ON A LIGHTER NOTE

In India , the ancient scripts treated the body as a whole and as such included music in the healing process. To cure an affected part, particular mantras were required to be recited achieving the right pitch, with body and soul in absolute unison.
Manjiree Gokhale,
Music expert

IF EVERY TIME YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC, YOU FEEL LIKE IT'S HEALING YOU FROM WITHIN, THEN YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT MUSIC HAS A STRONG INFLUENCE ON THE BODY. THANE PLUS TRACES THE HISTORY OF THESE FINDINGS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN THANE

Nasser Lalljee Thane

According to Manjiree Gokhale from Thane, who has done her MA in Music, "In India, the ancient scripts treated the body as a whole, and as such included music in the healing process. To cure an affected part, particular mantras were required to be recited exactly as per the rules, achieving the right pitch, and most importantly along with body and soul in absolute unison. This combination will not only heal the affected part, but will also affect the seasons and climatic conditions, and would also bring rain in times of drought."

Music even works on deaf, people as it first works on the aura and then on the body. Indian music is classified as ragas according to specific times. It is a very complex theory with divisions and subdivisions. The day is divided into two parts - the first is from noon to midnight and the other is from midnight to noon. The first is called purva and the second is uttar. The ragas which are to be sung in the purva period of the day were termed as the purva ragas and the others were termed as uttar ragas.

In time theory, there are three types of ragas - sandhiprakash ragas or the ragas having komal dha; ragas having komal ga and komal ni; and ragas having shudha re and shuddha dha. This division is based on the ashtaprahar system, where the day is divided into eight parts, where each division is called as a prahar.

On the other side of the world the idea of music as an influence which could affect health and behaviour is atleast as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. Some leading examples of the behavioural patterns are the drums, which were used in times of war to key up the soldiers or keep - the ship slaves rowing in pattern, and Kings and royalty would often summon the court musician to soothe ruffled feathers. Music was also often used to serenade ladies and this practice is used very effectively even today. Some Sufis used particular music with a particular tenor and tempo to go in a trance. In a whirling dance pattern along with music, the Sufi entered a stare of trance. It is from this that the term “Whirling Dervish” was derived.

The 20th century discipline began after World War I and World War II when community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, went to hospitals around the country to play for thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars. The patients' notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals. It was soon evident that the hospital musicians needed some prior training before entering the facility and so the demand grew for a college curriculum.

The first music therapy degree programme in the world was founded at Michigan State University in 1944.The American Music Therapy Association was founded in 1998 as a union of the National Association for Music Therapy and the American Association for Music Therapy. Its mission still is the progressive development of the therapeutic use of music in rehabilitation, special education, and community settings. It sets the education and clinical training standards for music therapists.

The long standing belief that music can help in healing is now finding growing acceptance in Thane, as some mother have enrolled in a yogic course combined with music that was conducted at the Ghantali Mitra Mandal last year. All the babies born to these mothers were in the weight category of three kilos plus. Further, all these mothers had their time spent in labour reduced by about two to three hours.

Says Dr Ulka Natu, "The training is a combination of certain yogic exercises with music like bhajans, Omkar chanting, madhyam patti, pranayam, devotional songs, meditation and more. With this, chances of ante natal complications are reduced."

She goes on, "Naad (music) Yoga cools down the mind and helps concentration, as the senses control the mind, which controls respiration, which in turn control the rhythm, which controls the Naad. Though more such classes are in process, the initial results are more than encouraging."

Modern scientific research supports our ancient teachings that natural pain killers (endorphins) are released into our system when devotional songs are heard. This same application is used to control the body during the pregnancy till delivery time. The approach is what matters. You know that the pain is going to be there, so you should not worry about it and fear it. Just let it be. Acceptance is half the solution.

The future of music therapy is promising because state of the art music therapy research in physical rehabilitation, Alzheimer's disease, and psycho neuro immunology is documenting the effectiveness of music therapy in terms that are important in the context of a biological medical model.

Today, healthy individuals also use music for stress reduction via active music making, such as drumming, as well as passive listening for relaxation. Music is often a vital support for physical exercise. Music therapy-as-sisted labour and delivery may also be included in this category, since pregnancy is regarded as a normal part of women's life cycles.