music stimulates digestion also some types of music make people eat faster and eat more while other eat less or slower.
-Music cultivates endurance.
The Healing Elements of Music
There are eight musical elements on which composers can rely to create therapeutic works (it is not necessary to use them all, as each element alone can be therapeutic). For those looking for therapeutic music – pre-recorded, or live – knowing these facts will help them make the right choice. These elements are:
1) The Iso (isokratima, drone) is the carpet on which all other musical elements can develop. A long, unobstructed sound in a single tonality, can “touch” the human body in specific places. By finding the eigenfrequency of organs, tissues, or muscles and reproducing this frequency with an isoform, blockages can be dissolved and tensions at specific points resolved.
2) Repetition, as found in vocal interpretations, or organic ostinati, creates a healing path, in which the listener, through the intimacy that develops with the repeated phrase, feels comfortable with it. When he feels comfortable, the person can relax and accept the healing techniques while in a receptive state.
3) The harmonics help to balance the physical body with other less tangible as aspects of the human being – emotional, mental, spiritual – which make up the layers of the aura. A fundamental tone, usually in the form of isocrates, touches the physical body in a specific area.
4) The rhythm in therapeutic music has the function of reproducing the healthy pulse. Of all the rhythms of the human body, the ones that are most easily reproduced are the heart rhythm, the rhythm of the respiratory cycle, and the various brain rhythms. Starting with the existing rhythm, we can move to the desired, which has to do with a healthier state.
5) Harmony is the emotional content in music. The various musical intervals can evoke specific emotions, from sadness to joy, and from discomfort to euphoria. Musical intervals can be used not only to harmonize emotions, but also to restore the molecular relationship of weak organs in harmony.
6) The melody helps us to overcome the pain. By involving the mind with the melody, we get the attention from the pain, and this technique is very effective, in many cases equal to or even more than medicines. Melodies on different scales and paths have different effects. Knowing the results of using different paths and scales, we can use them more accurately either for composition or for selection of pre-recorded music for different occasions.
7) Organic color, ie the tones of the various acoustic or electronic musical instruments, play a very important role in therapeutic music, and this is because each instrument, in addition to the fundamental tone, due to materials of construction, shape, and way of playing, emerges different harmonics that vibrate the human body, spirit and soul in different ways.
8) The form, or design of a song or composition, determines the direction in which the listener “travels” during the listening. Music with many variations in style and tempo can activate the listener, while music that remains steady and predictable can be used for relaxation and repression.
Completing the cycle of musical elements there is the most important element in healing in general, whether it uses sound as a tool or not which is “Intention”.
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