THE IMPACT OF SOUND ON LEARNING AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
By
John-David, Ph.D.
(From his presentation in 1987; see the previous post for details)
INTRODUCTION
It is interesting to ponder the fact that since the Universe was created, human beings have constantly been exposed to and influenced by sound(s) of various forms. Yet as far as research about sound is concerned, our current knowledge is quite limited. It is even more limited when we focus on the effects of different sounds on different areas of the body/mind or brain/mind. Yes, we have a lot of physiological data regarding the structure of soundwaves, frequencies, pitch, etc.; yet, we have relatively little information about how the human being responds to sounds.
This paper will make an attempt to analyze those effects as have been observed by me and my staff at the John-David Learning Institute during several years of experimentation, using the very latest technologically advanced sound equipment and hundreds of subjects. Our focus is specifically the areas of the learning process, both intellectual and emotional, and the complex immune system. We have also compiled references for further research and study of those fields.
PART I. WHAT IS SOUND?
Recently I have been working more with the sounds of dolphins and whales. For years I have used the sounds of whales to support self-healing and the emotional clearing of blocks that prevents us from reaching the pinnacle of self-worth and success. So far, my work is very preliminary, but my sense from measuring EEG and DEG responses is that the results seem to be very positive. Whale sounds create some very positive emotional level intensity but the actual brain apparently goes into alpha and theta states, and particularly when listening to some of the dolphin sounds, there is a greater tendency to go down into low alpha and theta. As you may be aware of, most of the research in the field of neuroscience substantiates that when you are in low alpha and theta relearning is easier. You can relearn old habits better. This state is also excellent for taking a look at body/mind and psychoneuroimmunological processes.
How do sounds that we use specifically affect the learning process? experience from our research shows that the sound patterns have a tendency to `escort the subliminal messages to the subconscious part of the brain/mind' which is excellent for relearning a message such as "everything I learn I recall easily". That kind of message played while you' re reading supports the recall process in such a way that you're relearning the habit that rather than forgetting everything you're reading you get to recall everything with high efficiency. And you're hearing those sound patterns which are assisting you in being in a low alpha-theta state; so, this is an excellent state for learning and re-learning. Let me explain further: we're bouncing the sounds for you from theta, low alpha, which is your relearning part, into mid and upper alpha, where you're actually able to retain the didactic part of the book, the cognitive information. Then we're taking you back into your lower alpha-theta state for re-learning. Now my subconscious mind is telling me it's easy to read, I'll remember everything, my teacher loves me, information is easy, I love to be intelligent, it's ok for me to be a powerful man or woman. All that kind of stuff is being reprogrammed into your brain at the same time as you're being moved into upper alpha to get the didactic information off the page. It's all happening almost simultaneously, sort of a dual process, with the sound patterns escorting and assisting you in the process. We know that certain sounds are wonderful for didactic information, certain sounds are wonderful for emotional information, and certain other bounds are wonderful for upper, mid-theta states. So, you see, there’s a different purpose for each sound. I know from 20 years of research, including anecdotal information, that this is what the sounds do.
I would like to share with you what one of our recent participants in the 5-day Total Immersion Intensive had to say: "I own and have controlling interest in at least a dozen corporations. My wealth exceeds $10,000,000. Yet, I was constantly in fear someone would discover I was dumb. My reading retention was so low I created a way for others to `read to me' to avoid discovery. Now, after the tapes and taking the workshops, I read very rapidly with 82% recall even weeks, months later. Gratefully yours." 1 This is only one example of hundreds of people who have benefited from re-learning.
