Thursday, April 2, 2009

Music therapy

Indian Music Therapy

Dr Suvarna Nalapat.M.B.B.S.;M.D(Path)

Eversince Homosapiens appeared on earth,there had been experiences of births,diseases,sorrows,death .They,our ancestors, had devised the methods of surviving such stressful conditions with positive strength and calmness peacefully and effectively...
Indian medicine,(Ayurveda/tribal/sidha)yoga,and philosophy collectively made efforts to the reduction/removal of desires,anger ,guilt,sorrows which increase stress and negative emotions .The development of arts ,especially music is part of this. Medicine,layayoga of music ,and philosophy ,were utilized in all seasons, for the wellbeing of all.It had been a way of life,not just a treatment for disease when the disease become severe .The fact that Athma(soul) is allpowerful,and it can lead the mind and intellect and ,if a mind is wellcontrolled it can work wonders and thus your mind can heal the body was a ancient concept in India which is being rediscovered by the west recently.,but with experimental evidences.(Your mind can heal your body.How your experiences and emotions affect your physical health.Mathew Manning .Piatkus books.2007.pp 1-2.).

BhagavadGeetha says(ch 2 samkhyayoga )that desires(Kaama)leads to anger (krodha)and anger to loss of memory(smrithinaasa)and that in turn to madness(mathivibrama).So one has to get out of desires,anger and for this one has to practice saamkhya philosophy ,and the methodology is the yoga (Paathanjalayoga as it is now called).Yoga is a way of life.One has to follow the yama,niyama etc and then do Easwarapranidhaana(meditate on a loved form /symbol) and chithanirodha,to get concentration(sradha) .This, when successful, leads to chithalaya .Meditation on Naada and naadalaya is practiced for this.Therefore Naadalayayoga,or raagachikitsa is a acceptable method of getting over stress and anxiety,and remaining healthy,intellectually,spiritually,mentally and physically. . It is a combination of yoga,music , philosophy and ayurveda as well as spirituality of India..The science and art of remaining healthy and useful to society and selfsufficient forever.
When we have positive thoughts and emotions we become happy (Prasaadam adhigachathi in BhagavadGeetha).Chithaprasaada(happy mind/intellect)is a sign of Dhaathuprasaada(happy and pure elements in the body)according to Ayurveda and the dhaathuprasada is most when one has satwaprasaada(predominant sathwa guna)and the sathwik guna gives pure intellect and a good personality .The thriguna and their balance ,the thridosha and their balance and imbalance being the basic principle of Ayurveda as well as samkhya philosophy ,the way of life of a naadalayayogin is to have wellbalanced body,mind,intellect and life.The definition of health according to Indian ancient philosophy is this balanced life.

Placebo and nocebo.

Every healing is actually selfhealing only.During second world war Dr Henry Beacher(US Army doctor)due to lack of morphine,injected saline to his patients telling them that it is morphine, and he noticed with surprise that the pain ceased just as if it was morphine.This was called placebo effect. The brain secrets endorphine ,when the doctor says that it is morphine,due to the hope/expectation/faith in the doctor .Later research showed that all medical treatment (including allopathy medicines) have 35%Placebo effect induced relief.In 2002 American journal of Psychiatry reported that 38 %of antidepressant treatment is due to placebo and not due to the drug itself.The experiments conducted in asthmatics and in stomach cancer groups and in tuberculous patients (with sugar water,/nebulised saline,chemotherapy/placebo,streptomycin/nonstreptomycin respectively)proved that one can produce either placebo or nocebo (negative)effect just by telling the patient that it is such and such a drug and it will produce such and such an effect.In parkinsons patients the Canadian doctors in 2005,could watch dopamine level increasing in brain after injecting placebo.
Negative emotions like fear,anger,etc produce cortisol,adrenalin and influence our health .They are called stress hormones.Positive emotions increase endorphine(antistress hormone)and the number of immune cells like T and NK cells.Previously Modern medicine thought that the immune cells and the nerve cells were totally independent of each other.But now,that separatism is gone.We know that one stimulates the other and has permanent relationship with each other.The immunity and emotions are interrelated due to this.Just as the Indian Kundaliniyoga teaches us.The negative emotions like anger,desire,fear,guilt etc
1.Quickly spreads diseases in the body including cancer
2.Increase chance of getting viral infections
3.Make plaques in arteries and leads to heartdisease,strokes etc
4.Are the cause for the initiation and increase of diabetes
5.For the initiation and increase of asthmatic attacks
6.for ulcers of stomach
7 And decrease our memory power.( Decrease of Smrithinaasa as Bhagavad Geetha said )
Therefore,the argument that music is just another placebo has to be viewed with caution and dealt with scientifically and properly.Bhagavad Geetha advises Maithry(friendship to all),karuna(compassion)muditha(happy /sense of humour),samskaara (cultural life),yoga and spirituality ,darsana(perceptions)positive thinking and life without desire,fulfilling all duties with equanimity and composure as a sthithapragna.What does the modern science recommend? See below.(The Sanskrit word used in Geetha is given in brackets)
1.In 1997,Carnegie Mellen university conducted experiments in a group of 276 people.They found that friendship with others increase 20% of our immune strength.(Maithry)
2.The sense of humour and happiness (Uty of California and Loma Linda uty school of medicine ,California )increase gamma interferon and increase immune power.(Muditha)
3.Culture and cultural activities.In 1996,an article appeared in BMJ.Those who are attending music concerts,museums,sports etc have better health prospects according to this.In Cleveland uty,music therapy is given to increase Immunoglobulin A .(samskaara)
4.Writing a diary of ones own life .This allows us to have a panoramic view of our life .One who writes for 20 mintes a day,,3-4 times a week,can reduce the visits to the doctor according to James Penne baker (Psychology Prof Texas uty).They analyse their life and have better immunity than the control groups .The cortisol is less with this behaviour.The music therapist by taking MLP of clients is actually increasing this ability.The compassionate friend/doctor whopatiently hear to the needs/fears/anxieties and takes interest in the narrative is in himself a symbol of compassion(karuna)here.Instead of writing,the client is narrating by word .Because ,the help extends even to those who cannot read or write.
5.sleep and massage in proper doses.(Panchakarma of Ayurveda has massage )
6.Spiritualiy.Prayer decreases interleukin-6 which is related to autoimmune diseases.This was reported by the Duke university medical center team in International journal of psychiatry.(Bhajan/meditation in Indian systems)
7.Visualisation of positive Images in our mind T cells and white blood corpuscles are increased .So also the NK cells.Making beautiful visualizations of imagery with music,manthra,OM,voices from nature etc were tried with good results.(The darsana/perceptions with idols or easwarapranidhana ,with nature and pranava and naama,manthra etc in ancient India)
8.With positive thoughts and hope Helper T cells are increased within 6 months according to Uty of California.
9.Daily exercise.(Yoga in India)

