HEALING THROUGH SOUND
Part 5/Sound Therapy Disciplines
Music as Sound Therapy, Section 1

Sharon Davis-Troth, Ph.D.

Music as Sound Therapy

At the very core of all esoteric musical philosophy is the certainty that all of manifested creation is organized with and governed by one "root" sound.  This sound diffuses the entire universe and everything in it.  All of the energy of the universe is created from that one root sound and remains continuous.  Sound holds the galaxy together.  Planets, plants, stones, animals, the wind, water, fire, earth-all contain an indigenous tonal expression characteristic of a personal energetic framework.  Esoteric music philosophy recognizes two complementary components that in Sanskrit writing are referred to as "struck sound" (which we can hear), and "unstruck sound" (which we cannot hear).  Unstruck, sound is the center from which all sound emanates.²  The musician Igor Stravinsky states that, "Through the practice of music one may experience the state of absolute equilibrium, absolute balance, perfect unity and harmony which exists both at its center and our own."³
    
The bond between music and health is ancient and has been with us throughout the ages.  Throughout history, music, dance, rhythmic dancing, and chanting have been natural parts of healing rituals. The ancient mystics of East and West were aware that different sounds formed specific patterns of various sizes and shapes.  They taught that sound was a power that could be controlled and used to create positive changes in all areas of life.  The Kabbalists taught about the Divine Word (God's speech) as being the creative force that not only creates but prolongs the heaven and earthly realms.  These masters also taught that the sounding of a particular name or speech could invoke powers from the unseen world.  The Gnostic manuscript, Trimorphic Protennoia (the triple-formed primal thought), addresses the brilliant powers of speech permeating all things and all beings. This powerful sound is the "real Voice, which when used properly will bring power and healing."⁴  The Tibetans still use bells, chimes, bowls, and chanting as a basis for their spiritual practice.  In Bali, Indonesia, gongs, drums and chanting are effective in ceremonies to raise the spiritual essence of individuals. 
Music, as a manifestation of energy, is a magical medium and a powerful force that interacts with the physical world, since music influences our thoughts, our emotions, our physical bodies and the electro-magnetic field around us.  Music can soothe and relax, comfort and bring joy.  Music and sound as tools of healing and consciousness-raising do so because they bypass the intellectual stimulus in the brain and move directly to one's subconscious.  Because the entire physical universe is in continual movement, all things and all beings produce sounds suitable to their own nature and to the one particular state in which they find themselves.⁵
    
Even atoms have a musical nature and each atomic particle has a corresponding frequency, which creates a harmonic relationship.  This means that as human beings composed of these elemental particles, we are also composed of musical frequencies.  Musical principles were found in gene replication by researchers Ohno and Ohno (1986).  They discovered that normal and regular repetitions occur in gene duplication.  They took the coding base sequences of genes and changed them into musical scores by appointing two musical notes to each of the nucleotides on the DNA code in order to create melody and rhythms.  Recognizable melodies were produced.  Researcher Fabian Maman (1997) repeatedly altered DNA by using specific sound input.  He writes, "We are music deeply to the smallest particle of our being. We are music in the nucleus of our DNA, in our molecular structure."⁶  Gillian Stevens, of the Association of Music Therapists states, "There is no question that vibrations and sound affect us physically and emotionally.  Sometimes, clients benefit from just holding a musical instrument."⁷ Some believe that music often bypasses the higher, thinking centers of the brain and engages the deeper levels, which brings about deeper states of higher conscious awareness.
    
In her book, Music as Medicine, Dr. Deforia Lane states that music therapy is a systematic application of music to help in treating physiological or psychological facets of many illnesses and disabilities.  However, Dr. Lane believes, "It is much more magical than that: music and healing are often matters of the human spirit.  Because of the nature of my job, I have witnessed more than a few miracles, miracles worth telling and retelling."⁸  Almost all professionals practicing music and sound therapy believe the same thing-- music is a healing force that goes deeper than science and medicine-it touches the spirit of a person.
    
Dr. Kenneth Pelletier states that scientists validate the efficacy of some sounds as having a positive effect on people, but also says it would be reductionistic to "view the wondrous effects of music only in terms of neurophysiology."  Music, Dr. Pelletier believes, has effects that go far beyond the physical realm into the metaphysical realm.⁹
    
Music is a healing force.  Today, there are over 2000 music therapists in hospitals, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, drug addiction treatment centers, in dental offices, with surgery, to aid anesthesia, and with inmates in prisons.  In hospitals, music therapists work with the disabled, handicapped, mentally challenged, with physical diseases, the learning disabled, and the injured-- from premature infants to the elderly.  In prisons, therapists assist the criminally insane, the emotionally disturbed, and those who have made mistakes in their lives due to inner emotional imbalance, with finding their inner selves again and getting back to a place of mental and psychological understanding so they may eventually function properly in society.  In other arenas, music therapy is used to reduce anxiety, stress, and discomfort.  These music teachers use singing, musical instruments, tuning forks, toning, voice energetics, music listening, mantra, drumming, and rhythm in their daily therapies.
    