Let's discuss the definition of sound for a moment. According to Charles A. Culver, Ph.D. "sound is any vibratory disturbance in a material medium which is capable of producing an auditory sensation in the normal ear." 2 Sound is produced through the motion of a wave. This wave travels with some velocity, depending on the medium. A wave transfers energy; by virtue of the energy it carries from its source to its destination, a wave can perform work. In the ear, a sound wave makes the eardrum vibrate to create the sensation of sound. These sounds pass through the various membranes and parts of the ear organ eventually reaching about 30,000 nerve endings. Electrical impulses from these cell nerve endings are transmitted to the brain, which relates the sound heard to those previously experienced and interprets the signals as words, music, noise, and so on. Anthony Smith in his book "The Mind" says, "The most baffling property of the human ear, which may also exist among animals, is its ability to single out a sound, pay attention to it, and dismiss other noise. Individuals with normal hearing can listen to just one voice, no less single-mindedly than the eye focuses upon the face pronouncing it. How this happens, to quote one author has not yet `received a satisfactory explanation'. However, it is not the ear that is discriminating, or so it is assumed; rather it is the brain that chooses to hear what it wants." 3
HOW ARE SOUNDS USED AT THE JOHN-DAVID LEARNING INSTITUTE (Now WBLI)?
If I may say so, my work is distinctive in the field of neuroscience and sound in that it is state-of-the-art in application of psychoacoustics and audio/visual suggestion.
The sounds I use were gathered from all over the world through my 20 years of international research in the field of neuroscience. These sounds are integrated into and layered by classical music, environmental sounds and a wide array of carefully articulated organic and synthesized sounds. Each individual sound group and pattern is designed to `speak' to predesignated areas of the mind governing a wide range of skills, emotions, reactions, and sensations. Most importantly, different from the motivational or subliminal-message type tapes, the sound patterns are able to bypass the resistance and filters of the conscious mind.
My definition of sound is "Any audible noise, be it music, wind blowing, dolphins `singing', or dogs barking. In other words, sound is music and music is sound. The sound patterns used at the John-David Learning Institute can be called "brain music". Let me explain: if you like the sound, it's music, and if you don't like the sound, it's sound. I have taken both organic sounds (nature's sounds) and non-organic sounds (electronically produced) and technolized them. In this way, we have been able to make organic sounds more consistent in order to have consistent impact on the listener. Furthermore, we are able to pre-designate where we want the sounds to go in the listener, that is, to speak to pre-designated areas of the brain/mind.
When I enter the recording studio, I have a large library of catalogued sounds to draw from, and, depending on the purpose of the tape series, I combine them to create a new and distinct pattern of "brain music." The affirmations are spoken under the existing tracks and become imbedded into the sound patterns, making them "subliminal." (A representative sampling of the affirmations used on the various tape sets is available.) It is possible to hook a person up to an EEG or DMG machine and get distinctive and different wave patterns. The tapes are that specific.
Through the various sounds used at the John-David Learning Institute and the tapes produced there, the mind is given a "tune-up". I believe that lots of tapes, not just our tapes, may help people to enter a relaxed state, which has been shown to activate alpha and theta states. As you may know, these states encourage endorphin releases or other biochemical responses in the brain, which, in turn, may increase performance levels, multi-tasking, memory capacity, and build self-confidence, etc. The sounds are intended to free your mind, in essence stimulate your mind to let it know that it has absolute control over the body. There is increasing evidence that the mind and the immune system of the body are intricately connected and influenced by each other. I will discuss this subject in Part III.
"What about computer-generated music?" someone asked me not long ago. Living in a world of machines, we probably will not be able to avoid these new sounds. They may have a benefit, but should not be overdone. I think that an organic sound resonates better with the nervous system than a computer-generated sound. And, if you cannot find the specific sound you're looking for, it's ok to use a synthesizer. The danger is that it might be easier to use the sound of a synthesizer rather than spending a month gathering the exact organic sound from somewhere on the planet. I would rather take that time and find the sound I'm looking for.
EFFECTS OF MUSIC AND SOUND ON THE BODY.
There is more and more evidence emerging as to the beneficial effects of music and sound on the body. Thanks to holistically minded therapists and musicians, the scientific community is beginning to rethink the role that music can play in the mind/body healing processes.