It is not stress but the way we react to stress that control our immune system.In Harward medical school clients divided into four groups ,according to the stress in their life,their reactions to it,and their NK cell activity.




GROUP NK CELL ACTIVITY
Good coping.(High stress+low symptoms) 22.5%
Lucky(Low stress +low symptoms) 15.1%
Neurotic(Low stress+high symptoms) 10.6%
Bad coping(high stress+high symptoms) 7.5%

Therefore ,the methods to cope up with stress (like music)become very important in all people,irrespective of the nature of high or low stress in life.That is why singing in groups(bhajan)as well as individually was given importance in ancient India .The practical points which give power(sakthi)and bliss(aananda)to all were always encouraged in India.Those who face life and stresses in life effectively are having
1.The commitment or responsibility of life.What do I believe?Is it truth?What is my goal?These questions are asked by people of this type.They find answers not only for themselves but for others too.(problemsolving type).The dharma of responsibility they share with the society,with the nation and with the entire world .
2.The control.We have control over only certain things in the world.Find out those which we can control.Do not waste time on what we cannot control.Control of ones mind ,and through it one’s own desires,body and intellect is within our control.Yama,niyama etc are practiced for this purpose.Spirituality ,music and yoga are thus very important for each one of us.
3.Life is a challenge.Those with a liking for learning,practicing what we learned,communicating them through various means have a problemsolving capacity and such people take life as a challenge and face it positively.
Music,philosophy,yoga and ayurveda as a integrated discipline allowed Indians to do this .The success in life is to accept life with all its ups and downs positively.To accept is to win.For Mathew Manning(pp 52-53)accept means
A-cknowledge emotions and losses
C-onsider alternatives
C-hoose a course of action
E-xpress yourself
P-atience
T-ry
There may be several occasions in our life which may reduce our selfconfidence.In all such occasions we have to prevent pessimism entering our mind as a nocebo .We have to encourage hope and positive emotions as placebo.Whatever helps us to do this makes us accept life and win .Music and guided imagery of prayers/bhajans/music etc are used for this very purpose right from ancient times in India.Kings as administrators who had stress and strains were always resorting to music as a panacea and so also the merchant class and business people /masses with agricultural pursuits etc.They had music suited for the time of year,month,day,festivities and cyclical activities forever right from the prevedic/vedic /historical times.

