Music Therapy Articles

Improvisation is the practice of acting and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one’s immediate environment. Musical improvisation involves the act of composing immediately before or even during the performance. Improvisation usually occurs in music either in individual rendition or in a duet, or in a […]

ln Sanskrit, the mind is known as manas, which is often compared to a mighty ocean, because of its infinite spread and depth and the constant agitation and turmoil that it witnesses, especially while struggling for survival and mundane achievements. As the mind is susceptible to the frequent storms of passion and breezes of cravings

Scientific findings confirm the essentiality of music in day-to-day lives of people. Music has been part of all human groups such as nomads, tribal, hunter-gatherers and settlers. The realisation of the need for music therapy for enhancing cognitive ability is due to recent findings. Psychologists are now aware of the role of pleasant and sweet

Listening to music and appreciating music is a complex process that involves memory, learning and emotions. Music, unlike noise, consists of those selected sound vibrations and the intermittent silence, which have a pleasant impact on our mind. Several components in music viz., pitch, rhythm, melody and timbre have a personal one-to-one and deep-rooted association with

Recent experiments in neurology, employing sophisticated neuroimaging techniques, have all gone to confirm that there is a close linkage or synchronization between the musical rhythms and those of the brain waves. Thanks to the recent advances in brain mappings, the scientists are now in a much stronger foothold for unveiling the myths and magic of

Acoustic activism is a new age concept involving volunteers who seek to reform the soundscape of the cities and towns. It aims at bringing in sanity in the noise levels of the cities and to minimize the metallic noises of the automobiles, trucks and aircrafts of high decibels that affect the mindscape of the citizens,

All music which depicts nothing is nothing but noise – Jean Le Rod d’Alembert  In spite of great strides made in Science in recent centuries, very little has come to be known about the breadth and depth of the human mind. From time immemorial music has been employed in various human civilizations as a mind

Music has become a fascinating subject for neurologists and psychologists in recent years. How the strains heard through the ears or felt through the body could affect our health has become the subject for research for many health professionals.  According to Arthur Harvey, the human brain responds to music in – four different ways- but

Music Therapy In the words of Joanne Crandall, the author of Self-Transformation through Music, physicists are discovering that the foundation of the universe to be not just matter, particles of quarks, but also movements of energy.  Application of musical vibrations has been part and parcel of the ancient yoga system, which encouraged the repetitive use

Neuromusicology is an emerging branch of science, born out of the combination of neurological sciences and music; intended to explore the biological and biochemical responses to the sounds of music. The recent developments in this field represent just the rediscovery of the ancient concepts and practices of nada yoga.  Based on textbooks’ understanding of synchronization

The word acoustics is derived from the ancient Greek word, which meant ‘ability to be heard’.  Acoustics is a branch of modern physical science, dealing exclusively with sound. It is concerned with the formation, transmission, reception, regulation and the impact of sound. In recent years, acoustics has been applied in technology. Acoustical engineering is the

Music therapy is a nascent discipline in India and yet to be rooted into the system of the elderly care. However, without really being aware of the significant impact of music, and without any fore-thought, many of us are habitual in seeking for the type of music which we like as and when we find

Listening to music as a complementary treatment for relieving pain is gaining ground in recent years, although the efficacy of music for the treatment of pain is still under active research in India and abroad. Music therapists around the world study their clients and prescribe an “appropriate” and “acceptable” music for this purpose. There is

Listening to music and appreciating it forms a complex process in our minds, involving memory, learning and emotions. Any musical input would consist of a selected pattern of sound vibrations, with its intermittent disappearance (silence) and which have an overall impact on our mind — often described variously as ‘pleasant’, ‘powerful’, ‘beautiful’, `exhilarating’, ‘soothing’, ‘aggressive’,

There is a growing awareness in the West that certain music can provide physiological as well as psychological benefits. Several experiments conducted on the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart have revealed that many of Mozart’s sonatas result in increased joie de vivre and quality of life, regardless of one’s age or health conditions. Dr. Oliver

For a physicist, sound refers to those pressure disturbances, traveling through a medium (air or water) by particle interaction. It is also recognized as a series of compressions and rarefactions. While the human audible range is measured somewhere between 20 to 20,000 Hz, the human voice range lies somewhere between 75 to 1400 Hz. The

There is a growing body of literature, which recognizes the utilization of music therapy as an effective and respected treatment option. It is a well-acknowledged scientific fact that expressive music activities like singing or playing instruments improve coping mechanisms and self-confidence. For the terminally ill, music provides greatest solace. Besides a comforting environment, it is

India is known for its richness of music and the system of rage accommodates oscillations of notes (swaras) which make this system unique in the world of music. It is through oscillation of notes that ragas are able to pour down each and every nuance hidden in the human emotions. Advances made in music therapy

The word acoustics is derived from the ancient Greek word, which meant ‘ability to be heard’. Acoustics is a branch of modern physical science, dealing exclusively with sound. It is concerned with the formation, transmission, reception, regulation and the impact of sound. In recent years, acoustics has been applied in technology. Acoustical engineering is the

Born on a New Year’s Day in 1920 in a nice French town called Nice, Alfred Tomatis started his career as an ENT specialist. He, however, took keen interest in studying the impact of occupational noise on humans. This paved the way for a new multi-disciplinary science, called audio-psycho-phonology (APP). It explains why the way