Music..How Does It Affects Us

There's the Road that goes Right and moves us Spiritually upwards, Body and Soul.

And then there is that other road to the left, made attractive by a 'negative force' that continues to try to push the World down...to undo all the good that God hath wrought. Always trying to reduce mankind to the level of slaves.

Make no mistake about it. These two opposing Ideas are 'out there' and they are the choice that mankind is making in our time. Our world is going through a major cyclic change in which disaster appears to be outcome of one of our choices. And a Free and Peaceful Way of Life, the other.

We would like to think that if we stay focused on the Spirituality of our own lives, we don't have to be concerned about what those on the left hand path are doing...for, we think, it is their business, their choice. But we couldn't be more mistaken! Wherever we are confronted with 'evil'....within ourselves or in others where it is a situation in which we can effect some positive change, we have a responsibility to address the issue and work for those constructive changes.

The Consciousness of all Life on this Planet is One Big Bundle of Energy Combined. What one of us does affects all of us...our thoughts, feelings and actions affect the health of the Planet and all Life there-on.

Further we little realize that when 'personal negativity', clouds our Pure God-given Energy, everything from little inconveniences to major problems occur. And when enough negativity generated by the people of the Planet coalesces into a 'major ball of discord', everything from world wide wars, famines, plagues and earth disturbances can result.

We are living in one 'those times'.... and experiencing man made 'problems' that can only be resolved, without chaos, as we bring 'Higher Power' into the equation.

We can deduce from examining the changes taking place in the musical forms of the past one hundred and fifty years that a musical revolution has taken place. It is one that has turned musicians away from Spirituality and concern for morality in society, and thus, lowering the Quality of Energy of the civilization....which historically has resulted in bringing about the eventual downfall of the civilization. I've come to believe that 'devaluation of values' exists in much 'new music', classical and popular and that it was/is designed to do that. Would it be going too far to say that the bulk of the music produced during the past one hundred years, more or less, seems to have arisen out of a narcissistic, egotistic, atheistic human mind-set that not only is in denial of personal Divinity, but in many instances, openly denies the Idea of Godness in general. Thus for some time now Beauty in Music, as in many other forms of art, has become devoid of both moral and Spiritual value, becoming in our time

which having been denied moral and Spiritual 'values' has degenerated further into harmful 'noise'.

There is scientific proof of the damage done to the physical body, especially to the brain, when exposed to harmful rhythms and dissonant combinations of sounds. Commercial purveyors of this 'noise' foist their products on a public that is foolishly paying to listen to music that in many cases has declined to the level of the sick mind or to the level of the jungle beast. Individuals are absorbing the destructive vibrations of those sounds and rhythms and we see society paying for the results in crime and illness.

Why people do not see that they are allowing themselves to be destroyed is a mystery. Why they do not see that they are participating in destroying themselves mentally, emotionally, physically .and Spiritually when they engage in harmful activities, is even more of a mystery. Why people do not understand that ugliness in any form is but one more attack on 'Godness' and denigrates the Divine Spark within all humanity.

No one is forced to indulge in ugliness of any kind. Everyone is capable of discerning what is beautiful and True. Harmonious, beautiful music is constructive and it exists to caress the heart even while it raises the Spiritual Vibration of both Body and Soul.

Never mind an apple a day to assure good health, try 20 minutes of classical music instead.

That's the word from Fish Hoek physiotherapist Dr Frances le Roux, who studied the use of music to improve the outcome in people with bronchitis and pneumonia being treated at her practice.

Le Roux, who was awarded her PhD for the study from the University of Stellenbosch last week, says the use of music as an aid to medical treatment is a field grounded in research and professional standards set down by the International Music-Medicine Association and is established in both Germany and the United States,

In physiotherapy, Le Roux's specialty, music in medicine refers to the use of music in a role that supports or enhances treatment.

Le Roux points to the fact that not just any music will do; specific music has specific applications and for her study she used choral works, specifically Bach's Magnificat.