Imagery and visualization of music

What happens when we see a beautiful landscape/sunset/nature?It stimulates a small part of our cerebral cortex .The same happens when we imagine the landscape/sunset.,When we see a painting of it etc.The same area of brain is stimulated in all these occasions..The sruthi(hearing)and darsana(vision)happen simultaneously in music.Or ,imagery (visualization of music)and hearing happen together.In guided imagery this technique is used by the western world.In India from the prehistoric times certain imageries were used in poetry and music for this purpose and they are still vivid as archetypal memories in Indian psyche. .When we listen to Tyagaraja music the imagery of Raama as an archetypal presence is unfolded within us.This spirituality/perception/hearing simultaneously makes one calm and controlled and forget the stress and strains of life in a positive way.Our feeling centers(limbic system)receives the imagery , our autonomic nervous system gets the messages of the imagery.The endocrine system (which control hormones)get messages from them.Thus our heartbeats,BP,sweating,speed of breathing,etc all are affected.The darsana or visualization of imagery in music is not only for health in a physical sense .The perception(darsana)of a image(idol,picture,mental imagery etc)is also a kinesthetic perception of mind,and an imagination in creative auditory level (creativity of music).This experience of rasa in aesthetics and creativity is akin to rasa or experience of Brahma (spirituality).Thus art,science and spirituality of music becomes one in advaitha of rasa experience .According to Charles Ghaarfield (psychologist)the visualization is the peak performance in music.He got the word from a cancer patient who was a pianist as well(He said ,staying alive is my peak performance nowadays).Guided imagery is at present used by NASA scientists who go into space.(for control of body and mind).All these show that mind and body are one,and not two as thought previously by scientists and philosophers of the Cartesian classical physics era..
An image or imagery is a concept in art and literature.It is the most powerful mental activity in a human being.In India this is called Bhaavana and Manodharma of the artist.Music is the art which has developed both these powerful tools to its maximum in India..The easiest method I adopt is to allow th client him/herself to choose the best imagery and music for themselves.Only if they are unable to do it,the music therapist need interfere in selection.To use the natural(not artificial )imagery which is spontaneously coming out of the client’s mind related to the MLP along with some music which evokes those imagery(an assortment of raaga music)have found to be naturally effective .In western music therapy the client is asked to think of an image artificially whereas in India this is not needed .All the various types of imageries(all of them natural)are there in Indian music as well as in the psyche of an Indian client .Hence the therapist is at an advantage than his/her western counterpart.
Goethe said ,”We ought everyday,to hear a little song,read a poem,see fine pictures ,and if it were possible ,to speak a few reasonable words”.The sages of ancient India,sitting in the hermitages on mountaintops,on riverbanks,and in beautiful forests ,and later on in temples with arts and architectural beauty around them,were practicing all these and beyond.The healing experiences of music and imagery which they initiated still survive.The role of creativity and spirituality in musical healing was as ancient as human habitation in the subcontinent.The figures of the yogin,yogic postures,figurines of the dancing girl and the seven mathrukas in front of a meditating yogin from IVC/Harappan sites show the evidence of the culture of music and yoga and healing arts here.

Sometimes the client’s liking may not be suitable for creating a positive field .It may not be suitable for the best healing experience.The best might not have been heard by the client and that may be the reason for his/her lack of preference.Therefore ,the therapist has to introduce the best ones(suitable raagaas)to the list of the client’s preferred ones.Thus an assortment of raagaas are used for getting the best results.The music therapist should remember that selecting the best music for healing experience is not that simple always.It may need several sittings with the client in an informal way to select the best for them.People use music as a background while doing other things.This is good in several ways.But to get maximum effects as a healing experience,one has to give some specific time for music alone ,for the naadalayayoga and imagery to work on its own.One has to listen to music at least twice a day(preferably in morning and evening/or night before bedtime)without any other disturbance to achieve perfect chithavrithinirodha .Just allow music to embrace you,and float into it without any other thought,relax and after the episode write whatever experience you had in a diary and keep it for periodic reference of your musical profile.Enjoy all the images,visualizations,dreams,and the feeling of transcendental life etc .It is the layana between our mind,intellect and the music.The communication between music and us.Be free to fly high in the sky of music with the seven swara as vehicles(swans)and 22 sruthi as (saalabhanjika/apsara) soundwaves that carry you on the milky ocean of bliss .The musical waves and their warmth ,the feeling of being immersed in the sweetness and love of mother Saraswathi(Godess of wisdom and music/of creativity)and becoming one with her is the essence of healing with aesthetics .

