By Joaquin Taveras
When music manifests itself, a miraculous revelation is created: from its simple composition of coherent sounds and silences, to the complexity of understanding it as a cultural product. Its effect is a direct stimulation that influences the perception of every individual in an unimaginable form. Music is played, and in a fraction of seconds a succession of acoustic signals is perceived by our ears, swiftly travelling to our brain where they decode and receive meaning. It is in that place where emotions appear, transforming sound into a comprehensible spark of emotion; a complex masterpiece!
New research through neuroscience is trying to shed some light on the benefits and positive effects of music. Since the creation of the “National Association for Music Therapy” in 1950, music therapy techniques have been developed and continue to on a worldwide basis. It is essential to highlight the application it has in various medical fields such as: treatment for seniors, benefits during pregnancy, children’s growth and therapy for handicapped and the neurologically afflicted.
Certain experiments, such as Prof. Koelsch’s , have utilized it to module activity in practically every cerebral-emotional structure while helping patients dissipate suffering evoked by depression, post-traumatic stress and anxiety. Dr. Joke Bradt from Drexler University certifies the efficiency of music therapy to regulate emotions of military personnel with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Separating it from its medical use, Dominican artist Maria Batle, in collaboration with Music and the Deaf, creates “The Muse Seek Project”, were she teaches deaf children to enjoy music through vibrations. In 2006, D-PAN creates the American Sign Language (ASL) in which music videos of popular songs are adapted with sing language and recreated with deaf-mute actors.
Taking it even further, zoomusicology is taking ground, supporting its investigations in the theory that an esthetic with a logic musical principle based on the sound animals emit to communicate definitely exists. Japanese composer Shinji Kanki has captured through ultrasound aquatic speakers, the singing of dolphins and with that he has created and composed some of his artistry. American musician Felix Pando adapts music from well-known classic composers for dogs and cats, incorporating special effects in a harmonious way helping create for them a less stressful environment.
Music has accompanied us and will remain doing so forever, its genres band together and as a form of expression it recount how society has lived through human history; its longings, fears, celebrations and battles.
More uses for music will be found with every passing day, and like Hendrix once said: “…she doesn’t lie. If something has to change in this world, it would only be possible though music”