Electroencephalography has proved that happy music in the major key indeed reinforces a positive mood or happiness, while music in the minor key is associated with sadness. Her patients were suffering from infectious lung diseases including bronchitis and pneumonia. Half were treated with the music playing, and the other half in silence.

She was examining the effect of the music on the immune system, the endocrine system (hormonal changes), as well as the psychological state of the patients, and says the intervention showed up significant change, positively influencing emotions, decreasing the stress hormone cortisol and improving immune markers.

"The research affirms the two-way reciprocal action between the brain and the immune system," Le Roux says.

Testing was carried out by means of blood tests, in which hormone levels and immune markers were measured, as well as the internationally-accepted Profile of Mood Scale, which originated in San Diego, United States.

Le Roux says it is vital for people to know that when they have an infectious disease, the physiological process of the infection causes changes in the body's immune system, resulting in negative emotions - stored in the amygdale of the brain.

"If negative emotions are suppressed, the healing process is blocked, but we proved that with a certain kind of music, positive emotions can instead be stimulated, inhibiting the negative effects of anger and hostility, and so improving healing," she explains.

Negative emotions, Le Roux says, can cause weakening of the immune system, and result in behavioral changes. So, because these infectious conditions spark negative emotions, the results often include depression, anxiety, anger and hostility. While unhappiness causes alpha blockage in the brain, happiness boosts brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which positively influence the immune system.

"That means that music processed in the positive emotional centre of the brain not only inhibits negative emotions, but can also alter the brain's chemicals and hormones, so boosting the immune system," Le Roux says.

Music also apparently contributes to the increase of antibodies in the immune system and she suggests that recognizing suppressed emotions can not only result in a healthy immune system, but also ensure an endless supply of energy to the body.

"Music actually strengthens the immune system's security systems, not only giving the guards better control over their weapons, but if choral music is listened to regularly, you'll be adding preventative burglar-proofing.

"The immune system can be conditioned, and has the capacity to learn.
"It will mean that as time goes on the immune system will automatically associate choir/choral music with improvement in health, and the immune system will continue being strengthened," Le Roux says.

The reason classical music is selected, she explains, is that its rhythms adapt to the natural rhythms of the body - rhythmical inconsistency have been found to yield a more intense expression of emotions than a regular beat.
Classical music is more like a roller-coaster, waxing and waning, building, falling, racing, stopping, and then breathing, before continuing again.
So it'll not only help your immunity with regular listening, but is also the choice to stimulate the mind and imagery.

Musical Menu

Music to discharge angry feelings:

Beethoven's Egmont Overture
Brahms, Piano Concerto No1
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No5

For calming anger:

Bach, Two Concertos for Two Pianos
Handel, Harp Concerto
Dexter, Golden Voyage
Bach, Suites for Orchestra

Music for depression and to boost immune systems:

Bach, Christmas Oratorium
Bach, Magnificat

Music for humour:

Mozart, Toy Symphony
Mozart, A Musical Joke

You can energise your work day with:

Bach, The Brandenburg Concertos
Beethoven, The Emperor
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No1
Brahms, Hungarian Dances
Strauss, Waltzes

To mask unpleasant noise:

Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Handel, Water Music
Bach, Air on the G String
Schubert, Quintet for Piano and Strings
Baroque Music, from Handel, Telemann and Bach

Music for sleeping:

Haydn, Cello Concerto in C Major (2nd movement)
Bach, Air on a G String
Bach, Sonata No4 for flute and harpsichord, Sicilana
Debussy, Clair de Lune
Mozart, Flute and Harp Concerto (2nd movement) and Lullabies

We are Eternally grateful for this Information

which is courtesy of Music, Mind and Healing, by Frances le Roux.

A Beautiful Story that is a Pearl-3/21 from an email by Wayne L. Owens-- On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.

If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.

By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play. But this time, something went wrong.

Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he didn't.

Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before. Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.

You could see him modulating, changing, re-composing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before. When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium.

We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done. He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said - not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone -

"You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the definition of life - not just for artists but for all of us. Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.

So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

Article found on Reverse Spins

March 22, 2007