Pramaana for Raagachikitsa in the east

In east ,especially in India,the pramaana(proof/evidence) for every art and science are
1.sruthi(veda,acoustics)
2.smrithi(memory of ancestors codified as literature/arts/laws )
3.the six darsana (perceptions)which are nyaaya(logical realism)samkhya(evolutionary dualism)yoga(methodology to obtain harmony of wisdom/knowledge)vaisheshika(realistic pleuralism to explain the world of existence of many)and meemamsa(enquiry )of Dharma(poorvameemaamsa)and gnaana/Brahma(utharameemaamsa).
Sruthi is auditory,heard from ancestors of prehistoric/protohistoric times right from the beginning of the first ancestor of homosapience and hence called apourusheya (before any known historical personage).Smrithi is the knowledge compiled by several historical personages as ancestors for the successors ,either genealogically (matrilinear/patrilinear)or from teacher to disciple(Gurushishya lineage).This also started as spoken and heard word.Later on recorded and compiled.This has a name of a first ancestor and hence are not apourusheya.These can change from time to time and from place to place and hence are timespace limited and flexible.Smrithi is accepted only if there is the pramana (evidence)of sruthi.
Logical realism is to analyse knowledge with logic and intellect.Evolutionary realism of samkhya is to think about the similarity and differences between two and know the oneness in them.For this one needs concentrated meditation,cognition,and memory power and the methodology of yoga.To understand how the One became many ,scientifically one should know the principles of Paramaanu of Kanaadavaisheshika.It explains the quantum evolution theory of the entire universe.The enquiry into dharma(ethics/morality/righteous behaviour)and gnaana (wisdom/knowledge)uses all these in combination .Ayurveda ,a upaveda of Atharvaveda .Gandharvaveda(music)is a upaveda of Saamaveda.The manthra of Rgveda,sung in musical terms is saamaveda and these manthras and music used for medical healing is explained in Atharvaveda.Hence Ayurveda and Gandharvaveda as branches of veda and sabdasasthra are related.Moreover the principles of balancing the three qualities(guna)and dosha(imbalanced quality)is the base of samkhya,Ayurveda as well as that of Raagachikitsa using the voice of the singer. .Pinda(matter)made of elements and paramaanu(subatomic particles),jeeva (life principle)praana(breath)mind(manas)and the oorja(energy)of the sun and cosmos in naadaprakaasa (sound/light-or acoustics/optics)in all matter and in living body within naadimandala for yoga/health/naadalaya is common for all these.
The book on Astaangasamgraha by Sri Raghavan Thirumulpad (kerala bhaasha institute)classifies medicines as dravya and adravya by ayurveda.Pranava,sound,music etc are adravya type of medicine in this classification.Veda gives many examples of how saamamanthra cured different diseases by the vedic physicians Aswins .The sound of a singer differs according to his/her ratio of thridosha ,showing the importance of this adravya as medicine.Music gives three types of bliss .Yogananda(creative bliss in meditation)bhogaananda(emotive bliss in day to day life)bhodaananda(cognitive bliss of intelligence)..Naada as energy(Naadaroopam paramjyothi)is present in all matter ,in all the 5 elements .Its unmanifest form aakaasa (timespace ) itself is sign of Brahma(hence called naadabrahma).This gives the omnipresent omnipotent nature of Brahma/Vishnu to Naada.The swara control the seven chakra in human body,and hence the five elements too.The saptadhaathu is purified by swara in this way,in meditation on naada.(naadaanusandhaanayoga).Just by using Rishabhaswara alone in the proper way no disorders of wind(vaatha)will happen is the concept of ayurveda.In the gaayanavidhaana of saamaveda are examples of curing disesases with manthra/music.The bhaishajathatwa(principles of medicines)of Aswins classify medicines into four .
1,Pavanouka.(from wind)
2.Jalouka(from water)
3.Ghanuathraka(from mines ,from forests and from other sources )
4.Saabdikabheshaja.The sound as medicine.Music belongs to this fourth category along with manthra,sounds etc.
There are 4000 sloka in an old book called sabdakuthoohala.These are arranged in three chapters.
Chapter 1 .Saabdikabheshajam.Treatment with vocal msic is dealt with.
Chapter 2.With veena,thanthri,panava,conch,bheri,mridanga,manjeera,flute etc
Chapter 3.How to cure diseases with meditation,concentration,keerthana(singing the glory of God)etc.

The Margi is more of a music of anushtaana(associated with spiritual practice)and may be either vedic or tribal.Desi on the other hand is not associated with spiritual practice and is sung for day to day occasions for enjoyment and aesthetic pleasure alone and is more of artistic nature.This becomes the regional popular music in particular time and locality and undergoes change.But the maargi ,from which desi originated is kept without alterations by the races of people meticulously.Both can be used for cure and for development .The four types of music in saamaveda are graamageya(sung in villages)aaranyageya(sung in forests)oohagaana(song one guesses from the past ),and oohyagaana(secret songs).Saamaveda has not mentioned maargi /desi.It was during Mathanga period(author of Brihadesi)these terms first introduced.Mathanga ,being Guru of Sabari lived before Raamayana period.What the music therapist gives,to whom,and how,and what effects were obtained depends upon the methods adopted ,the sincerity of purpose of the therapist,the suitability of music selected and many other considerations.The four parts of a musical culture according to Ashok Kelkar(Understanding music and scope for psychological problems.Physiology of music Ed R.C.Mehta.Indian musicological society journal)are
1.Receptivity
2.creation and rendering of music
3.ideology and philosophy of music
4.The musical activity.
Not only the nature and nurture (genetics and upbringing)but also the sensibility of the national /regional traditions ,culture,languages known,etc are determining the musical culture and musical life panorama of an individual.Therefore when we give raagachikitsa we are giving a healthy existence in a healthy geographic cultural environment also.Creativity is a quality which sublimates the baser emotions into spiritual/artistic emotions.The aggressive emotions,depressive psyche ,guilt feelings,uncontrollable desires of senses etc are abolished and one is elevated into a higher realm by music .The ksiptha(other pole of a concentrated mind)vikshiptha(distracted mind)mooda(complete inertia )are three states of mind described by Pathanjali as unsuitable for aquiring wisdom.Music is given even to such minds and minor changes have been noted even in them.Nirodha is the mind which has entered the first step of concentration.The ekaagra(concentrated)mind has different stages like dhyana,dhaarana and Samadhi ,which is the culmination and goal of the yogin.The naadalayayoga is both the way and the goal .Thus the therapeutic,prophylactic ,developmental aspects of the healthy mind and intellect in a healthy body has been experimented by generations of yogins in India and is still used as a living tradition.This itself is the sruthi/smrithi praamaanya of saabdikabheshaja .