According to a summary of research edited by M. Critchley and R.A. Henson, there are at least three neuro-physiological processes that may be triggered by music: First, because music is non-verbal, it can move through the auditory cortex directly to the center of the limbic system, the midbrain network that governs most of our emotional experience as well as basic metabolic responses like body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. Second, music may be able to activate the flow of stored memory material across the corpus callosum, a collection of fibers connecting the left and right sides of the brain, helping the two to work in harmony. And third, music may be able to excite calling agents called peptides, or stimulate endorphins, natural opiates secreted by the hypothalamus that produce a feeling akin to being in love. 4
Larry Dossey, M.D., author of "Space, Time, and Medicine" discusses an interesting phenomenon called entrainment. He suggests that our perceptions of illness, in particular, pain, are inextricably tied to our perception of time - that people who experience pain ordinarily live in a contracted or constricted sense of time. And because the time sense is restricted, the experience of pain is often magnified - far beyond what seems appropriate. Research has shown that as a listener moves into music time - a moment-to-moment phenomenon involving the flow of melody and harmony, the adjustment of timbres, and the shifting of rhythms - such physical activities as heartbeat and blood pressure begin to synchronize with that of the music. 5
Several contemporary composers have been creating music specifically designed to imitate this phenomenon of entrainment. Steven Halpern, for example, designs music with a wide-open jazz sound intended to provide a relaxing ambience for anything from driving to making love to recovering from an illness. Another composer, Don Campbell, an internationally recognized expert in psychoacoustics, has recorded music for birthing incorporating sounds that mimic a mother's heartbeat, as well as other compositions for general relaxation.
You may have heard of an interesting and often cited research study was conducted by French physician Alfred Tomatis. He claims that the ear is the primary organ of consciousness and is intended essentially to provide a charge of electrical potential to the brain. The cortex then distributes the resulting charge throughout the body. In his study on the effects of Gregorian chants, for instance, he found that high frequencies (as in Gregorian chants) appear to have the greatest recharging effect. It appears, then, that listening to Gregorian chants is a valuable and proven source of energy for the mind/ body.
I would like to acknowledge the very important work of Robert Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute in Faber, Virginia. He has been and continues to be at the helm of using technology to break through the barriers of the mind. He believes that "focused consciousness contains all solutions to the questions of human existence." An integral part of Monroe's technology is his Hemi-Sync sound tapes Monroe has built his work on the belief that certain sound patterns create a Frequency Following Response (FFR) in the electrical activity of the brain. Those sound patterns then lead the brain into an "appropriate state," such as deep relaxation or sleep. When separate signals are fed into each ear via the headphones, the two hemispheres of the brain act in unison to hear a third signal - the difference between the two sound pulses. This third signal is not an actual sound, but an electrical signal that can only be created by both brain hemispheres acting and working together, simultaneously. 6
The sounds used on my tapes may seem to appear in a random fashion but they are all very orchestrated. Let me explain. The sounds are chosen from years of experience according to what impact they've had on people. The order in which the various sounds appear depends a great deal on the purpose of the particular tape that is being produced. It's kind of like tuning up the brain and allowing the listener to have a conscious, left-brain experience, actually `feeling' the sound going to different parts of the brain. This has a much greater impact than no feeling the sound. I believe that the more tangible an experience you can give a listener, the better. The more feedback you can have while listening to the sounds, the more you're going to listen to them. People have a tendency to stop using certain tapes because the sounds may become too much of a right-brain experience.
I'm very happy to see, and I'm sure you would agree, that music as therapy is becoming widely accepted as an adjunct form of treatment for various physical conditions such as insomnia, headaches, nervous disorders and drug addiction. Janet Lapp, Ph.D., a psychologist at California State University at Fresno conducted an experiment with migraine sufferers using relaxation training in combination with either biofeedback or music. Overall, the results were better for the music group than for the biofeedback group, especially at the one-year follow-up. "At one year," Lapp says, "the music group had only one-sixth as many headaches as they had before training and those headaches were less severe and ended more quickly." 7
It has been known for centuries that music and sounds evoke different emotions in the human being. Kate Hevner, a psychologist doing pioneering work in the 1930's, looked at the effects of many musical elements but found tempo to be the single most important factor. More recently, psychologist Julian Thayer of Pennsylvania State University has found that people's reactions to music were related consistently to its pitch and tempo, with pitch affecting pleasantness ratings and tempo affecting `activation' (ranging from tension and excitement to relaxation and sadness) ratings. It seems also that our responses to musical tempo may be liked to our body's own rhythms. Normal heart rhythm is about 70 to 80 beats per minute. Coincidentally, most Western music is paced at this tempo. 8 Through EEG's it has been shown that drumming at certain frequencies can make the brain's rhythms become synchronized to these frequencies.
