Music, Anesthesia and the Mind-Body Connection

\"Heal the World\" by Michael JacksonWhen I started blogging a few years ago, I certainly never thought there would be a connection between Michael Jackson, music and anesthesia. And yet, in the final hours of his life, it was quite possibly a dose (or overdose) of one of the most potent anesthetics available; the drug is Propofol, known by its commercial name of Diprovan.
I never met Michael Jackson or heard him perform live, but my daughters were fans and his music was heard in our home and in our car. The price of fame, infamy, success and accusations, was that he came to have chronic insomnia. You can imagine that someone who expends so much energy on stage and in life, sleep, quality sleep, is critically important.
When the usual sleep-aids quit working for him, he looked around to see what else was available. My understanding is that since he had had so many surgeries that he was well-acquainted with the drugs that anesthesiologists use to put people to sleep before surgery. Unfortunately, the choice of propofol was a deadly one. One anesthesiologist said that with this powerful drug, the difference of 1cc is the difference between sleep and death.
If only music could have put him to sleep. I know that we musicians have music playing in their heads all the time anyway, but when you add the voices of such severe critics, from his father to youngs boys he entertained at Neverland to the media and the press around the world! May he rest in peace now and may more people realize that anesthesia is powerful medication that must only be used in a hospital setting by trained professionals!

Susan Boyle and the Mind-Body Connection

What does Susan Boyle have to do with the mind-body connection? Well, I think that ever since she made headlines, her name and her whole persona have an effect on people around the world. I've talked with friends who don't even have a computer but who know who Susan is and what she accomplished. Her story is the classic, favorite, beloved tale of the underdog who rises to the top to win. She became an instantaneous internet super-star and the YouTube video on her "Britain's Got Talent" has been downloaded over 20,000,000 times! I know that for me, the mere mention of her name makes me feel excited, proud, and hopeful for humanity at large.
Tonight, enjoy this final performance of her's on Britain's Got Talent and be looking for her to become a media name for years to come!

Announcing a new course on" Music as Therapy"

I want to tell you about a wonderful new course that will be offered online this summer by my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Arthur Harvey.  The course will be quite comprehensive and cover many aspects of healing with music, how music affects the mind-body, the brain and lots, lots more.  The course is being offered through the University of Hawaii where Arthur taught for many years, but you can take it from the comfort of your own living room!

To learn more about it, go to www.musicforhealthservices.com.  

The photo above is of Dr. Harvey playing the piano in an operating room!  Sign up for this course if you want to study with an international leader in the field of music and medicine!

Do you know about "Second Life"?

Two days ago I was interviewed by Dave Schwartz of Music Academy Online. The hour-long interview was done in Second Life, a technology that gives humans animated avatars on-screen. If you'd like to watch/listen to this and learn about how I went from being a musicologist to being a clinical musicologist, click http://www.slcn.tv/music-academy-onlive-dr-alice-cash-ph-d. I really think you'll enjoy this one!

Music and Emotions--the mind-body connection

Music is powerful...that is a given. We need no scientific proof for this, all we have to do turn on a radio, or a TV or an iPod or even start humming or whistling or even THINK about humming or singing or listening to a favorite song! Floods of memories and events and feelings will wash over you and you are transported to a farway time and place! The reason for this flood of pleasure or sadness, or even anger is because music elicits powerful memories and because the mind and body are inseparably connected, we feel like dancing or smiling or laughing or crying!

Now, can this power be harnessed? You know it can be! When we're tired or lethargic but there are still hours in the day and work to do, we know just what to reach for that will energize and motivate. For me it's usually the oldies, pop music of the 60's. When we're exhausted and need to relax, unwind, and get ready for sleep, something slow and serene is in order. For me, that might be some Celtic melody or Enya. Slow jazz or moody blues can also be good. If you're sad and grieving or mourning the loss of a friend, a relationship, a job or a pet, you know the music that will help you through it. For me it might be a minor key violin or cello concerto...Dvorak comes to mind, or Bruch or Mendelssohn. But guess what? These awarenesses that we have have are not widely stood. Many people don't realize how powerful music is and it is valued primarily as entertainment. What will YOU do to spread the word? I have a full line of healing music products at www.HealingMusicEnterprises.com/products.html. Please check them out, buy a few for yourself and your family and share them with the world! Thanks!

The Sound of Love?

