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For as long as human history has been recorded, music has filled our lives. It has been a part of almost every important moment we have lived. And it has shaped us in ways most people don't even begin to consider. Don Campbell, author of the book “The Mozart Effect”, is direct about the importance of music – so much so that he titled one of his books “Music, Physician for Times to Come.” Campbell, founder of the Institute of Music, Health and Education in Boulder, Colorado, is one of today's most passionate proponents of the role of music as healer, energizer, brain booster and all-around life enhancer. He can demonstrate the fact, and wants all people to understand that sound is a vital element of any environment, especially a healing environment. And he makes a strong distinction between “elevator music and elevating music.”
Although Campbell is most well known for his best-selling book “The Mozart Effect,” he has written nearly 30 books. He also has produced more than 20 tapes and CDs with material that includes spoken-word instructions on using the voice to heal, as well as beautiful original compositions and renowned compilations of classics. Campbell stresses that many types of music – including the sounds of nature – positively impact how we feel, learn, heal and even communicate. He has explored the different ways in which the human body, specifically the brain, heart (physical and emotional) and spirit, respond to different types of rhythm, melody and harmony. And he recommends we open ourselves to a musical diet that will feed us in exciting, nurturing and balancing ways. Campbell's insights can help us avoid habitual consumption of too much musical tofu, acoustic sugar or sonic caffeine. There is definitely room in his universe for The Cleveland Orchestra, sacred Indian ragas (melodies used in Indian classical music), and Bruce Springsteen.
Studies of sound and music provide a solid functional interface between modern medical science and alternative healing/spiritual wisdom traditions. Campbell's work offers comprehensive, powerful guidance on developing the body-mind-spirit interconnection and strengthening it via sound. Using music, we can pump up our creativity, relaxation, healing and spirituality.
Music's importance has been understood for millennia. Plato believed that music was the strongest of all life's influences, teaching that tone and musical intervals created “the world's soul.” Pythagoras spoke in the sixth century BCE of “the music of the spheres,” a numeric potency and logic that vibrates through all things. Plotinus wrote in the third century that music “permeated the cosmos.” And the Hindu tradition teaches of the Great Tone, Nada Brahma, from which God made the world and which resonates through everything. These perceptions help explain, as sound researcher, producer and composer Joshua Leeds has said, “Sound is a nutrient for the brain and can either charge or discharge the nervous system. We consciously can use sound to enhance life.”
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Many reputable studies indicate that the right kinds of sound and music can be beneficial in children's development. We know that the ear is the first sense organ to develop in the womb, and that the auditory system becomes functional three to four months before birth. Exposure to particular sounds can influence the development of the auditory system in structural and functional ways. Music can calm or stimulate the movement and heart rate of a baby in the womb. A newborn or young infant can be soothed by recordings of the maternal heartbeat, music with a rhythm matching the heartbeat's normal pace, or even music that the baby heard frequently while in the womb. And studies have shown that visual tracking, eye-hand coordination and other positive behaviors develop earlier in babies whose mothers participated in a program of prenatal exposure to specific music. (All this information may be found in Don Campbell's The Mozart Effect for Children.)
Music affects mood, as anyone who has heard Mozart, Duke Ellington, ZZ Top or Eminem can attest. Studies show that music actually impacts how we see what we see. Test subjects who are asked to “rate the moods of faces” were strongly influenced by music they were listening to just before testing. After listening to depressing music, subjects judged neutral faces to express rejection and sadness, even though scientific, objective criteria held that such emotions were not present. A similar study found that music influenced how depressing or how positive specific paintings were interpreted to be. Carl Jung himself once said, “I feel from now on music should be part of every analysis.”
Shamans have used music in their spiritual and healing rituals for millennia. The rhythm of drum, rattle, bell and chant promote altered states of consciousness that can lead to profound spiritual connections and intuitive awareness. In some cases, shamans use sound to “loosen up” spiritual intrusions (negative energies in the body) so they may be released/removed. Or a shaman might “prescribe” a power chant (a brief song whose repetition over time brings empowerment, balance and physical or emotional relief).
Music played in hospital operating rooms makes surgeons calmer, more accurate and speedier, according to a 1994 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Music was shown to promote relaxation and pain relief in patients following surgery, and has been found to decrease chronic pain and depression. Music is used to increase movement capacity in patients with declining health. Music seems to be an asset to physical and emotional well-being in all healing environments – which brings us back to Don Campbell.
Campbell and his partners in Aesthetics, Inc. provided the complete acoustic and artistic design for the Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center, a $175 million hospital in Boulder, Colorado. Using a library of some 5,000 recordings – including everything from the calls of New England loons to Spanish guitar to a Brahms lullaby played whenever a baby was born – Campbell created a series of “Harmonic Zones,” each of which is modified 24 hours a day. And it is not simply a compilation of sound; it is just the right sonic touch, positioned in just the right space, rendered at just the right time to deliver a boost or a caress, as needed. Among other endeavors, Campbell is currently working with The Cleveland Clinic as a participant in the MusiCure Project, a study that involves pre- and post-surgery acoustic design for health care.
In an interview from his home in Boulder, Campbell expressed concern about how much our culture does not attend to the way sound impacts us. “Our homes are so noisy with TV, cell phones, telephone, e-mail, Nintendo, air conditioners, bells, whistles, washers and dryers. Young children can be overwhelmed,” he said. “They have very sensitive ears that are overexposed to sound. And loud sounds are always bad. Unfocused sound can really cause types of disassociative disorders, attention deficits [and other difficulties that seem endemic today]. We have to get our act together. We're moving beyond the naiveté of 'New Age' thinking. We must be more grounded, more practical, more filled with common sense,” Campbell stressed. Even in our musical diet. “Just because it sounds 'nice,' doesn't mean it's healthy.”
Campbell spoke of the fact that, today, sound- and music-based interventions are helping “modify speech, language and thinking disorders.” He explained that two upcoming eventsthe first International Conference on Sound Healing in Santa Fe, scheduled for this November, and Music and Healing in American Society at the University of Colorado next Juneare major events that will help us understand music and shape how we use its power. “We need to know how we can improve our life with good music; how we can improve our minds by arranging the sound we live in,” Campbell said in closing.
Music is a primordial, powerful force. It shapes the world. It can be used as a healer, therapist, educator, pain reliever and more. To live a balanced life, it is necessary to learn how to listen better, more consciously, and to surround ourselves with healthier sounds.
Information on Don Campbell, his work and recommendations can be found at www.mozarteffect.com.
Neal Szpatura is a shamanic practitioner/teacher, dreamwork counselor and tarot reader. He can be reached at (216) 371-3433 or nealdragon@aol.com. When he was in a garage band, a fan asked him for his autographif he would stop singing!