Julius Portnoy, a renowned authority in the field of music and musical theory, puts it this way: "Rhythm in music is what energy is to matter, what blood is to the body". 9 And Juliette Alvin, in her book "Music Therapy", says, "The dynamic and emotional, the primitive and spiritual forces that music integrates can serve man today in the battle of the body and the mind, as they have done since time immemorial." 10
Let's take someone who believes that to be ill is a form of getting attention, or someone who believes that the only way to treat yourself is through the traditional medical mode, or someone who has a belief system that to be ill is a natural result of being 90 years ( a natural deterioration of body and mind). You then allow that person to go into a relaxed alpha or theta modality. That alone, according to all my colleagues, so reduces the stress and causes such a bio-chemical reaction in the brain/mind that a lot of medical doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists are now accepting that there is a direct connection between the alpha state, that stress-reduction state, and the immune system, that self-healing system of the body. Take this process a step further, combine the creative imaging work of wonderful people such as Louise L. Hays with alpha-theta states add to that our sound patterns, and you'll have an audible-hearable as well as a subliminal hearable combination. This, then, is where you give powerful affirmations, powerful relearning techniques for getting the person away from negative belief systems. With alpha-theta consciousness brain patterns and a body that is relaxed, stress-reduced, laughable, happy, self loving, the automatic result will be, I think based on our anecdotal research, and so do many of my colleagues, an automatic, self-healing, self-worth process. And that's how we really document our work.
NOTES:
1. F.S. On file at the John-David Learning Institute.
2. "Musical Acoustics" by Charles A. Culver, Ph.D., page 18. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1956.
3. "The Mind" by Anthony Smith, page 184. Viking Press, New York, l984.
4. "Soul Music" by Pamela Bloom, page 59, New Age Journal, March/April 1987.
5. Ibid., page 60.
6. "The Technology of Transcendence: Robert Monroe's Hemi-Sync Tapes" by Marta Vogel. Article reprint, date unknown.
7. "Music Hath Charms to Soothe a Throbbing Head", page 14, reported by Paul Chance, Psychology Today, February 1987.
8. "Music. The Beautiful Disturber", by Anne H. Rosenfeld, page 51, Psychology Today, December 1985.
9. "Music in the Life of Man", by Julius Fortnoy, page 77. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1963.
10. "Music Therapy", by Juliette Alvin, page 163. Basic Books, Inc. , New York, 1975.
FURTHER READING
For an excellent detailed description of the organ of the ear and its various parts and their functions, see "The Physics of Sound", by Richard E. Berg and David G. Stork, pages 137-9. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1982, or "The Science of Musical Sound" by John R. Pierce, chapter 7, Scientific American Library, N.Y., 1983.
"A Bibliography of Electronic Music", by Lowell M. Cross, ed. , Toronto, Canada, Univ. of Toronto Press, 1967.
"Acoustics of Ancient Chinese Bells", by Sinyan Shen, Scientific American, April 1987.
"Cybernetic Serendipity. the Computer. and the Arts" by Jasia Reichardt, N.Y., Praeger Publishers, 1969.
Key Notes on the Mind", by Terence Monmaney, Omni, January 1987.
"The Liberation of Sound", by Herbert Russcol, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., l972.
"Psychology of Music", by Carl E. Seashore, Ph.D., McGraw-Hill, N.Y., 1938.
"Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction", by Eric Salzman, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967.
"Twentieth Century Music", by H.H. Stuckenschmidt, McGraw-Hill, NY., 1969.
Periodicals regarding electronic music listed further on page 302 in "The Liberation of Sound", by Herbert Russcol, cited above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part II Next Time!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We invite you to visit www.brainspeak.com
John-David, Ph.D.