“We are marrying human hearts to the “Universal Solvent” with the “Universal Language” - Music, to produce the “Universal Healer” - LOVEDr. Leonard G. Horowitz
528HZ Cymoglype by John Stuart Reid
Synthesizer Re-tuning to the Perfect Circle of Sound:Researching the Sound of LOVE - 528HZ Cymoglype by John Stuart ReidA Preliminary Study with Implications for BioEnergetic Healing
Here are two tutorials for professional keyboard players to re-tune from the standard A=440Hz tuning, to 528Hz–LOVE tuning. You will be amazed, possibly even shocked, to learn how A=440 was precisely selected to spiritually suppress you to the max; and why retuning now to LOVE, shall deliver you and civilization from chaotic degeneration to lasting harmony in our hearts; thus, yielding lasting peace on earth.
For conscious keyboard professionals features Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz, Executive Producer of LIVE H2O, interviewing sound engineering specialist, Michael Walton of SomaMagic Studio. In Part 1, Michael explains how to re-tune the Korg Oasys synthesizer using the Perfect Circle of Sound tuning fork set and a Korg chromatic tuner. Creating a new scale by tuning the Oasys to the Solfeggio frequency-equivalents required exclusion of dissonant tones 417Hz and 714Hz. Walton discovered that the standard tuning A note is the precise frequency equivalent to the 741Hz F# frequency in the Solfeggio. The chance this precise association between the ancient and modern scales might have happened by chance, versus by sinister imposition, is discussed in greater detail at http://www.hydrosonics.org.
The team discovers that scale-building from C equal to 528Hz frequency demonstrates 417Hz and 741Hz are disharmonious and potentially bioenergetically degrading to humans. This tutorial, developed with funding from LIVE H2O co-sponsor, OxySilver.com, is contributed to assist advanced keyboard players in retuning synthesizer software and band performances in 528Hz LOVE…
Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

Another example of music that goes straight to the heart

Tonight I went to the Kentucky Center for the Arts to hear opening night of "Wicked." I felt like it got off to a little bit of a slow start...the first half was 90 minutes long, but the final song made it all worth the wait!! If you have a chance to go, I recommend it!

Listen to Dr. Cash perform Bach

You're watching a snippet of a lecture/recital that I did last Fall at Clemson University in S.C. The piece that I'm playing is Bach's Prelude in C major from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Bk.1. If you close your eyes and listen to this piece, you will begin to feel calmer and more peaceful. Give it try. Music affects the mind and body simultaneously. While you listen, your breathing will begin to slow down and your heart rate will also slow down. This is a wonderful piece to listen to when you're feeling stressed!

Particpate in my Music with Surgery research!

Imagine that you have just been told that you must have surgery. What are your feelings? Fear, apprehension, anxiety, even terror?? Everyday around the world, people are told that they must have surgery for cancer, joint replacement, heart problems, organ transplants. And then there are those who sign up for elective surgery, people who want to look younger and more beautiful!
You probably know that recently I received a U.S. Patent on my special unique headphones created for before, during and after surgery. For a very limited time, I am offering a free download of the music for anyone who is having surgery in return for answersing some questions before and after surgery. I will even call you before and after to ask you these questions myself! This offer will be good until I have received 100 sets of data which could take as little as a week, but no more than a month, hopefully. If you (or friend or family member) are interested in participating in this, contact me immediately through the blog or the website or at chantdoc@gmail.com.
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!

Music Healing Goes Mainstream!

Beth Israel Medical Center in New York uses music therapy to sooth their premature babies and trauma patients. The hospital finds that music eases patients' pain, lowers blood pressure, reduces anxiety and depression and allows patients to get well, faster and is less expensive than medication. Beth Israel is not alone. In 2007, nearly 600 facilities offered music therapy to their patientsMusic therapy is not a new idea. Aristotle and Plato wrote about it. Primitive healers and witch doctors employed drums and rattles in their healing work. Ancient Egyptian doctors used incantation and sound healing. The Bible records the influence of David’s singing on King Saul. “And it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand and all shalt be well. “(1 Samuel 16:14-16) In the twentieth century, musicians visited veterans hospitals after both World War I and II. Entertainers continue to bring healing to troops on the ground and in hospital settings to this day. Patients on breathing machines in intensive care units listened to Mozart sonatas in a study at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Those listening to music had reduced stress hormones and more growth hormones, better metabolic regulation and better sleep. The group had lower blood pressure, lowered heat rate and needed less medication.Mozart’s music is also played to premature babies at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The infants display lowered heart rates and better sleep. All it takes was two hours a week of Mozart to obtain these healing benefits.Is it the music or is it the listening that makes the difference? Severe stroke patients listened to either music or audio books in a study in Finland. A recent issue of the journal Brain reported that the patients who listened to music for at least one hour were less depressed and had faster memory restoration and recovery from stroke symptoms.Music therapy has been used with terminally ill patients to ease their anxiety and drowsiness, and has even been used to reduce pain perception. Music play lists are common now, in maternity wards, as mothers-to-be know all too well the soothing sounds that music brings to the delivery room. Music has been used to treat addictions, and even cancer.A type of group drum playing, called composite drumming, has been shown to increase Natural Killer (NK) cell activity, the cells that fight cancer and viral infections.

