Musical Expressions

Music therapy:

*Footnotes are given at the end.

In this era of rapid growth and nail-biting competition, life is getting full of tension. This tension leads to different diseases like the hypertension, heart problems, and insomnia and so on. Moreover, many ailments occur due to the lack of physical exercises. Our life-styles have become so comfortable and relaxing, thanks to the science and technology, that most of our day-to-day activities are performed automatically by different machines. For example, we have remote control devices for TV, air conditioners, fans etc and therefore need not trouble our legs in order to use them. Outdoor games have been replaced by very meticulously designed video games. Hence, most of us need not go out and play. Mobile phones have made it possible to sit at home and replace important meetings with the video conferencing. There is just no scope for physical activities. The result is that we are becoming victims of the diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart attack, sleeplessness etc. the more the diseases, the more medicines to consume. Then comes the problem of the side effects or the after-effects of the medicines consumed. This side effect leads to more illnesses like ulcers of different kinds, acidity, and defect in our immunity system etc.

Almost all of us are tired of medicines. Therefore, different alternative medical therapies are getting popular day by day. Medical practitioners themselves suggest these days, that the drugs sometimes make the situation worse. That is why; people are looking for such kind of medical therapies which have lighter medicines to consume. Hence, many new alternatives for the allopathy are being suggested these days. These include homeopathy, acupressure, acupuncture, ayurvedic system of medicines and the last but not the least, the music therapy.

1 What is music therapy?

Music therapy is the alternative treatment for various diseases. It is a kind of nonmedical therapy supplemented with the medical treatment of the patients. In a broader sense, it is an alternative therapy for those patients who wish to avoid the amount of allopathic medicines as much as possible. These days, the doctors recommend music therapy in coherence with the medical or the allopathic therapy. It is recognized by many physicians. The doctors are convergent on the fact that music is a powerful tool which can be used to give relaxation to our minds. It arouses our sensations and keeps us out of negative feelings. If we listen to fine quality of music, our mind is concentrated towards it and we forget our worries, tensions, troubles, problems etc. it is this potential of music which is tapped by the specialists to use it as a medical treatment.

Aesthetics tells us that all the fine arts divert our minds and activate our senses. This brings us to the spiritual upliftment. The spiritual upliftment liberates us from the worldly tensions and we feel a kind of pleasure which cannot be expressed in words. This inexplicable feeling is very precious and can be compared with the Rasa as has been mentioned in Natyashastra.

2 The human mind:

Before going deep in the analysis of the music therapy, let us understand the basics of the human mind.

The human brain, it has been said, is the most complexly organized structure in the universe and to appreciate this you just have to look at some of the statistics.

The brain is made up of one hundred billion nerve cells or "neurons" which is the basic structural and functional units of the nervous system. Each neuron makes something like a thousand to ten thousand contacts with other neurons and these points of contact are called synapses where exchange of information occurs. And based on this information, someone has calculated that the number of possible permutations and combinations of brain activity, in other words the numbers of brain states, exceeds the number of elementary particles in the known universe.

Even though it's common knowledge these days, it never ceases to amaze me that all the richness of our mental life - all our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, our ambitions, our love life, our religious sentiments and even what each of us regards us his own intimate private self - is simply the activity of these little specks of jelly in your head, in your brain. There is nothing else.

Given the staggering complexity, where do you even begin? Well let's start with some basic anatomy. It's the 21st century and most people here have a rough idea what the brain looks like. It has got two mirror-image halves. These are called the cerebral hemispheres. Hence, it looks like a walnut sitting on top of a stalk. This walnut-like structure is called the brain stem, and each hemisphere is divided into four lobes: A. The frontal lobe, B. The parietal lobe, C. The occipital lobe and D. The temporal lobe.
The occipital lobe in the back is concerned with vision. If it's damaged, you become blind. The temporal lobe is concerned with things like hearing, with emotions and certain aspects of perception. The parietal lobes of the brain are concerned with - at the sides of the head - they are concerned with creating a three-dimensional representation of the spatial layout of the external world, and also of your own body in that three-dimensional representation. And lastly the frontal lobes, in the front, are the most mysterious of all. They are concerned with some very enigmatic aspects of human mind and human behavior such as your moral sense, your wisdom, your ambition and other activities of the mind which we know very little about.

