Want to soothe pain, lower blood pressure, and tune up your immune system? All you need, says ethnomusicologist Elizabeth Miles, is... your own CD collection. 'Your music collection is a veritable medicine chest of alternative drugs, capable of lifting your mood, boosting your energy, helping you to unwind - and everything in between.'
People have been using music to heal themselves for centuries. The Greek mathematician and sage Pythagoras was known to treat patients using different tones and musical sequences to alter their moods, while the Cherokee people had a repertoire of songs to treat everything from snakebite to fever.
Today, scientific study is confirming what the ancients knew. Psychologists now routinely use music to help people beat depression, relieve tension, and increase attention span; while doctors have for some time recognised that music affects pulse and blood pressure, as well as being able to boost resistance to pain and illnesses.
There is also research to suggest music can sharpen your mind. University of California researchers found listening to Mozart's Sonata For Two Pianos In D Major before taking tests boosted college students' IQs by an average of nine points.
'This means that the right music could act as a software upgrade, reprogramming your mind to increase your mental and physical capabilities,' says Miles.
Fast, loud, rhythmic music stimulates the nervous system and produces faster heartbeat and breathing, higher blood pressure and more muscle movements. Such music stimulates the beta brainwave frequency, which increases ability to respond quickly.
Slow, soft music does the opposite, stimulating the alpha waves which are associated with quiet concentration and meditation. If the music slows further, triggering delta waves, it will induce sleep.
Inspired by these findings, Miles, who plays everything from the clarinet and piano to the Indian sitar and West African drums, has developed a practical guide for using music to benefit health. In it she identifies seven broad emotional and physiological states, and provides a discography of music to suit all tastes...
Energise to wake up: exercise, prepare for performances and confrontations, and recharge during busy days, choose music with a fast beat and speed, and play it at high volume. Good choices are: Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries ('The high frequencies of the voices and strings speed up electrical activity in your brain, while martial rhythms in the lower ranges resonate in your body, increasing blood and oxygen flow.'); Bizet's March Of The Toreadors; Madonna's The Immaculate Collection; and the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction.
Create to solve problems: create, enrich your sex life, you need music that pushes boundaries, surprises you, and is rich in imagery. For example: Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon; John Coltrane's A Love Supreme; and Korngold's Violin Concerto, 1st Movement.
Focus when you want to stimulate thinking and learning, boost abstract reasoning, perform language and logical tasks, then turn to complex classical musical arrangements, such as Mozart's Piano Concerto No 17, Finale.
For deep concentration, use Baroque masterpieces like Bach's Prelude And Fugue No 1, or A Musical Offering. Or try slow jazz pieces with a steady beat.
Heal to overcome pain: stimulate recovery and the immune system, stay calm during medical procedures, turn to smooth, soft and predictable music that provides warmth and rich imagery, including songs with lyrics or featuring harp, such as Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, Schubert's Ave Maria; Aretha Franklin's Aretha Gospel; or So Far by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Relax to manage stress and anxiety: go to sleep, be patient, or control panic attacks, listen to soft, slow, steady, familiar music with long reverberation or the soothing sound of acoustic strings and flutes. Good examples are Gregorian chants; Chopin's Nocturnes; lullabies; or the music of Sarah McLachlan, Neil Young and Tracy Chapman.
Uplift To beat the blues and depression and boost confidence, select music with a good uptempo beat and swinging, soaring or inspirational lyrics. Good examples are: The Grateful Dead's American Beauty; Handel's Music For The Royal Fireworks, 4th Movement; Haydn's final movement from The Creation; or any music you associate with happy times.
Cleanse to wash away anger and frustrations, face grief and handle problem relationships, use music that will shake you - either sad, cry-in-your-beer honky-tonk and blues, or loud and aggressive music. Try country stars Merle Haggard and George Jones; the grunge of Nine Inch Nails; Hole; the rap of Tupac Shakur; or other dark-themed bands, such as Metallica.
Keep sessions short and follow with healing or relaxing music to return your heartbeat, blood pressure and stress hormone levels to normal.
Elizabeth Miles's book, Tune Your Brain: Using Music To Manage Your Mind, Body And Mood is published by Berkley, US$12, or Tune Your Brain