(From his presentation in 1987; see the previous post for details)
INTRODUCTION
It is interesting to ponder the fact that since the Universe was created, human beings have constantly been exposed to and influenced by sound(s) of various forms. Yet as far as research about sound is concerned, our current knowledge is quite limited. It is even more limited when we focus on the effects of different sounds on different areas of the body/mind or brain/mind. Yes, we have a lot of physiological data regarding the structure of soundwaves, frequencies, pitch, etc.; yet, we have relatively little information about how the human being responds to sounds.
This paper will make an attempt to analyze those effects as have been observed by me and my staff at the John-David Learning Institute during several years of experimentation, using the very latest technologically advanced sound equipment and hundreds of subjects. Our focus is specifically the areas of the learning process, both intellectual and emotional, and the complex immune system. We have also compiled references for further research and study of those fields.
PART I. WHAT IS SOUND?
Recently I have been working more with the sounds of dolphins and whales. For years I have used the sounds of whales to support self-healing and the emotional clearing of blocks that prevents us from reaching the pinnacle of self-worth and success. So far, my work is very preliminary, but my sense from measuring EEG and DEG responses is that the results seem to be very positive. Whale sounds create some very positive emotional level intensity but the actual brain apparently goes into alpha and theta states, and particularly when listening to some of the dolphin sounds, there is a greater tendency to go down into low alpha and theta. As you may be aware of, most of the research in the field of neuroscience substantiates that when you are in low alpha and theta relearning is easier. You can relearn old habits better. This state is also excellent for taking a look at body/mind and psychoneuroimmunological processes.
How do sounds that we use specifically affect the learning process? experience from our research shows that the sound patterns have a tendency to `escort the subliminal messages to the subconscious part of the brain/mind' which is excellent for relearning a message such as "everything I learn I recall easily". That kind of message played while you' re reading supports the recall process in such a way that you're relearning the habit that rather than forgetting everything you're reading you get to recall everything with high efficiency. And you're hearing those sound patterns which are assisting you in being in a low alpha-theta state; so, this is an excellent state for learning and re-learning. Let me explain further: we're bouncing the sounds for you from theta, low alpha, which is your relearning part, into mid and upper alpha, where you're actually able to retain the didactic part of the book, the cognitive information. Then we're taking you back into your lower alpha-theta state for re-learning. Now my subconscious mind is telling me it's easy to read, I'll remember everything, my teacher loves me, information is easy, I love to be intelligent, it's ok for me to be a powerful man or woman. All that kind of stuff is being reprogrammed into your brain at the same time as you're being moved into upper alpha to get the didactic information off the page. It's all happening almost simultaneously, sort of a dual process, with the sound patterns escorting and assisting you in the process. We know that certain sounds are wonderful for didactic information, certain sounds are wonderful for emotional information, and certain other bounds are wonderful for upper, mid-theta states. So, you see, there’s a different purpose for each sound. I know from 20 years of research, including anecdotal information, that this is what the sounds do.
I would like to share with you what one of our recent participants in the 5-day Total Immersion Intensive had to say: "I own and have controlling interest in at least a dozen corporations. My wealth exceeds $10,000,000. Yet, I was constantly in fear someone would discover I was dumb. My reading retention was so low I created a way for others to `read to me' to avoid discovery. Now, after the tapes and taking the workshops, I read very rapidly with 82% recall even weeks, months later. Gratefully yours." 1 This is only one example of hundreds of people who have benefited from re-learning.
Let's discuss the definition of sound for a moment. According to Charles A. Culver, Ph.D. "sound is any vibratory disturbance in a material medium which is capable of producing an auditory sensation in the normal ear." 2 Sound is produced through the motion of a wave. This wave travels with some velocity, depending on the medium. A wave transfers energy; by virtue of the energy it carries from its source to its destination, a wave can perform work. In the ear, a sound wave makes the eardrum vibrate to create the sensation of sound. These sounds pass through the various membranes and parts of the ear organ eventually reaching about 30,000 nerve endings. Electrical impulses from these cell nerve endings are transmitted to the brain, which relates the sound heard to those previously experienced and interprets the signals as words, music, noise, and so on. Anthony Smith in his book "The Mind" says, "The most baffling property of the human ear, which may also exist among animals, is its ability to single out a sound, pay attention to it, and dismiss other noise. Individuals with normal hearing can listen to just one voice, no less single-mindedly than the eye focuses upon the face pronouncing it. How this happens, to quote one author has not yet `received a satisfactory explanation'. However, it is not the ear that is discriminating, or so it is assumed; rather it is the brain that chooses to hear what it wants." 3
HOW ARE SOUNDS USED AT THE JOHN-DAVID LEARNING INSTITUTE (Now WBLI)?
