MUSIC THERAPY

Natural therapy using music and its elements: sound, rhythm and melody

The holy books say "In the beginning was the Word", science says it was the original Big Bang! This means that both strands have a common subject of the original SOUND or VIBRATION! We live in an ocean of sound, life without sound ambiance for most of us is unimaginable! Sounds by their vibration influence everything and everything is vibration. Of course, there are harmonious sounds and terrible, evil sounds, but in this short introduction to music therapy we will focus on those that can help us maintain our health or even heal.

In nature we can feel the vibration in the rustling of leaves, the rustling of springs, the singing of birds, the breeze of the wind, all these natural sounds are healing and over time man has built instruments to play these natural sounds that delight him and inspire better and more vivid feelings.

A brief overview of music therapy in history

Originally music was used as a magical art, the medicine man or shaman was the one who, being initiated in the sacred science of nature, used sound, rhythm and melody to treat the sick in the form of drum sounds, whistles or incantations. Greek mythology shows us the link between the arts and the healing of body and soul, Apollo - the god of the arts, the lyre player, was also the patron god of healers, Asclepius, his son, was the god of medicine. In antiquity, music was considered a form of medicine (Musica itaque medicina est), its main role being to 'attune' the human being, body and psyche with macrocosmic rhythms.

Greek doctors recommended their patients to walk in nature. In the open air, by the water's edge or in the woods and listening to music. The most beloved instruments were the flute and the lyre.

Plato, inspired by the Egyptian and Dacian healers, initiated a theory of "ethos", in which he said that music has the gift of transforming man by shaping temperament and character. He also states in his work Charmides that the Thracian doctors, servants of Zamolxis, used songs to heal the soul and body. Hippocrates, considered the father of modern medicine, also spoke of the effects of music in healing.

Pythagoras and his disciples recommended the systematic use of music for therapeutic purposes, they said that music cures both mental and physical illnesses. Pythagoras built his philosophical system on the harmony of numbers and musical tones, he designed a single-stringed musical instrument, called a monochord, with which he could generate specific vibrations to heal certain ailments or to achieve a state of calm and meditative interiorisation.

Also in the ancient period music was used by Galen, in Rome and in the Orient by the physicians of the Arab School of Medicine Avicenna, Maimonides, Averroes.

In medieval times music was used in the form of incantations or healing songs sung at the sickhouse or in monastery hospitals.

The entry into the modern era of Music Therapy is considered to be from the early 19th century, it was used in hospitals and asylums, it addressed patients, especially those suffering from mental illness, through concerts given by small orchestras that helped to calm the sick. In the 19th and then the 20th century music was increasingly used in more and more countries: USA, UK, Argentina, Germany. Music was used to soothe pain, reduce anxiety and relieve various ailments. Florence Nightingale used music for pain relief for soldiers wounded in the Crimean War.

In this context, we should mention an important strand of music therapy that has its origins in Asia: Tibet. Mongolia, China, India. This is where many of the therapeutic methods of the Modenese come from. These include the famous Tibetan bowls and the sacred chanting of overtones.

Returning from history to the individual situation we can say and notice that in the human body there is also a personal music generated by sounds (vibrations), these come from the beating of the heart, the flow of blood through the arteries, the movement of the intestines, etc. We can even tell the state of our health by analyzing the vibration of the heart, a sick heart generates arrhythmic or very loud vibrations, etc.

The healing power of music is what the human being learns the fastest, every baby has felt this healing power when his tummy hurt and his mother sang to him. Each of us has a tendency to hum a melody in the background when something hurts! Or others use music to relieve pain, regulate heartbeat, regulate pulse rate, lower blood pressure or induce sleep.

There are several music therapy modalities

The easiest methods are passive or receptive methods in which the patient listens to simple sounds, sounds from nature or pleasant musical pieces with effective healing effects. A few such pieces chosen from the repertoire of classical music or from modern composers who have written harmonious music with definite healing effects:

Piano Concerto No. 5 "Imperial"; Berlioz - Rakoczy march; Mendelssohn - Wedding march; Fucik - Florentine march; Bach-Allegro-Concert Branderburgic No. 4, BWV 1049; Rondo Veneziano - Venetian notes; - depression, anxiety

Preludes, Nocturne; Auguste Durand - Chaconne in A flat minor: soothing the pain, Mozart - March in D major K215; Bach - I. (Allegro)-Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, BWV 1046.mp3; Vivaldi - Concerto for Violin & Strings, RV 256, in E flat - Presto; Rondo Veneziano - Visioni Di Venezia; Armân Van Buren Feat System F - From The Heart; Denis Quin-Canzone Angelica- overwork, chronic stress

Tchaikovsky - Sentimental Waltz in F minor, op.51, no.6.; Bach-Andante-Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, BWV 1047; Offenbach - Les contes d'Hoffmann, Barcarole; Bizet - Intermezzo (opera Carmen); Rondo Veneziano - Floralis - mental tension, insomnia

Daniela Vasile, PhD in medical sciences, primary care physician MG/MF

master of melotherapy, competence in api-phytotherapy

ayurveda lecturer, music therapy coordinator