What is Music Therapy ?

• • Music therapy is a Scientific way to cure of disease through the power of music ,It restores, maintains and improves psychological and physical wellbeing.

      With Music Therapy we can treat ?

• • Research shows the benefits of music therapy for various mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, autism, trauma, and schizophrenia cardiac conditions, depression, autism, substance abuse and Alzheimer’s disease. It can help with memory, lower blood pressure, improve coping, reduce stress, improve self-esteem and more.. Music acts as a medium for processing emotions, trauma, and grief, but music can also be utilized as a regulating or calming agent for anxiety or mood dysregulation. Neurological disorders ,Parkinson’s ,Heart failure, Labor Pain, Brain Hemorrhage and much more can be healed with the help of music therapy.

      Indian Classical Music Therapy

• • Raag is a terminology which is used regularly in Indian Music. In the 7th century the term ‘Raag’ was defined for the first time by Sage Matanga “a combination of tones which, with beautiful illuminating graces, pleases the people in general.’ in his book,’Brihadessi of Matanga…Raag is referred to as a ‘miracle of microtones’ and the swaras can range between 5 to7 which covers 22 sruti’s in an octave. The flexibility in Indian music provides the performer an opportunity to osculate swaras, which is where Raag plays the therapeutic role. The 72 melakartha raags (parent ragas) control the 72,000 important naadis which transmits life energy into every cell of the body. The descending nodes Avoroh  creates a sorrow feeling and ascending nodes  Aaroh generates a positive feeling. Hence music is played for soldiers in the army with ascending notes Aaroh to create a lively atmosphere. Historical records indicate that in the sixteenth century, Haridas swami (guru of musician Tan Sen.), was credited for the recovery of a queen in Akbar’s time, There is a story of Raag Dipak and Raag Megh which shows us the importance and usage of Music Therapy in Tanesn’s Time. Saint Thyagaraja (1759 — 1847), MuthswamyDikshitar (1776 — 1827) and  Shyama Sastry (1762 — 1827) are regarded as the “Trinity of Carnatic Music”. According to legend their masterpieces were considered to cure various diseases. One of Saint Thyagaja’s composition-Na Jiva Dhaara in the raga Bilahari, Is believed to have brought a dead person back to life. Muthuswamy Dikshitar’skriti, Navagriha, has supposed to cured stomach aches. Shyama Sastry’s masterpiece DuruSugu was composed for good health neighboring swaras which intensifies the listener’s musical experience. Overtime the raag system can trim a person’s mind and their behavioral pattern.

      What Music Therapy Does

• • Music therapy enhances the quality of neurotransmitters.
  • Music therapy conditions the heart.
  • Music therapy reduces hypertension.
  • Music therapy reduces unaccompanied explicit behavioral manifestations
  • Memory recalls improves when the same music played during learning is played during recall
  • Direct music participation enhances the development of creativity
  • Music alerts children’s brain waves
  • Music during exercise produces physiological benefits
  • Musical interventions may reduce maternal depression and its effects on infants
  • Music therapy is an important tool in the treatment of both physiological and psychosomatic disorders

     Why and How Music Therapy works ?

• • Music is a core function in our brain. Our brain is primed early on to respond to and process music. Research has shown that day-old infants are able to detect differences in rhythmic patterns. Mothers across cultures and throughout time have used lullabies and rhythmic rocking to calm crying babies. From an evolutionary standpoint, music precedes language. We don’t yet know why, but our brains are wired to respond to music, even though it’s not “essential” for our survival.

• • Our bodies entrain to rhythm. Have you ever walked down the street, humming a song in your head, and noticed that you’re walking to the beat? That’s called entrainment. Our motor systems naturally entrain, or match, to a rhythmic beat. When  a musical input enters our central nervous system via the auditory nerve, most of the input goes to the brain for processing. But some of it heads straight to motor nerves in our spinal cord. This allows our muscles to move to the rhythm without our having to think about it or “try.” It’s how we dance to music, tap our feet to a rhythm, and walk in time to a beat. This is also why music therapists can help a person who’s had a stroke re-learn how to walk and develop strength and endurance in their upper bodies.