If I may say so, my work is distinctive in the field of neuroscience and sound in that it is state-of-the-art in application of psychoacoustics and audio/visual suggestion.
The sounds I use were gathered from all over the world through my 20 years of international research in the field of neuroscience. These sounds are integrated into and layered by classical music, environmental sounds and a wide array of carefully articulated organic and synthesized sounds. Each individual sound group and pattern is designed to `speak' to predesignated areas of the mind governing a wide range of skills, emotions, reactions, and sensations. Most importantly, different from the motivational or subliminal-message type tapes, the sound patterns are able to bypass the resistance and filters of the conscious mind.
My definition of sound is "Any audible noise, be it music, wind blowing, dolphins `singing', or dogs barking. In other words, sound is music and music is sound. The sound patterns used at the John-David Learning Institute can be called "brain music". Let me explain: if you like the sound, it's music, and if you don't like the sound, it's sound. I have taken both organic sounds (nature's sounds) and non-organic sounds (electronically produced) and technolized them. In this way, we have been able to make organic sounds more consistent in order to have consistent impact on the listener. Furthermore, we are able to pre-designate where we want the sounds to go in the listener, that is, to speak to pre-designated areas of the brain/mind.
When I enter the recording studio, I have a large library of catalogued sounds to draw from, and, depending on the purpose of the tape series, I combine them to create a new and distinct pattern of "brain music." The affirmations are spoken under the existing tracks and become imbedded into the sound patterns, making them "subliminal." (A representative sampling of the affirmations used on the various tape sets is available.) It is possible to hook a person up to an EEG or DMG machine and get distinctive and different wave patterns. The tapes are that specific.
Through the various sounds used at the John-David Learning Institute and the tapes produced there, the mind is given a "tune-up". I believe that lots of tapes, not just our tapes, may help people to enter a relaxed state, which has been shown to activate alpha and theta states. As you may know, these states encourage endorphin releases or other biochemical responses in the brain, which, in turn, may increase performance levels, multi-tasking, memory capacity, and build self-confidence, etc. The sounds are intended to free your mind, in essence stimulate your mind to let it know that it has absolute control over the body. There is increasing evidence that the mind and the immune system of the body are intricately connected and influenced by each other. I will discuss this subject in Part III.
"What about computer-generated music?" someone asked me not long ago. Living in a world of machines, we probably will not be able to avoid these new sounds. They may have a benefit, but should not be overdone. I think that an organic sound resonates better with the nervous system than a computer-generated sound. And, if you cannot find the specific sound you're looking for, it's ok to use a synthesizer. The danger is that it might be easier to use the sound of a synthesizer rather than spending a month gathering the exact organic sound from somewhere on the planet. I would rather take that time and find the sound I'm looking for.
EFFECTS OF MUSIC AND SOUND ON THE BODY.
There is more and more evidence emerging as to the beneficial effects of music and sound on the body. Thanks to holistically minded therapists and musicians, the scientific community is beginning to rethink the role that music can play in the mind/body healing processes.