However, not all sound (as noise) is considered to have a beneficial or healing effect.  Random, unpredictable square waves are considered to be noise, and are typically not helpful. Chaotic sounds are not considered as beneficial or healing either.  Noise that does not flow harmoniously or follow a pattern of Pythagorean scale or standard musical scale is much less effective as a healing source.
     
It is important to differentiate music from noise.  Where do music and noise separate? There are no universally accepted definitions or guidelines that cleanly separate these two types of sounds. The human ear hears sounds in the range of 20 to 20,000 hertz and once sound is received by the ear, it then becomes something.  First, we will focus on sound that is received as music with an emphasis towards music that has the inherent ability to be effectively used as therapy.  Music is determined by the consciousness to be non-threatening and positive to varying degrees, while noise is an undesirable sound-like loud static on a radio or television screen.  According to some experts, "noise is any sound that interferes, it contaminates what we want to hear."¹⁰  Music, on the other hand, is most often described as having a pattern of organized sounds that are specifically created to produce certain pleasant effects. Some of the most modern forms of popular "music" are not really music in the classical sense, because they do not follow the patterns and forms of what music is considered to be. Instead they are discordant and cacophonous in sound.  These sounds do not heal or help individuals, and may, in many instances, hurt the body, mind, or soul essence of a person over time.  Music is a sequence of rhythmic and periodic vibrations, while noise is irregular and fragmentary. 
   
Research has been done with plants to determine their response to different types of music as sound.  The outcome of this research was that plants enjoyed and thrived with classical or soothing types of music, while music of the "acid-rock and heavy metal" genres caused a debilitating effect for the plants.  In using music as a sound therapy, the sound must follow the guidelines of having ordered tones and sounds in succession, in combination, and continuity.  This sound must have a specific timbre, range, volume, pitch, tempo, and harmonic resonance. Music as a positive force has specific mathematical proportions.  Musical sound is a result of "regular, periodic vibrations," while noise is a result of "non-periodic vibrations."¹¹
    
Music as used in sound therapy has a number of standard qualities--rhythm, volume, timbre, complexity, harmony, pitch and tone.  Healing music may have a fast or slow tempo, but each tempo will work in a specific way on the body and mind of the receiver.  Music with 80 BPM (beats per minute) will generally bring about a relaxed state, while music faster than 80 BPM will tend to stimulate one's mind or physical energy.¹² Music as a healing mechanism is an acoustic entrainment process that causes positive shifts in brainwave activity and other neural and vibratory systems within the body. 
    
Plato believed this about music: "Music is a moral law.  It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything.  It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is good, just and beautiful, of which it is the invisible, but nevertheless dazzling, passionate and eternal form."¹³ Deepak Chopra has referred to music as something you can find at "many levels in the vibrating strings (of a musical instrument) . . . or even in nerve impulses produced in the player's brain.  But all of these are just codes; the reality of music is the shimmering, beautiful, invisible form that haunts our memories without ever being present in the physical world."¹⁴

The next article will expand on Music as Sound Therapy-I hope you'll "stay tuned!"
    

1. Marius Schneider, Egon Wellesz (Ed), Primitive Music in The Oxford History of Music, Vol. 1, (London: Oxford University Press, 1957),  212.
2. Blake Arnold, Music of India, 1957, 198.
3. Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music, (New York: Vintage, 1947), 37-38.
4. Patricia Spadaro, 2004. The Metaphysics of Sound.  The Spirit of Ma'at: "Music of theSpheres." 2004.  netmar.com/~maat/archive/oct3/prns/spadaro.htm
5. Lama Ana Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, (New York:Weiser Books, 1969), 26-27.
6. Fabian Maman, The Role of Music in the Twenty-first Century,  (Redondo Beach, CA:Tama-Do Press, 1997), 4.
7. An Interview with the "London Sunday Times," August 1997. Mind & Body. www.holistic-resonance.com/style.html
8. Deforia Lane, Music as Medicine, (Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1994), 15-16.
9. Kenneth Pelletier, The Best Alternative Medicine, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 59.
10. John Cage, Music and/as (Dis)Order, Retrieved on December 16, 2006 from http://www.cobussen.com/proefschrift/300_john_cage/314_music_as_order. 1.
11. John Cage, Noise as Undifferentiated Sound, Retrieved on December 15, 2006 from http://www.cobussen.com/proefschrift/300_john?cage/313_noise/undifferentiated.
12. Amrita Cottrell, What is Healing Music? A Closer Look. 2006, healingmusic.org/Library/Articles/WhatIsHealingMusic.asp
13. Ibid., 1.
14. Deepak Chopra, Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine. 1989. 21.