William Shakespeare once said, “If music be the food of love, play on.”
Though he lived in an era when music has a very different shape and form, it is evident from what he said, that music not matter in what form is not just for entertainment and enjoyment but plays a huge role in therapy.
From very ancient times philosophers like Plato and Confucius have laid emphasis on the need for musical training for statesmen. Ancient Greeks, Arabs, and Indians were aware of the healing property of music, and there are legends confirming the same. Hippocratic tradition laid emphasis on applying natural methods of healing in medical practice. Ancient Hindus believed that suffering caused by man’s uncontrolled thinking could be handled by music therapy.
Music relaxes the muscles, reduces systolic blood pressure, heart rate and even brings down the oxygen saturation, when it is slow, and soft. Several research results show that music can have a positive effect on one’s mood, improve concentration and memory and what is being explored much more now in India- the possibility of music reducing stress, anxiety and curing mental ailments.
Music other than being a primary auditory art form has a lot of psychological benefits and sharpens one’s cognitive functioning. When music enters the sensory system, it goes to the limbic system before passing it to the prefrontal cortex (this part of the brain is linked to one’s personality and will to live). The limbic system is where the brain processes information. Music helps in developing prefrontal-limbic circuitries, thus improving emotional intelligence over and above the development of memory and learning abilities. Cognitive reactions to music strengthen the firing of certain neurons, which may also be used to perform a related task.
Modern music therapy began in the 20th (perhaps even earlier) after the World War I and World War II, when musicians would visit veteran hospitals to play for thousands of veterans suffering from both physical and mental ailments (for instance, PTSD). Today, music therapy has opened to anyone who needs it and who is willing walk done that path of therapy. Music can help people suffering from mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and more to cope up with their days and eventually get better.
In a research paper published in Cochrane Library, researchers found that music therapy in combination with treatment, as usual, is associated with significant short-term improvements over treatment without music therapy. This included improvements in depression symptoms as well as to symptoms that are associated with it, such as anxiety. Music therapy was about as effective as psychological (versus pharmacological) treatment, and there were no differences between music therapy techniques that involved either making or listening to music.
Kumar Sanu is one of the most well-known artist from the 90’s. There are several stories that claim that is music has worked miracle. The most astonishing one is that of 22-year-old, Abhishek Mitra, based in Zurich who suffers from cerebral palsy. “For someone who doesn’t batter an eyelid, Abhishek, cries, laughs, smiles, screams every time he listens to it. When you play another song, there’s no reaction. “The frequency of Sanu’s voice hits the brain and causes the reaction.
For instance, there is a story featured on the website of National Alliance of Mental Illness, wherein a man after loosing his brother subdued his pain for too long. When he realized he was breaking on the inside, he finally decided to seek help. Having been a music therapist for many years, he took his own advice and wrote a song name “Big Steel Wings”. After writing the songs, he realized even more that he needed external help and sought to take help from therapists and counselling groups. Eventually he gained the courage to start performing live, again, in hopes that music could save someone else’s life, the way it saved his.
The reason for sharing this story is to put into perspective the fact that music many not be able to cure or “fix” us alone, but it most definitely makes us more self- aware and is an excellent platform for expressing ourselves. Music sees us through all our phases of life, without judgement, with questions. It allows us to embrace our emotions as they are and see our reality as it is, and very secretly sneaks in a little hope each day to keep us going until we see the sunrise and the joy comes back into our lives.
Chords & Co. 