According to a summary of research edited by M. Critchley and R.A. Henson, there are at least three neuro-physiological processes that may be triggered by music: First, because music is non-verbal, it can move through the auditory cortex directly to the center of the limbic system, the midbrain network that governs most of our emotional experience as well as basic metabolic responses like body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. Second, music may be able to activate the flow of stored memory material across the corpus callosum, a collection of fibers connecting the left and right sides of the brain, helping the two to work in harmony. And third, music may be able to excite calling agents called peptides, or stimulate endorphins, natural opiates secreted by the hypothalamus that produce a feeling akin to being in love. 4
Larry Dossey, M.D., author of "Space, Time, and Medicine" discusses an interesting phenomenon called entrainment. He suggests that our perceptions of illness, in particular, pain, are inextricably tied to our perception of time - that people who experience pain ordinarily live in a contracted or constricted sense of time. And because the time sense is restricted, the experience of pain is often magnified - far beyond what seems appropriate. Research has shown that as a listener moves into music time - a moment-to-moment phenomenon involving the flow of melody and harmony, the adjustment of timbres, and the shifting of rhythms - such physical activities as heartbeat and blood pressure begin to synchronize with that of the music. 5
Several contemporary composers have been creating music specifically designed to imitate this phenomenon of entrainment. Steven Halpern, for example, designs music with a wide-open jazz sound intended to provide a relaxing ambience for anything from driving to making love to recovering from an illness. Another composer, Don Campbell, an internationally recognized expert in psychoacoustics, has recorded music for birthing incorporating sounds that mimic a mother's heartbeat, as well as other compositions for general relaxation.
You may have heard of an interesting and often cited research study was conducted by French physician Alfred Tomatis. He claims that the ear is the primary organ of consciousness and is intended essentially to provide a charge of electrical potential to the brain. The cortex then distributes the resulting charge throughout the body. In his study on the effects of Gregorian chants, for instance, he found that high frequencies (as in Gregorian chants) appear to have the greatest recharging effect. It appears, then, that listening to Gregorian chants is a valuable and proven source of energy for the mind/ body.
I would like to acknowledge the very important work of Robert Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute in Faber, Virginia. He has been and continues to be at the helm of using technology to break through the barriers of the mind. He believes that "focused consciousness contains all solutions to the questions of human existence." An integral part of Monroe's technology is his Hemi-Sync sound tapes Monroe has built his work on the belief that certain sound patterns create a Frequency Following Response (FFR) in the electrical activity of the brain. Those sound patterns then lead the brain into an "appropriate state," such as deep relaxation or sleep. When separate signals are fed into each ear via the headphones, the two hemispheres of the brain act in unison to hear a third signal - the difference between the two sound pulses. This third signal is not an actual sound, but an electrical signal that can only be created by both brain hemispheres acting and working together, simultaneously. 6
The sounds used on my tapes may seem to appear in a random fashion but they are all very orchestrated. Let me explain. The sounds are chosen from years of experience according to what impact they've had on people. The order in which the various sounds appear depends a great deal on the purpose of the particular tape that is being produced. It's kind of like tuning up the brain and allowing the listener to have a conscious, left-brain experience, actually `feeling' the sound going to different parts of the brain. This has a much greater impact than no feeling the sound. I believe that the more tangible an experience you can give a listener, the better. The more feedback you can have while listening to the sounds, the more you're going to listen to them. People have a tendency to stop using certain tapes because the sounds may become too much of a right-brain experience.
I'm very happy to see, and I'm sure you would agree, that music as therapy is becoming widely accepted as an adjunct form of treatment for various physical conditions such as insomnia, headaches, nervous disorders and drug addiction. Janet Lapp, Ph.D., a psychologist at California State University at Fresno conducted an experiment with migraine sufferers using relaxation training in combination with either biofeedback or music. Overall, the results were better for the music group than for the biofeedback group, especially at the one-year follow-up. "At one year," Lapp says, "the music group had only one-sixth as many headaches as they had before training and those headaches were less severe and ended more quickly." 7
It has been known for centuries that music and sounds evoke different emotions in the human being. Kate Hevner, a psychologist doing pioneering work in the 1930's, looked at the effects of many musical elements but found tempo to be the single most important factor. More recently, psychologist Julian Thayer of Pennsylvania State University has found that people's reactions to music were related consistently to its pitch and tempo, with pitch affecting pleasantness ratings and tempo affecting `activation' (ranging from tension and excitement to relaxation and sadness) ratings. It seems also that our responses to musical tempo may be liked to our body's own rhythms. Normal heart rhythm is about 70 to 80 beats per minute. Coincidentally, most Western music is paced at this tempo. 8 Through EEG's it has been shown that drumming at certain frequencies can make the brain's rhythms become synchronized to these frequencies.
