By measuring the biocurrents of the brain of epileptics in two of the four frequency ranges in which our brain works (alpha and theta waves), scientists have established that as soon as they listen to Mozart's music, the tension in the patients' brains decreases. This is observed in the central part of the brain and in its frontal lobe.
Researchers believe that the healing effect of the great composer's music on the brain is due to the fact that it contains a lot of high-frequency sounds. And these sounds, firstly, strengthen the muscles of the middle ear. And, secondly, sounds with a frequency of 3000 to 8000 Hz and above cause the greatest resonance in the cerebral cortex. This improves a person's memory and spatial perception, stimulates thinking.
Indeed, our inner ear has three times more cells that pick up high frequency sound waves than there are cells that respond to low frequencies. Consequently, the higher the frequency of sounds, the more cells are activated and the more electrical impulses enter the brain.
However, the healing properties of music are not limited to Mozart. In the mid-60s of the last century, the Benedictine monks of one of the monasteries of southern France became convinced of this. In their humble abode, suddenly something strange began to happen: a strange depression seized its inhabitants. The brothers began to tire quickly; joy left their souls, giving way to despondency.
A physician who studied this phenomenon found out that some time ago in the daily routine of the monks was made one seemingly insignificant amendment: before, they practiced for hours in singing Gregorian chants, and now they were spared this document.
True, the abbot, who undertook to introduce new orders, did not take into account one thing: the exercise in singing is more than entertainment. When a person sings, their breathing slows down and their blood pressure drops. He gradually feels how pleasant it is in his soul. The doctor advised the abbot to resume singing - after six months, indeed, the monks did not have any health problems.
If we turn to history, we can see that music is one of the oldest means used by healers, seeking to heal bodily and mental ailments. One of the earliest evidence of music healing is 42 hymns composed by Enkiduanna, daughter of the Akkadian king Sargon, who lived in the 24th century BC.
According to legend, inspiration descended on her at night. She tried to calm the pain with the sound of hymns. Since then, the inhabitants of Sumer and Akkad have healed the sick with these spells.
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The Bible tells how the young David, skillfully playing the harp, saved King Saul from despondency. The great physician of antiquity, Hippocrates, recommended treating insomnia and epilepsy with music. Pythagoras and Aristotle, followed by the philosophers and physicians of the early Middle Ages, also regarded music as a therapeutic tool.
The Spanish king Philip V (1700-1746) was treated for depression by listening to the surprisingly high voice of the Italian castrato Farinelli (aka Carlo Broschi). For many years, Farinelli lived at the Madrid court and for ten years in a row in the evenings he sang four songs to the monarch for the coming dream. The king appreciated his devoted physician, making him director of the Opera House. And his successor, Ferdinand VI, appointed the singer as minister.
Now such therapy has become one of the elements of medical practice. German specialist Dagmar Gustorff is trying to bring back to life people suffering from epileptic seizures or in coma with the help of music. She sits near their hospital bed and sings, and her song sounds in time with the patient's breathing.
Obeying this rhythm, many patients automatically place their hands on the chest or pull them to the arm of their doctor. These spontaneous movements mean a lot. According to the story of Gustorff, after recovering, these people told the following: "I felt that someone wanted me to live."
American music therapist Stephanie Merritt conducts intensive treatment sessions using selected classical music. During these sessions, the patients relaxed, listen to music and describe the images, colors, feelings that arise in the depths of their consciousness. This imaginary journey often tells the doctor how to deal with the patient's problems.
And the Bulgarian psychologist Georgy Lozanov came up with a method of treating patients with musical excerpts lasting only four seconds. In particular, he drew attention to the fact that string music, played at a rhythm of 64 quarter notes per second, helps patients best of all.
Music professor and therapist Arthur W. Harvey has studied which music improves the functioning of our brains, and which, on the contrary, impairs. In his opinion (and in this he is not original), Baroque music has the most healing properties.
Our heart rate is mostly 68-72 beats per minute, while the beat of music by Bach, Handel or Vivaldi is only 60 quarters per minute. When listening to baroque music, our heart adjusts to this rhythm, and we involuntarily relax.
But loud and fast music, on the contrary, weakens our body. This showed an observation of two groups of mice wandering in the maze in search of food. It turned out that the mice that listened to Strauss' waltzes began to navigate the maze better than before.
And their brethren, accustomed to the drum drill, could not even after three weeks pave the way to food. Moreover, they revealed abnormalities in the development of hippocampal neurons, which, obviously, prevented the animals from learning anything.
Even plants, and those react differently to this or that music. So, in the area where classical music was playing, the pumpkin grew quickly and soon began to curl, but in the area where rock music sounded, the results were opposite. Marigolds, grown to the roar of rock music, required more water, and after sixteen days they completely died.
The conclusions that suggest themselves from all of the above are obvious: our body prefers harmonious tones. Moreover, this rule applies to other living organisms.
And, perhaps, in this relation to sounds there is a special evolutionary meaning. At least recent experiments on the study of the effect of sounds on the structure of DNA do not refute this assumption.
