TeaThat great music can be uplifting, transportive, sublime – and conversely tragic or deeply disturbing – is a given, but its power to heal in a medicinal sense is a much more difficult proposition for me to prove. Presents in the form. In music as medicineDaniel Levitin makes a brave attempt to do this in his introductory chapter, citing such luminaries as Confucius – “Music produces a kind of pleasure without which human nature cannot do” – and Plato – “more than anything else. More, rhythm and harmony are found, they penetrate and take possession of the innermost soul.”
While both of these statements affirm the deep pleasure we get from music – its soothing qualities rather than its healing properties – perhaps the most relevant quote is from the late Oliver Sacks, a neurologist and author of bestselling books. The man who mistook his wife for a hat And Island of the ColorblindSachs was an enthusiastic pianist who, according to Levitin, played Bach fugues “with great pleasure and enthusiasm”. He once described his clinical approach as essentially a musical approach – “I diagnose by a sense of dissonance or some peculiarity of harmony.” As per Michael Rosato-Bennett’s 2014 documentary alive inside As shows, the effect of music on people can sometimes be spectacular: Henry Dryer, a 92-year-old man whose days in a nursing home were spent in an almost frightening state, suddenly became excited when he played music from his youth. – As Levitin puts it, “singing with joy and reminiscing”.
Sachs’s writing, scholarly and informative, is the clearest touchstone for Levitin’s popular style. A neuroscientist and cognitive psychologist who trained at Stanford, he is now professor of behavioral neuroscience and music at McGill University in Montreal. In the 1970s he temporarily abandoned science for music and worked in various bands before becoming a music consultant and sound engineer for Santana, Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder, among others. This unique dual perspective underlies his 2006 best-seller – it Iyour mind on musicIn which he explored the complex ways in which we mentally process music and respond emotionally to music, how and why we find that some songs deeply affect us, while others leave us cold. Are.
like that book, music as medicine Combining research, theory, and interesting anecdotes about his interactions with musicians as well as patients, he provides evidence for his argument that music not only acts as a temporary uplift or soothing balm in times of trouble, Rather, it has a deeply restorative quality. In chapters dealing with trauma, mental health, and pain, he highlights how music-based therapy can be a beneficial part of the recovery process. For example, collaborative songwriting workshops have helped military veterans process their PTSD symptoms by, as Levitin writes, “gently and repeatedly exposing veterans to an artistic reinterpretation of their trauma”. Interestingly, listening to music is a more difficult task in some trauma therapy – on the one hand it allows patients to access deep emotions in a less overpowering way, while actually triggering PTSD in others.
Elsewhere, Levitin looks at how musicianship, like any form of creativity, can be seriously affected by diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, but also when artists reconnect with music in a different way later in life. How cognitive functioning can sometimes improve when connected to – changing diagnosis. For a chapter that focuses on Parkinson’s disease, which affects the central nervous system, gradually impairing movement and cognitive ability, Levitin writes about two musicians whose lives have been altered by the disease. American singer Linda Ronstadt, who was diagnosed in 2013, stopped performing when her symptoms made it difficult for her to sing. He told Levitin, “What you can’t do with parkinsonism is repetitive motion and singing is a repetitive motion.” In contrast, Bobby McFerrin, a jazz singer often renowned for his astonishing improvisational skills, was diagnosed in 2016, but he continues to perform, fueled by a health regime that includes Pilates, physical therapy, breath Includes picking work and singing work. He told Levitin, “I still have a mind that loves to play, and it may have been this playful, fluid and spontaneous element of his gift that has enabled him, as Levitin writes, “to channel his musical energy. Symptomatic release as a force to be reckoned with”
For me, music as medicine Works best when Levitin bases his ideas and explanations on these types of personal, and often deeply affecting, encounters. Elsewhere, as is often the case with popular science writing that bravely attempts to broach difficult subject matter, I found myself grappling with the complexities of perception, not to mention music theory. The final chapter, subtitled Precis to a Theory of Musical Meaning, is an extremely rare case.
that different, music as medicine It will definitely make you think more deeply about the healing properties of music, especially for those who play music. As Levitin says, “When we play an instrument (including singing), we are engaging more mental facilities than almost any other activity: motor systems, motor planning, imagination, sensory auditory processing, And – if we’re inspired – creativity, spirituality, pro-social feelings and, possibly, a state of heightened awareness with peace known as flow state.
Despite all this, the magic cast by a great piece of music has, for me, remained essentially elusive, somehow escaping even the most penetrating attempts to mystify it. In fact, as this fascinating book attests, the more you learn about our cognitive and emotional relationship with music, the more mysterious it sounds – and sounds.
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