The Music of Philosophy: The Healing Art
Part 2
by: Brandon DeGeorge
Music is wonderful, isn't it? It gives that special little upper you need to pick yourself up, when you're feeling down, without all the side-effects. Makes you move your feet and bend your body in ways it's not used to, just so you can feel good. Now that's strange; people do drugs to feel the same way, but end up messing up their bodies completely. The worst that can happen while dancing, and listening to music is a sprained ankle (or a bloody nose, depending on what you like to listen/dance to). And some people also put on music to "get them in the mood", or even ease the tension of the moment, if they're nervous. A drug? No, not a drug, just the healing power of music.
Whoah, hold on a minute...did you just say the 'healing power' of music? Quite a jump to conclusions? Nope..the professional medical society has acknowledged the special healing quality of art, especially music. Music therapy, you know? You can get a college degree in music therapy, now a-days. So, it's actually nothing special, anymore. Need more proof? Why do parents sing their childen lullabys? (I know mine did, and I fell dead asleep every time they did) Take the word lullaby: 'lull' as in to lull a person into something, like sleep, for instance.
So there you go, music helps our mental state. We listen to music to mostly to relax, since that what it seems to do best; tell our stressed-out human brain to chill out for a little while, and 'lull' the body into calming down. Surgical hospitals who play music during operations (happy music, of course, not death metal, not saying death metal is bad, it just seems to cause stress in some people, as it does seem to relax those who like it) have a higher rate of success in their operations, than other hospitals do. Has a study been done to prove that yet? Hopefully, I'm personally researching that at the moment and will post my findings at a later date.
Okay, so music helps us relax, but what about healing the body in other ways? Well, that part is uncertain, but the best guestimate on that one, since there's no 'empirical' way to determine this, is that the body heals itself, music just makes it possible for a stressed-out body to get to work. Still, without music, it's that much more difficult to do, and maybe, sometimes impossible. But how much music helps heal a body is impossible to measure at this point in time. We just don't have the tools. The only thing that can be studied is if music has an effect, or not, and that seems to be rather obvious to the perceptive people in the world.
So, what can we do with this information? Heal ourselves? Maybe, but there's more to it than just playing music, and expecting it to help someone. For a start, someone has to be receptive to the healing magic (yes, magic) of music, the body must 'want' to be healed by music, and maybe it can't help everyone. What about the deaf? Well, deaf people may not be able to hear music, but I've been told that they can feel it. Maybe that's enough?
How are we to know? Well, maybe we can conduct our own study. One of the great things about this magazine is that it's interactive, and our readers can have a chance to say something. So, help me out. Try this; after a hard day of work, or anytime you are feeling stressed-out, sit down, in a comfy chair, and put on some music, something you like to listen to. DO NOT drink any alcohol, or caffeine (we need some controls in this study, you know) observe how it makes you feel, write it down, and send your observations to this magazine, if I get enough responses, I'll post them. Also..if you would like to help me out in my other study, the next time you're at a hospital, or doctors office, ask them if they play music during operations, and what their success rate is with those operations. If, for some reason they don't play music, suggest that they try it.
That's all for this month, kids. We can begin to see that music is something special in this world that we live in. If we can see that, then maybe we've taken a step in the right direction, and just maybe, we can respect our musicans a bit more (maybe pay them a bit more too, eh?) and ask our children to get more interested in music (if that's possible) and maybe even get more interested in our children's music. We have a long way to go, and much to do....
Ok y'all...this is your chance, tell it like it is...you have a band you're just dying to tell everyone about? (if it's your own, that's ok too). You just heard an album by someone new, or someone dead that's driving you bonkers every hour that you play it? Tell us!! We want to know!! This is a place to share good stuff that you think others might just enjoy. No negative reviews, please...we don't do that here. You think someone sucks? Tell them to their face, and see how well everyone takes constructive criticism...Oh..by the way...tell us when and where a band/solo artist/ensemble is performing, or where we can find the album/single/soundbyte, some of us just might want to check it out. Also, if anyone has music they want to share via the Net, send it here...we'll give it a listen...but we make no promises..
I want to send you my Music Reviews! I know that all responses will be considered, and those selected for the article will be duly credited to the author.