Good News: We are currently experiencing the renaissance of therapeutic music . . . the original New Age music.
Not-So-Good-News: Many popular media outlets are jumping on the bandwagon but not differentiating between authentic vibrational medicine music and melodies that are incidentally relaxing or stimulating.
This month's column exclusively features recordings being used in therapeutic practices and wellness centers around the world. Each was created solely by, or in partnership with, a licensed healer or scientist specializing in therapeutic/psycho-acoustic sound. Of all the many thousands of New Age recordings made available since the late `60s, only a scant few possess this desirable pedigree. While none of the projects' creators and producers make any medical claims or warranties, all have been utilized and endorsed by a wide range of licensed healing professionals.
Please be aware that not all healing music contains melody. Some of the most effective recordings utilize specifically selected tones, notes, chords and repetitive patterns to evoke desired responses such as increased alpha or theta brainwave frequencies. These may seem unusual, weird or even disorienting upon first listening. But with repeated exposure, the sounds of these therapeutic recordings become more comfortable to the ear.
We'll introduce you to more music for your medicine cabinet in next month's issue. Listen, and be well!
Music for healing is formally introduced through this lavishly illustrated, 64-page book-with-CD set conceptualized by Weil, America's leading spokesperson for Integrative Medicine. He presents over 60 minutes of specially engineered music based on themes from Mozart, Mahler, Brahms and Bach — picked by psychoacoustic composers Joshua Leeds and Richard Lawrence — combined with complex combinations of binaural beat frequencies selected by Anna Wise to positively influence brainwave activity. Divided into three sections (Slow Dance for Healing, The Deep and Integration), the program encourages the listener to naturally neutralize stress through effortlessly accessing altered states of consciousness by listening to music. Note: a bonus CD features Weil, Wise and Leeds discussing sound healing and brainwaves.
Recently Evenson has been working with Dr. Joan Borysenko and performing live during her workshops, but since the `70s he and wife/co-creator Dudley have been pioneers of melodic music orchestrated with nature sounds as an adjunct for healing. This inspiring collection of peaceful music includes new compositions as well as previously released favorites, like "Breath of Light" from Dreamstreams, which help lower stress levels and facilitate wellness. Tranquil arrangements for flute, keyboards, guitar, harps, saxophone and cello make for lovely as well as effective listening. "Soul Food," a new tune, is an extremely pretty and calmly joyous instrumental that instantly and effortlessly raises one's spirit and hopes.
Charles is a non-sectarian monk who abandoned orthodox meditation methods for a contemporary, high-tech approach to transformation. Uniting the ancient Sanskrit word symbolizing the phenomenal energy vibration of Reality with state-of-the-art alpha brainwave sound patterning, Charles' mantric music enhances whole brain synchronization for an instantly harmonious state of being. Gently rolling ocean breakers, soundwaves and Charles' deeply resonant voice chanting "Om" meld to help still the mind. Consistently repeating, the chants and sounds lead one deeper and deeper into the meditative experience. Ambient distractions and stray thoughts disappear as one is cocooned in the delicious drone and time becomes timeless. Eventually, sound becomes silence and the listener emerges, refreshed and revitalized.
Here, a massage therapist and a meditation teacher/sound healer combine vocal mantras with crystal bowl tones to provide "an inner body sound massage." The bowls produce crystalline tones similar to alpha brainwaves which help release tension held in the physical body and calm the mind, liberating the creative and intuitive aspects of one's personality. While most of this recording is instrumental, an explanation of how crystal singing bowls work is given on track two, and a guided journey through the energy centers of the body utilizing bowl tones is presented on "Chakra Meditation." An especially effective and lovely selection is "Sanctuary," which features a spacious arrangement for mountain brook, wind chimes and singing bowls.
Stillwater is this country's leading therapeutic singer and a pioneer in the use of intuitive song composition. He has produced music for dozens of medical facilities and performed for Dr. Carolyn Myss, Bernie Segal and others. Partnered with obstetrician Bethany Hays, on Everywhere... Stillwater accompanies himself on guitar through ten tunes created to honor parents-to-be and those involved with the birthing experience. One of the most interesting pregnancy projects available, the material was recorded as it was spontaneously created in a studio filled with midwives and expectant women! Each song speaks to a different relationship in the process: mother, father, attendant, father to mother, etc. The focus is on surrender, so the music has therapeutic value for recovery/inner child work as well.
Internationally famed for its translucent bottles of single or double hued liquids, the Aura-Soma system was created by blind healer Vicky Wall as a potent energy tool for well-being. Asher's deeply resonant, harmonizing music is designed to complement color therapy and other healing modalities by simultaneously activating and balancing the chakras. By combining trumpet, violin, piano, bells and various keyboard sounds in such a way as to consciously manifest mildly energizing rhythms in concert with soothing melodies, the artful arrangements gently encourage one to surrender to the sound and accept its therapeutic benefits. "Dawn at Dev-Aura" is a spectacular, spontaneously composed piece featuring nature's own dawn chorus in spacious, ambient duet with keyboard for a symphony of garden birdsong.
It takes one to know one! Who better to create an hour's worth of music that integrates all the elements supportive for therapeutic massage than a practicing massage therapist, psychologist and sound healer? Highstein deftly integrates soft rhythms and percussive accents (such as shimmering cymbals) with consistently slow, flowing arrangements for acoustic guitar, woodwinds, chimes and bell-like keyboard tones into two extended instrumentals. This enables both practitioner and listener to melt into the music, allowing healing touch to follow the musical nuances intuitively and naturally for a mutually relaxing and rejuvenating experience. Between visits, these soothing sounds evoke a peaceful ambiance suitable for quiet contemplation, stress reduction and preparation for sleep.
Recommended by childbirth educators and infant development specialists, this two-CD set was developed by a physician to reduce the stress of childbirth and first-year care for both mother and child. Each of the hour-long programs — "Soothing Music for Crying Infants" & "Music to Help Baby Sleep" — contains digitally sampled actual womb sounds tailored to the sound frequencies most easily heard by newborns, soft female vocal harmonies and meditative sonic textures that can be used to soothe the fetus after sixteen weeks gestation, in conjunction with anesthesia to relax the mother during labor and as a lullaby during neonatal care to help recreate the familiar intrauterine environment. The deliberately repetitive aural pattern is soothing and hypnotic to mothers, sleep-inducing for infants and comforting for both during times of exaggerated stress.
Submissions for review consideration may be sent to: PJ Birosik, MUSIK INTERNATIONAL CORP., 154 Betasso Road, Boulder, CO 80302-9606. Since 1977, Birosik has been a music industry consultant specializing in marketing, promotion, publicity and A&R/foreign licensing; she is a member of NARAS, NARM, NAIRD, CMC, IMA, and a past Board of Director of Los Angeles Women In Music who has been profiled in 11 international editions of Who's Who. Calls may be placed to her at (303) 444-9575 between 9:30am -- 5pm MST regarding review criteria, consulting services for signed & unsigned musicians, and data list rentals.