Julius Portnoy, a renowned authority in the field of music and musical theory, puts it this way: "Rhythm in music is what energy is to matter, what blood is to the body". 9 And Juliette Alvin, in her book "Music Therapy", says, "The dynamic and emotional, the primitive and spiritual forces that music integrates can serve man today in the battle of the body and the mind, as they have done since time immemorial." 10
Let's take someone who believes that to be ill is a form of getting attention, or someone who believes that the only way to treat yourself is through the traditional medical mode, or someone who has a belief system that to be ill is a natural result of being 90 years ( a natural deterioration of body and mind). You then allow that person to go into a relaxed alpha or theta modality. That alone, according to all my colleagues, so reduces the stress and causes such a bio-chemical reaction in the brain/mind that a lot of medical doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists are now accepting that there is a direct connection between the alpha state, that stress-reduction state, and the immune system, that self-healing system of the body. Take this process a step further, combine the creative imaging work of wonderful people such as Louise L. Hays with alpha-theta states add to that our sound patterns, and you'll have an audible-hearable as well as a subliminal hearable combination. This, then, is where you give powerful affirmations, powerful relearning techniques for getting the person away from negative belief systems. With alpha-theta consciousness brain patterns and a body that is relaxed, stress-reduced, laughable, happy, self loving, the automatic result will be, I think based on our anecdotal research, and so do many of my colleagues, an automatic, self-healing, self-worth process. And that's how we really document our work.
NOTES:
1. F.S. On file at the John-David Learning Institute.
2. "Musical Acoustics" by Charles A. Culver, Ph.D., page 18. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1956.
3. "The Mind" by Anthony Smith, page 184. Viking Press, New York, l984.
4. "Soul Music" by Pamela Bloom, page 59, New Age Journal, March/April 1987.
5. Ibid., page 60.
6. "The Technology of Transcendence: Robert Monroe's Hemi-Sync Tapes" by Marta Vogel. Article reprint, date unknown.
7. "Music Hath Charms to Soothe a Throbbing Head", page 14, reported by Paul Chance, Psychology Today, February 1987.
8. "Music. The Beautiful Disturber", by Anne H. Rosenfeld, page 51, Psychology Today, December 1985.
9. "Music in the Life of Man", by Julius Fortnoy, page 77. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1963.
10. "Music Therapy", by Juliette Alvin, page 163. Basic Books, Inc. , New York, 1975.
FURTHER READING
For an excellent detailed description of the organ of the ear and its various parts and their functions, see "The Physics of Sound", by Richard E. Berg and David G. Stork, pages 137-9. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1982, or "The Science of Musical Sound" by John R. Pierce, chapter 7, Scientific American Library, N.Y., 1983.
"A Bibliography of Electronic Music", by Lowell M. Cross, ed. , Toronto, Canada, Univ. of Toronto Press, 1967.
"Acoustics of Ancient Chinese Bells", by Sinyan Shen, Scientific American, April 1987.
"Cybernetic Serendipity. the Computer. and the Arts" by Jasia Reichardt, N.Y., Praeger Publishers, 1969.
Key Notes on the Mind", by Terence Monmaney, Omni, January 1987.
"The Liberation of Sound", by Herbert Russcol, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., l972.
"Psychology of Music", by Carl E. Seashore, Ph.D., McGraw-Hill, N.Y., 1938.
"Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction", by Eric Salzman, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967.
"Twentieth Century Music", by H.H. Stuckenschmidt, McGraw-Hill, NY., 1969.
Periodicals regarding electronic music listed further on page 302 in "The Liberation of Sound", by Herbert Russcol, cited above.
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Part II Next Time!
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posted by BrainSpeak Blog at 9:29 PM
1 Comments:
This is a particularly long post but well worth the reading time. We decided to release John David's classic 1987 presentation as a way to illustrate how we have pioneered the use of sound over the last 20 years in the areas of accelerated learning, overcoming self-sabotage and psychoneuroimmunology.
We'll be posting sections 2 & 3 over the next couple of days.
Peter Julian
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