Acoustic experience-The aesthetics of music

Most of the people are living among noise and hence have no time to rejoice in voice ,or they are denying the voice .The philosophy of music is the oldest branch of aesthetics in India.It starts from the Vedic literature(in written/oral traditions of samveda)and then through Mathanga and Bharathamuni ,to AbhinavaGuptha and the Thanthric exponents of music.In the west it originated from Pythagorus (Akousmathic kori)and Plato ,Ptolemy,St Augustine,Plotinus,Boethius,and poets and philosophers of middle ages and is a comparatively recent tradition .In the west Kant and Hegel were two giants of aesthetics.Rebirth of aesthetics happened in 18th century with John Mattheson and Charles Batteux,after the Europeans became established in Asian colonies.. In India the tradition of classical music became very vibrant at the same time,because ,the Europeans who came to India were enthralled by the new tradition they saw here,and wanted to recreate it in their way in their homeland.

Those who want to hear the inner voice ,imagine a room where in the silence a permanent voice is heard .(Om /or any other pleasing note /in your pleasing preferred voice).Or in silence listen to a soft Thambura,or to the wind,ocean or a bird’s call.With these one can also hear an inner voice which is far from the maddening crowd of everyday noises.
Sounds are either events or processes.How to distinguish them. ? Only processes are enduring.Events happen at a time.Processes last through a time.An event makes a change in the world.Process last unchangingly .Thus the beginning and end of a process is an event.Some sounds are events .Some are processes.Aristotle called them actions and passions.Our worldview is dependent on 3 applications on the concepts of identity.Sound as a pure event with a beginning and end.The soundspace when a sound saturate our hearing and draw out all its competitors.And the God’s earview of things we obtain from music. This is how I listens to my own inner voice,or to God’s presence through music.
Music makes use of a particular kind of sound .When we hear music we hear not only the sound but something which moves with a force of its own.This intentional object of musical perception is the tone.Exploring the relation between the sound and tone describes our musical experience.Because of this Leibniz called music as a kind of unconscious calculation .(The unconscious/superconscious nature of calculation is its only difference from astronomical calculations/or from the conscious efforts in yoga to make mind concentrate.But that makes all the difference.).Music’s nature as an art of sound,a new way of understanding of aesthetic ,accords music the status of a narrative.
The representational nature of poetry is the medium of language by describing things according to preestablished semantic rules.If sounds of music is put to a linguistic use (literally to a musical language)this music is capable of representation.It would be poetry written in a language of absolute pitch.(a kind of superlative tonic language).Hence such poetry is nothing but sound itself.We find this in Muthuswami Deekshither krithis and other traditional music of India.Then it will be a single act of attention in which both music and its subject matter are heard and the description of the subject is unfolded through music ,just as in painting.When we hear a Annamacharya krithi or Tyagarajakrithi,it brings the music as well as the form of the deity they worship with all its attributes.
The crucial difference between an acoustic and visual appearance is that in visual ,we cant see without attributing it to something.Whether it is a woman,a horse,nature ,deity a visual appearance present us with an identifying description of that object.Hence for visualization of music such a method is used by the ancient composers of India who were singers/composers/philosophers/yogins rolled in one.The expression and representation are thus different or distinct . The term express means artistic meaning compared with our states of mind.Meaning of a work of art is available only through its particular expression in it.The expression of a Tyagarajakrithi takes us to the states of mind of Tyagaraja and if it fails to do so,with a particular performer,he has failed in expressing that state of mind.This is especially true in Bhakthy traditional music of India which has a special aesthetics of its own.Cadences are integral parts of tonality or an integral part of experience of structure and form.The bass voice persists in tonal music as an independent melodic line because harmonics rest on bass line and are heard in relation to it.Triadic tonality forces bass into prominence matched only by the principal melodic voice and melodic constraints automatically apply to it.Just like earth which is the basis of everything,bass voice sustains ,establishes ,strenghthens the others.
Music is organized but not as language is organized.Musical experience can be amended and deepened without loosing its distinctive intentionality .Because of this music evolves with time.Music is organized at three primary levels ,the rhythm,melody and harmony.
In any planned activity in management we have a tree diagram of decision tree.
The successive decisions form a tree structure.(The aesthetics of music .Roger Seruton)