Alternative Medicine By: Melanie Grimes Published: Friday, 3 October 2008

Music Training 'Tunes' Human Auditory System

A newly published study by Northwestern University researchers suggests that Mom was right when she insisted that you continue music lessons -- even after it was clear that a professional music career was not in your future.
The study, which will appear in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, is the first to provide concrete evidence that playing a musical instrument significantly enhances the brainstem's sensitivity to speech sounds. This finding has broad implications because it applies to sound encoding skills involved not only in music but also in language.
The findings indicate that experience with music at a young age in effect can "fine-tune" the brain's auditory system. "Increasing music experience appears to benefit all children -- whether musically exceptional or not -- in a wide range of learning activities," says Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory and senior author of the study.
"Our findings underscore the pervasive impact of musical training on neurological development. Yet music classes are often among the first to be cut when school budgets get tight. That's a mistake," says Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology and Physiology and professor of communication sciences and disorders.
"Our study is the first to ask whether enhancing the sound environment -- in this case with musical training -- will positively affect the way an individual encodes sound even at a level as basic as the brainstem," says Patrick Wong, primary author of "Musical Experience Shapes Human Brainstem Encoding of Linguistic Pitch Patterns." An old structure from an evolutionary standpoint, the brainstem once was thought to only play a passive role in auditory processing.
Using a novel experimental design, the researchers presented the Mandarin word "mi" to 20 adults as they watched a movie. Half had at least six years of musical instrument training starting before the age of 12. The other half had minimal (less than 2 years) or no musical training. All were native English speakers with no knowledge of Mandarin, a tone language.
In tone languages, a single word can differ in meaning depending on pitch patterns called "tones." For example, the Mandarin word "mi" delivered in a level tone means "to squint," in a rising tone means "to bewilder," and in a dipping (falling then rising) tone means "rice." English, on the other hand, only uses pitch to reflect intonation (as when rising pitch is used in questions).
As the subjects watched the movie, the researchers used electrophysiological methods to measure and graph the accuracy of their brainstem ability to track the three differently pitched "mi" sounds.
"Even with their attention focused on the movie and though the sounds had no linguistic or musical meaning for them, we found our musically trained subjects were far better at tracking the three different tones than the non-musicians," says Wong, director of Northwestern's Speech Research Laboratory and assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders.
The research by co-authors Wong, Kraus, Erika Skoe, Nicole Russo and Tasha Dees represents a new way of defining the relationship between the brainstem -- a lower order brain structure thought to be unchangeable and uninvolved in complex processing -- and the neocortex, a higher order brain structure associated with music, language and other complex processing.
These findings are in line with previous studies by Wong and his group suggesting that musical experience can improve one's ability to learn tone languages in adulthood and level of musical experience plays a role in the degree of activation in the auditory cortex. Wong also is a faculty member in Northwestern's Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program.
The findings also are consistent with studies by Kraus and her research team that have revealed anomalies in brainstem sound encoding in some children with learning disabilities which can be improved by auditory training.
"We've found that by playing music -- an action thought of as a function of the neocortex -- a person may actually be tuning the brainstem," says Kraus. "This suggests that the relationship between the brainstem and neocortex is a dynamic and reciprocal one and tells us that our basic sensory circuitry is more malleable than we previously thought."
Overall, the findings assist in unfolding new lines of inquiry. The researchers now are looking to find ways to "train" the brain to better encode sound -- work that potentially has far-reaching educational and clinical implications. The study was supported by Northwestern University, grants from the National Institutes of Health and a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Adapted from materials provided by Northwestern University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

