How can engaging in music as both a practitioner and a listener be used as a healing process?

Music As an Idea - Absolute Music “What is music? and why does it move us? From Pythagoras to the present, writers have struggled to isolate the essence of “pure” or “absolute” music” (Bonds, 2014)

The idea of the concept of absolute music was first written down by Richard Wagner, the year was 1846.Wagner explored the concept of “absolute music” to give explanation to the idea that each piece of music shall be isolated and detached from its surrounding. Throughout his exploration Wagner questioned his first assumption:

“To Wagner’s mind, a self contained art of pure form could serve no useful purpose in society: it was “absolute” in the sense that it was isolated, sterile, and irrelevant to life. Within a few years, Wagner was calling into question the plausibility of his own neologism, dismissing the idea of an “absolute artwork” as a “non-thing”, a “specter of aesthetic fantasy”, a “hobgoblin in the brain of our aesthetic critics.” The notion of an artwork wholly unconnected to the world around it, Wagner declared, was quite literally inconceivable.” (Bonds, 2014)

If music can not be disconnected from the world itself, therefore music need to be treated as its own form of language.

“But humans, who have been endowed by nature with all their beautiful, noble and excellent parts, seek with their means not only to delight, but, as imitators of the good ancients, but also to benefit, because they are fit to do this and if they did otherwise they would be acting against nature and the ministry of God” Vincenzo Galilei (Bonds, 2014)

Music As Language - Essence and Effect:1550-1850

“The goal of modern practitioners is.. to delight the sense of hearing with the variety of consonances, if this capacity to tickle the ear, which cannot truly be called a delight” (Bonds, 2014)

Music can not truly be called a delight since it is its own form of expression for emotions which words at times fall short.

The exploration of music and its capacity to reveal philosophical truths will lead to the exploration of artist creation.

How the psychological state of the artist influence its creation

“I used to live in a room full of mirrors, All I could see was me.” Jimi Hendrix, 1967 (Cross, 2005)

Being an artist means finding a new forum of self expression, the constant battle of being reflective as well as outlet of emotion.

Many artist such as; Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Kurt Cobain, Brian Wilson used music as a channel of expression. Therefore using music as a form of therapy for the body and soul.

“And if you save yourself, you will think your happy He’ll keep you in a jar Then you’ll think your happy” Kurt Cobain (Cobain,1967-1994)

Artists using music for therapy

“This is a song about not feeling so bad about your own mortality when you have true love” Jeff Buckley (Brooks, 2005)

“Unfortunately, part of what makes Nick Drake so potent a figure is also what makes his legacy feel so contrived: Drake’s (presumed) suicide validated his music much as Kurt Cobain’s would two decades later, lending his songs credence and weight.” (Petrusich, 2007)

“Brian (Wilson) will accept nothing less than perfection” “Brain always brought written out charts for most musicians. He wrote the charts himself, you could tell from the illegibility of them sometimes. The notes were sometimes on the wrong side of the stems etc. He didn’t hire a professional copyist like the rest of the arrangers did.” (Moorefield, 2010)

“I imagine the reason the Qawwalis are so excellent is that they live their life in order to be in that state.” (Jeff Buckley as quoted in Josh Farrar, “Jeff Buckley Interview,” DoubleTake 1996)

“We don’t want to be classed in any category. If it must have a tag, I’d like it to be called ‘free feeling.’ It’s a mixture of rock, freak-out, blues, and rave music.” Jimi Hendrix to Record Mirror (Cross, 2005)

These statements will lead to the exploration of ritual music and rave music, their similarities and differences. And how these elements relate to the term music therapy.

Ritual Music - Rave Music

“Music was a catalyst for both saving souls and the production of commodities” (Bonds, 2014)

Ritual music from the East to the Native Americans had many purposes, one of the most important is the music created to achieve a certain mental state which may lead to a healing process.

“The disk jockey is simply the latest incarnation of an ancient role. The Shaman were his most resonant ancestors. (As no end of misty mystical ravers will tell you)” (Brewster,1999)

The 2 most similar concept of both Ritual and Rave Music:

Bpm - which relates to the heart rate.

Repetition - which relates to the wavelength of the brain.

Combine these two elements and in some cases the use of specific drug can lead to a healing process.

Music Therapy

A known existing method which combines these two elements is Music Therapy.

“Music therapists offer a range of musical experiences to help clients express their life issues in a creative way. This may be through improvisation, through song singing, song writing, or receptive methods. There is a mix of verbal and music processes, but predominantly the music therapist uses music as the therapeutic modality.” (Wigram, 2006)

“Instrumental Improvisation is useful technique to employ in facilitating emotional release and adjustment to trauma. It allows patients an opportunity to bring feelings, images and thoughts to conscious awareness, so that they can be dealt with and further explored musically or verbally (if appropriate).” (Tamplin, 2006)

Album In Creation

The techniques which are used in music therapy will be applied to the album in creation. Example of one of these technique is an auditory phenomenon called Binaural Beats. To apply this method on the album, the song ‘Every Demon’ will be applied at the late production stage with a synth line with L - 440hz : R - 447hz. The difference of 7hz between left and right creates the illusion of a beat sound in the middle.

Epilogue: Remaining Questions

“The idea of absolute music became so central to Western aesthetics after World War II that its development from that point onward cannot be traced apart from broader sweep of musical aesthetics in general. Its abstract nature appealed to composers and audiences who had lived through a period when music and all the arts had been co-opted by national, social and political ideologies to an unprecedented degree” (Bonds, 2014)

What is the power of music?

Can music effect the psychological state of people?

How can music be used as part of a healing process and have we humans forgotten this element during evolution?

Photo: Jerusalem, Israel. Inbal Gordoon