Enter ( therapist)
Import a product Manufacture it locally
Build manufacturing unit Acquire a unit/factory
Import staff/Local staff Local staff
Train abroad/locally Locally available art /artists
bring instructors/Local instructors Local instructors
(In India Indian music is best suited and locally available and the only thing we have to do is to introduce modern research tools,university academic disciplines and projects for it)

Same kind of decision tree in all rational actions whether it has an aesthetic goal or not.Music production also has the same rules when it comes to making music..To listen to music with understanding is to relate by a conscious route where the composer subconsciously derived it.The recuperation of it also is subconscious in listener and musical analysis makes it explicit.Hearing the structure is part of the phenomenology of musical perception,rather than a matter of influence or analysis.I have experienced that aesthetic interests are insatiable interests.Because each time we listen to a musical piece we find something new in it.An experience to which we are repeatedly recalled is an experience of value .Aesthetic value is a form of intrinsic value.Because there is aesthetic experience there is aesthetic value.If no experience no aesthetic value either.The science of sound does not say anything about the tonal space ,musical movement,language of tonality.Music is absent from the scientific theory of the world.
Musical analysis occur in the following contexts.
1Psychology of musical perception .A branch of cognitive psychology
2.Musical analysis an attempt to describe music of aesthetic interest and to show how tonal surface is constructed.This is a controversial practice.the music should come from or emerge in the perception of listener.The structure is real only if lived by the listener.
3.Music criticism.The good and bad in it and just what it means.
4.Musical aesthetics which is a metastudy.It is a critical discipline .Describes the nature of and the limits of our thoughts about music.These four practices usually overlap.
Making and listening to music are social with religious/spiritual/ceremonial connotations.Silent listening is a primary musical experience .Public performance always keep the listeners silent.In private performance(recorded music)music is separated from the social context for the time being.Making music together is a social event ,a nonsemantic communication ,a mutual tuning in relationship.Barrier of “I” and “You” transcend to the realm of we. A human being is a raaga ,and when it is sung properly ,it gives pleasure.If sung improperly it creates problems in society.The story of Narada singing the raagaas improperly and the raaginis becoming lame is symbolic of it.If the people have proper music right from childhood,and in a definite orderly way,they will be happy and healthy .
“The way of the white clouds”(A Buddhist pilgrim in Tibet ,Lama Anagarika Govinda .Shambala publications California 1971) say,Tibetan music is based not on melody but on rhythm and pure sound value.Man is in connection with a universal background and not in solitary existence.The sounds that come from the womb of the earth,depths of space like the rumbling of thunder etc are always with him.Manthra is a sound of nature.Music symbolize the vibration of universe.The effect of gradual swelling and ebbing of oceanic tides ,and the breeze of individual life creating and playing with the multitude of cosmic waves and wavelets and the sound of the allencompassing OM,the prototype of all Manthra sounds is the basis of Indian and Tibetan music.(See Saradhaathilakathanthra and Upanishads)The human bass voice represent the primieval cosmic sound and experience of infinity of space.The drum ,the infinity of life and its movement.,or what we call the dharma eternal(sanathanadharma),the wheel of dharma rolls forever..Budha after his enlightenment uttered the word Amrithadundhubhi(The eternal drum of immortality )which he heard and he wanted to make it heard throughout the world.When Teravaada budhism of South considers music as just a sense pleasure,Tibetan Budhism considers it as the eternal cosmic truth.In Tibet the ways of contacting the deeper layers of mind are
1.Dream visions
2Meditation
3.Trance
4.oracles
5 natural and supernatural psychic portends
The vastness of space,the solitude,and the silence of nature around act as a concave mirror that enlarges and reflects our innermost feelings and thoughts and concentrates them in one focal point ,our consciousness and in such moments the best divine music is born within us as a inner voice of silence.
The first chapter of the book Dreams(Dreams –A reader on religious cultural and psychological dimensions on dreaming.Ed Kelly Bulkeley.ch 1.Budhist dream experiences by Serenity Young pp 15)speaks of women and female deities in men’s dreams.They bestow supernatural powers that lead to enlightenment.To complete the quest they have to depend upon a female guide ,win a goal or achieve enlightenment and wisdom(pragnaa).Pragna is feminine in Asian traditions and personified as a semidivine woman .Sankaracharya’s Soundaryalahary on seeing the Devi and Kaalidaasa’s story of initiated by her are musically and visually aesthetic .