The brain, together with our psyche, is called our mind. Mind is composed of two parts: the brain and the subconscious part of our psyche. This subconscious part is responsible for various psychological activities including the emotional development and different sentiments. It is not just a biological structure but our mind is something greater than that. In the coming paragraphs, we will interpret how our mind is hypnotised by the beautiful musical composition.

3 Music therapy in India:

Long before acoustics came to be understood in Europe as a subject of study, the ancient Arab, Greek and Indian civilizations were already familiar with the therapeutic role of sounds and vibrations and the later day concepts pertaining to them. While music as a whole is well recognized for its entertainment value, the Indian civilization had gone a step forward to attribute the curative aspect to music.

The ancient system of Nada Yoga, which dates back to the time of Tantras, has fully acknowledged the impact of music on body and mind and put into practice the vibrations emanating from sounds to uplift one's level of consciousness. It is the Indian genius that recognized that ragas are not just mere commodities of entertainment but the vibrations in their resonance could synchronize with one's moods and health. By stimulating the moods and controlling the brain wave patterns, ragas could work as a complementary medicine.

3.1 What is a melody or Raga

Raga, we all know is the sequence of selected notes (swaras) that lend appropriate 'mood' or emotion in a selective combination. Depending on their nature, a raga could induce or intensify joy or sorrow, violence or peace and it is this quality which forms the basis for musical application. Thus, a whole range of emotions and their nuances could be captured and communicated within certain rhythms and melodies. Playing, performing and even listening to appropriate ragas can work as a medicine. Various ragas have since been recognized to have definite impact on certain ailments.

3.2 Historic References on Raga Chikitsa.

The ancient Hindus had relied on music for its curative role: the chanting and toning involved in Veda mantras in praise of God have been used from time immemorial as a cure for several disharmonies in the individual as well as his environment. Several sects of 'bhakti' such as Chaitanya sampradaya, Vallabha sampradaya have all accorded priority to music. Historical records too indicate that one Haridas Swami who was the guru of the famous musician in Akbar's time, Tansen is credited with the recovery of one of the queens of the Emperor with a selected raga. The great composers of classical music in India called the 'Musical Trinity', - who were curiously the contemporaries of the 'Trinity of Western Classical Music, Bach, Beethoven and Mozart– were quite sensitive to the acoustical energies. Legend has it that Saint Tyagaraja brought a dead person back to life with his Bilahari composition Naa Jiva Dhaara. Muthuswamy Dikshitar's Navagriha Kriti is believed to cure stomach ache. Shyama Sastry's composition Duru Sugu uses music to pray for good health.

Raga Chikitsa was an ancient manuscript, which dealt with the therapeutic effects of raga. The library at Thanjavur is reported to contain such a treasure on ragas that spells out the application and use of various ragas in fighting common ailments.

3.3 Raga Chikitsa: Raga Therapy in India

Living systems show sensitivity to specific radiant energies – be it acoustical, magnetic or electro-magnetic. As the impact of music could be easily gauged on emotions and thereby on mind, it can be used as a tool to control the physiological, psychological and even social activities of the patients

Indian classical music can be classified into two forms: kalpita sangita or composition, which is previously conceived, memorized, practised and rendered and manodharma sangita or the music extemporized and performed. The latter can be equated to the honey-mooner's first night as it conceives both spontaneity and improvisation. It is fresh and natural as it is created almost on the spot and rendered instantly on the spur of the moment.

According to an ancient Indian text, Swara Sastra, the seventy-two melakarta ragas (parent ragas ) control the 72 important nerves in the body. It is believed that if one sings with due devotion, adhering to the raga lakshana (norms) and sruti shuddhi, (pitch purity) the raga could affect the particular nerve in the body in a favourable manner.

While the descending notes in a raga (avarohana) do create inward-oriented feelings, the ascending notes (arohana) represent an upward mobility. Thus music played for the soldiers or for the dancers have to be more lively and up lifting with frequent use of arohana content. In the same way, melancholic songs should go for 'depressing' avarohanas. Although it is not a rule, most of the Western tunes based on major keys play joyful notes, while those composed in minor keys tend to be melancholic or serious.

Certain ragas do have a tendency to move the listeners, both emotionally as well as physically. An involuntary nod of the head, limbs or body could synchronize with lilting tunes when played.

3.4 Some Therapeutic Ragas