The Power of Music with Parkinson's Disease

Rande Davis Gedaliah's 2003 diagnosis of Parkinson's was followed by leg spasms, balance problems, difficulty walking, and ultimately a serious fall in the shower. But something remarkable happened when the 60-year-old public speaking coach turned to an oldies station on her shower radio: She could move her leg with ease, her balance improved, and, she couldn't stop dancing. Now, she puts on her iPod and pumps in Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." when she wants to walk quickly; for a slower pace, Queen's "We Are the Champions" does the trick.
Music therapy has been practiced for decades as a way to treat neurological conditions from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's to anxiety and depression. Now, advances in neuroscience and brain imaging are revealing what's actually happening in the brain as patients listen to music or play instruments and why the therapy works. "It's been substantiated only in the last year or two that music therapy can help restore the loss of expressive language in patients with aphasia" following brain injury from stroke, says Oliver Sacks, the noted neurologist and professor at Columbia University, who explored the link between music and the brain in his recent book Musicophilia. Beyond improving movement and speech, he says, music can trigger the release of mood-altering brain chemicals and once-lost memories and emotions.
Parkinson's and stroke patients benefit, neurologists believe, because the human brain is innately attuned to respond to highly rhythmic music; in fact, says Sacks, our nervous system is unique among mammals in its automatic tendency to go into foot-tapping mode. In Parkinson's patients with bradykinesia, or difficulty initiating movement, it's thought that the music triggers networks of neurons to translate the cadence into organized movement. "We see patients develop something like an auditory timing mechanism," says Concetta Tomaino, cofounder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function in New York City. "Someone who is frozen can immediately release and begin walking. Or if they have balance problems, they can coordinate their steps to synchronize with the music," improving their gait and stride. Slow rhythms can ease the muscle bursts and jerky motions of Parkinson's patients with involuntary tremors.
Actually playing music, which requires coordinating muscle movements and developing an ear for timing, can also bring dramatic results, says Rick Bausman, a musician and the founder and director of the Martha's Vineyard-based Drum Workshop. The workshop uses traditional drum ensembles, in which groups of participants play percussion pieces, as one form of therapy for patients with a variety of cognitive and physical disabilities, including Parkinson's disease. Bausman teaches participants to play along with traditional Afro-Caribbean beats like the Haitian kongo and Cuban bembe using congas, bongos, and djun-djun drums. "Participants report that their control of physical movement improves after playing the drums, their motion becomes more fluid, they don't shake quite as much, and their tremors seem to calm down," says Bausman.

Can Music Vibrations Affect Water

Have you seen the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know Anyway?" I thought it was fantastic and was especially fascinated by the work of Dr. Masuru Emoto. Please enjoy this blog post from someone else who also impressed by this amazing body of work.

The movie, “What the Bleep Do We Know,” set all-time attendance records at the local Sedona movie house. Even the afternoon shows were filled to capacity. People were going back to see the movie two or three times! It’s a movie about Quantum Physics and the principle that many possibilities exist at the same time. If you have seen it, you will remember the photos of giant water crystals. These pictures are from a best-selling book called Hidden Messages in Water by Masuru Emoto. In short, he exposed water to different words or music and then froze it and took a picture of the crystal. The results are amazing. The essence of this discovery is that when water is exposed to words like “love & gratitude” or “hate” it can change the molecular structure. This is the principle of hado, a subtle form of energy that exists in all things. The hado or energy of the words and music affected the shape of the water crystals!
Sedona residents are into water! The local favorite is Fuji. At the local health market, you will also see people filling up water bottles with words written on them, like “love” or “happiness”! I will do this once in a while with the bottles of water I give clients on Sedona Vortex Experiences. The water does taste better!
Three days ago I began to read Masuru Emoto’s new book, The True Power of Water, about his work with water and healing. What I read blew my mind and I had an amazing breakthrough in my healing work with clients on Sedona Retreats. I saw that how he is using hado and water to heal people is very similar to my long-distance healing work! But it never occurred to me to use water to heal people in the specific manner that he is doing.
He sites this phenomena: If you measure the sound wavelength of a phone ringing in a room and then introduce the directly opposing wavelength into the room-the ringing disappears! Wow! Bose, the stereo company, is doing something very similar with their new headphones in making surrounding sound disappear.
Emoto has found a way to measure the vibration or wavelength of the origin of disease or stress in a person. Then he exposes a bottle of water to the directly opposing wavelength, which the patient will drink and thus cancel the vibration, healing the disease or any imbalance! The water is penetrating at a sub-atomic level-we are 70% water.
Part of my long-distance healing is to clairvoyantly discover the exact emotion or issue that is blocking a client’s life force or creating illness. Then I de-energize that negative emotion to initiate a healing or unblock the flow energy. Then I energize the opposing positive emotion. But it didn’t occur to me to have my client write the positive emotion that I clairvoyantly get on a bottle of water and drink it!! Ahhaaaa!!! In addition, I could also use my clairvoyance to estimate how many millions of vibrations per second of positive universal counterclockwise energy (p.u.c.e) to energize the “word” with. Also writing this on the bottle. Then each week, do another reading and make adjustments to the word/phrase and amount of p.u.c.e.