Women are good dreamers.The musical dreams of women are very beautiful and predictive too.The women have conception dreams like that of birth of Christ and Budha by their mothers .A paali text Saardoolakarnaapadhaanam is on dream interpretations.In Bible we find dream interpretation of pharaoh by Joseph.Kathasarithsaagaram deals with dream interpretations of the Hindu and Budhist lore,all before Freud and Jung .All tribal people had dream interpretations of their chieftains for safety of tribe.The dreams of women are being interpreted by men and this gender difference is the cause for fallacy according to Kelly Bulkeley.Ability to interpret dreams is a tremendous source of spiritual and temporal power and only very few people understand their own dreams.Dream is a passive nonheroic form of activity best performed by a female or a junior male.Budhist heroes dream internalizing this female power and at the same time maintain their male power as interpreters of the dream.In Lalithavisthra when Gopa (Yesodhara)wake up and tells her dream to Budha,it is Budha who interprets it,not Gopa herself.He was Vesanthara in last birth and Gopa was Maadi and Maadi had a prophetic dream .(Vesaantharajathaka).Women are powerful dreamers and have prophetic dreams.But powerless to fulfill them since they are not allowed to interpret it themselves.Padmasambhava discuss the dream of his wife Bhaasadhaara .In Milerepas biography Marpa discuss the dream of wife Dakmena and interprets it.The root of it is the dismissal of the male Budhists of real women from the monastries,and internalization of imaginery women .The incorporation of female imagery and female deities and distancing of actual women happen in Budhist thanthra.Women are sworn to secrecy as silent participants of their thanthra .The rarity of female biographies on yogic/thanthric experiences in spirituality is because of this gender difference.(pp 17 ibid)The dreams of Kannaki and of Devanthi in Chilappathikaara on the other hand are not interpreted by men but by themselves and no gender dominance seen in south .The dream speaks to the individual dreamer but also to all those who hear them.
Saamavidhaanabrahmana edited by A.C Burnell(London Trubner and co 1873 )recommends certain things to have a prophetic dream.
One among them is to put the deity Sankarevaasini(may be Parvathy)in a basket full of unhusked grain,incense,and flowers and putting it to the headend,lay down in a sacred pure place with head to east .Sing the hymn from saamaveda(imam uhuvu).Remain silent while falling asleep.One will see as if in a film, the phala or fruit of what is to happen(future prediction).The dream Chathan made in the temple of Devi (the present Ponnambalamedu)in Chilappathikaara is almost the same procedure.This is the birth imagery of Devi..The term swapnamaanavaka(the student of dreams)is seen in a 12th century Budhist text on constructing Mandalaas .The text is Vajraavaleenaamamandalapaayika by Abhayaakaaraguptha translated to Tibetan and it is a method of watching a dream and finding out whether its deities allow the mandala positions(as Jung did later).Mohammed receives information in dreams.He saw twice in dreams an angel covering Ayesha in a cloth and carrying her.This happened before he actually saw her and married her.One of Gods sign is the manaam or dream,in night and day.Right dream come from God and impure ones from devil.The analogy with death is seen in the words”Men are asleep.When they die they awake”.In ancient medical texts of India red and blood in dream predicts death.In Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad (4.3.13:38and 4.4)discussion on sleep and dream leads to discussion of death.
Dreams have memorizing power.The memorizing of texts(Koran ,Geetha,Bible etc) is done in dreams.Seeking help in making a choice /decision(Ishtikara)and transformative potential a dream has on dreamer are noteworthy.A visionary with heightened awareness get dreams of visions .Young children has this power without any previous preparation.The power is more during menstruation and there is a period of latency between the dream and its actualization(fulfillment)according to the author.The Lakota holy men compare the power to a medicinal plant .When all the lifeproducing stuff is over the wisdom is in the root ,if they work with the medicine in the right way.The Lakota people call a person who has this power a bluebird ,who can bring a voice to sing during her sleep.The blue bird of Krishna was awake in me in my childhood dreams.Krishna ,the blue lotus,the blue pearl of wisdom ,as a blue bird appeared and sang and consoled me in my dreams and made me sing and dance and write poems.Artists ,medical people and spiritualists had this bluebirds as inner voice, in the ancient and modern world ,partially or wholly.This was explored by Carl Gustav Jung in his archaic archetypal studies on dream analysis.He himself had some such dream experiences.Creativity in dreamsleep is the activity of Thaijasa (The I ,in REM sleep),according to Upanishads.Every one has it.But only a few use it.In music therapy ,these dream imageries are also made use of.(as in GIM Guided imagery music )


