All joking aside though, I can absolutely confirm the last few points. I am someone who has felt the effects of high BP on the body and the damage it can do. Music was used on me in the Frenchay Hospital when I was awaiting major surgery.

Worked a treat, although I had no King Crimson on CD or tape, I had to make do with Bryn Terfel.

Using Music Therapy: With all these benefits that music can carry, it’s no surprise that music therapy is growing in popularity, particularly on the other side fo the Atlantic. Mind you, they need no excuse to try something new.

Using Music On Your Own: While music therapy is an important discipline, you can also achieve benefits from music on your own. It’s really about connecting. I can sing the praises of Bach, but that’s my connection and it may not work for you. Look at those albums that you know make you feel a certain way, emotion, feeling etc.

Symposium looks at therapeutic benefits of musical rhythm

Rhythmic music may change brain function and treat a range of neurological conditions, including attention deficit disorder and depression, suggested scientists who gathered with ethnomusicologists and musicians at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.

The diverse group came together for the one-day symposium (are you ready for this? Ahem….), “Brainwave Entrainment to External Rhythmic Stimuli: Interdisciplinary Research and Clinical Perspectives.” I mean to say, the title says it all, but in case you are still confused the “gig” was to share ideas that show our understanding of the human musical experience. It also tried to develop and push the boundaries of understanding.

Oh do I long to meet an ethnomusicologist. Anyone with a job title that long was bound to have an “ology” in there somewhere, If you have got through the first paragraph, you should find the rest of my diatribe reasonably easy to follow

Musicians and mystics have long recognized the power of rhythmic music. Ritual drumming and rhythmic prayer are found in cultures throughout the world and are used in religious ceremonies to induce trance states. But since the counter-culture movement of the 1960s, scientists have shied away from investigating the almost mystical implications of musical rhythm, said symposium organizer Gabe Turow, a Stanford music scholar.

Recent interest in sleep, meditation and hypnosis research has spurred scientists to take a closer look at music. A small but growing body of scientific evidence suggests that music and other rhythmic stimuli can alter mental states in predictable
ways and even heal damaged brains.

I think we’ve started using the right words to talk about these experiences,
words that kept everyone comfortable, Turow said.

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