A birthday mind-body experience

Yesterday was my 60th birthday and I had a fabulous day! The day began with phone calls from my children, mother, and sister. During the day, I went to jury duty but was released early and spent the afternoon preparing for a little party that my friend Crystal put on for me. We invited lots of friends and a wonderful variety of my friends showed up! This video is of my dear friend Barbara playing a birthday song for me on the piano. It was a beautiful rendition of "Morning Has Broken" and it was a pure expression of love that brought me great pleasure and an immense sense of gratitude for my dear friend! Hope you enjoy it too!

Music vs Valium: Are they evenly matched?

Well, check this research:
Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim. 2007 Jun-Jul;54(6):355-8.

[Music versus diazepam to reduce preoperative anxiety: a randomized controlled clinical trial]
[Article in Spanish]
Berbel P, Moix J, Quintana S.
Departamento de Anestesiología, Reanimación y Clínica del Dolor del Hospital Mutua de Terrassa, Barcelona.
OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness of music to that of diazepam in reducing preoperative anxiety. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were randomized to 2 groups to receive diazepam or listen to music on the day of surgery and the previous day. Just before the operation, anxiety was assessed with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Cortisol levels, heart rate, and blood pressure were also recorded. RESULTS: Two hundred seven patients were enrolled. No significant differences in any of the outcome measures (anxiety, cortisol level, heart rate, or blood pressure) were found between the 2 groups (music vs sedative). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that music is as effective as sedatives for reducing preoperative anxiety.

The Music of Celtic Woman!

I am basking in the beauty of the concert I went to over 48 hours ago and I still cannot get enough of their music. Have you seen "Celtic Woman?" They are a fantastic group of beautiful Irish women that sing from th heart in a way I have never heard before. I've been told that we humans tend to respond to the music of the country from which our ancestors came. That ancient music is literally remembered in our DNA. If that's true, I must have lots of ancestors from Ireland because this music moves me in a way that I cannot ever remember feeling. I want to laugh, cry, dance and sing and I noticed that everyone around me at the Palace Theater in Louisville seem to be feeling the same! If you have a chance to hear "Celtic Woman" do NOT miss it!!

Music and the Mind-Body Connection

Do you believe that music can connect the mind and body? I sure do because it happens to me every day. When I was in college I discovered at one point that when I was studying for a music history exam I could remember a specific piece by always sitting in the same place when I listened to it. At exam time, I could hear Prokofiev's 5th symphony, opus 100 (for example) and know immediately that that was my kitchen table piece or my den rocking chair piece or my bedroom piece. My ear/brain/mind was inseparately connected to my memory of my body and there was no question about which piece I was listening to. To this day, I can listen to the Dvorak cello concerto and remember exactly how my dorm room at Florida State looked. That was the first place I heard that gorgeous piece and I listened to it over and over there. Same with Kodaly's "Hary Janos Suite," and William Walton's "Belshazzar's Feast." Music is powerful for me and for you. How can you harness that power to make your life better??

The Music of a Child

This afternoon I had a powerful musical experience. What is it about the profound innocence of a child that moves us to tears? A friend sent me this youtube video of little 6 y.o. Scottish girl, trying out for the "Britian's Got Talent" show. Her voice is pure as an angel when she sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." As you listen to this, notice within yourself what feelings and memories and thoughts sweep over you. And enjoy!

Christmas Eve in Our Nation's Capitol

Greetings from our nation's capitol!! I've had a wonderful holiday visiting my daughter Allison and her husband in Washington, D.C. The music has been awesome during the two times I went to the National Cathedral. The first time was the Lessons and Carols on Friday night and then yesterday morning's 11:15 service. The choir there is simply heavenly and I heard many beautiful anthems, carols and solos that I had only heard on CD's before! For me, it's the music that makes the season come to life for me and I have had a musical feast this year. One piece that stands out for me was an organ fantasia on "Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella" at the national cathedral on Friday night. Please enjoy the fantastic music this holiday season!!

What does Christmas Music do to us?

For me, there is something magical about certain holiday music. Last week-end, when I was in S.C. visiting my mother for her 82nd birthday. At her retirement center, I had occasion to hear several different music boxes playing Christmas music. The one in this little video clip was particularly charming and brough back memories of childhood Christmases and dreams of Santa bringing all the toys I ever wanted.

Music does that! It literally transports you to another time and place and for a moment you are time traveling. You will notice at the end of this video that I was brought back into the present suddenly by "someone" asking me if I'm ready to go! Enjoy! BTW, in this little video you'll see the decorations that won my mother first place in the center's holiday decorating contest!