Making dreams into music

Contemporary song writers carry on this ageold dreaming tradition with them.(Nancy Grace).Billy Joel at Berkelee college of music in Boston said “All songs come from my dreams”.Paul Mcartneys album Lazarus heart,colvins poleroids from his album fat city,confessions of a blue singer by Rory Rock all came from dreams.Poetry and music come from dreams especially childhood dreams,and there is nothing unusual or supernatural about it.It is just a natural phenomenon within every one of us..Just as a flower comes out of a plant ,they came out of us in right seasons,right times.

Jane white Lewis reflects on the Jungian analytic practices of dreams in chapter 10 of the book and says dream is finding the truth within and dream work as a spiritual discipline .It is a spiritual alchemy ,an instinctive response to deep pain and injustice and viraha(separation) in lovers’ life.A highly emotional stage of a lovers viraha and a yearning for the lover/God happen and only then a person’s spiritual perspective reaches a phase and transformation into truly authentic and reliable spiritual perspective emerge as pure gold.The dreams of scholarship are very interesting because many discoveries and inventions and abstract truths have been discovered /revealed in dreams,like that of SreenivaasaRamanujan,Kekule,Jung and Poincare.The creativity in dreams is not only mystical and artistic but also scientific .And creating a new thing is actually practical dreaming ,making a waking dream as in the thanthric twilight practices.We create in dreams whether asleep or awake.Sometimes metaphor structures a dream .In love a bridge(Sethu in sansktit,which Rama built for his love) dream means Love is a journey to fulfillment of love..In a flying dream it means a sense of freedom experienced by the dreamer.
In his book ,Implications for psychoanalysis ,The new neuropsychology of sleep, J.Allen Hobson says that dream emotions like anxiety ,fear ,anger,elation are primary shapers of dream ,not reaction to them.The classic anxiety dreams are feeling lost,not having proper credentials,or adequate equipments,suitable clothing,or missing a train etc.
There are functional deficits (physiological)as loss of noradrenergic and serotonergic modulations in REM sleep.These neuromodulators are essential for learning,memory,perception,attention via their direct CNS effects and indirect peripheral mechanisms.In NREM sleep these are not decreased .In REM neuropsychology what we get is certain hyperassociative quality and instability of the timespace ,place and the person –a qualitative feature of the REM dream.The dream characters are thus a chimera ,some features of the dreamers self and some of another.Even the sexual identity of dream characters is fluid.A person gives longer more vivid more motorically animated more bizarre accounts of the REM than the NREM.There is some degree of dream amnesia and the narrative need not be complete.The cognitive and scientific dreams of the dreamer must be then coming out of the NREM phase and the narrative we get are only very few and only from exceptionaly scholarly minds and probably that is why the tribals considered only their chieftains dreams worth reading and analyzing.

In narrating a dream there is a selfreflectiveness (SR)defined as examination of ones own thoughts,feelings,behaviour .SR involves duel levels of awareness alluded to as experiencing the self immersed in its own pattern of awareness and the secondary level of awareness examining the experiencing self.(pp 333 ibid Tracey L.Kahan quoting Rossi 1972:139).She approaches dream as a metacognition.Metacognition is awareness of ones own cognitive processes and a deliberate direction of ones thought processes.Thus both selfreflection and intentionality of self regulation are in it.One part of our mind tells the other parts where to go (intentionality) and observes its progress(selfreflection or monitoring)and corrects its deviations (regulation)if any .Usually when we think in dreams such metacognition is absent .But metacognition is present in sleep and in lucid dreaming.(Godwin 1994;Green McCreeny 1994;Laberge 1985;Van eaden 1913)and high order of cognitive skills do occur even in nonlucid dreams (Cartwright 1981;Cicogna 1991 q pp 341 -342 Tracy L.Kahan ch 22 Ibid ).To have a dialogue with the skeptics she gives a spectrum of perspectives on dreams and dreaming as below.

Theological spiritual Paranormal Scientific
Dream instructions and prophecies from Gods as in the Prophets(Theological)
Higher meanings encoded by a higher power/deeper self (spiritual)
The facts transmitted at a distance through dreams by unknown means(paranormal)
As functional activity.Consistent with known laws of nature (scientific).

In my dreamanalysis I combine the spiritual and scientific approach predominantly and sometimes even feel that there is something unknown transmitted in it from a higher power which may be called unknown,just as our deeper self which also is only partially known.Hence I don’t call it theological or paranormal.
The new scientist (28th May 2005)reported a few things for betterment of brain conditions and memory power .
REMEMBER FORGET
Glucose Fatty foods
Music Excess alcohol
Word associations Sleep deprivation
Exercises Poor hearing
Chewing gums Bad eyesight

As the great mathematician Andrew Weil said,a moment of creativity is a state of lucid exaltation in which one thought/music succeeds another ,for hours at a time or even for days,and once experienced ,one is eager to experience and repeat it forever .And this moment is timelessness and to achieve such a moment it is necessary to have solitude.
And what is after all spirituality than selfreflection and knowing the self,in a scientific way? Making my dreams into music was my destiny,my precious moments of lucid creativity in solitude...It reflects the rhythmic orderly nature of cosmos and its laws.And there is nothing supernatural in it...It is a predestined harmony as Leibniz would call it.We were destined to be what we are.And in that grand universal orchestra of God ,we are participating as preordained.As listeners of the best music ,that makes us healthy physically,mentally,intellectually and spiritually.

(The books of the author on music/music therapy are

1.Without a stumble .A book on Spirituality of music.2003.Nalapat Books .Dr Suvarna Nalapat
2.Nadalayasindhu-Raghachikitsa.2009.DC Books .Dr Suvarna Nalapat
3.Music therapy in administration,management and education.Readworthy publications.2008.Dr Suvarna Nalapat
4.Raagachikitsa.Readworthy publications.2008.Dr Suvarna Nalapat.)

No comments: