My friend Michael sent this article to me and I wanted to share it with you all. This is yet another evidence of the precision and mathematics of music and I believe marker of Our Creator’s hand in the formation of music. As you see geometry and mathematics revealed throughout creation, I believe that you will also see the musical relationships as well. Science is now showing us that everything has a frequency vibration, so the music is there if we can learn how to listen to it!
The connection between music and mathematics has fascinated scholars for centuries. More than 2000 years ago Pythagoras reportedly discovered that pleasing musical intervals could be described using simple ratios.
And the so-called musica universalis or “music of the spheres” emerged in the Middle Ages as the philosophical idea that the proportions in the movements of the celestial bodies — the sun, moon and planets — could be viewed as a form of music, inaudible but perfectly harmonious.
Now, three music professors — Clifton Callender at Florida State University, Ian Quinn at Yale University, and Dmitri Tymoczko at Princeton University — have devised a new way of analyzing and categorizing music that takes advantage of the deep, complex mathematics they see enmeshed in its very fabric.
Writing in the April 18 issue of Science, the trio has outlined a method called “geometrical music theory” that translates the language of musical theory into that of contemporary geometry. They take sequences of notes, like chords, rhythms and scales, and categorize them so they can be grouped into “families.” They have found a way to assign mathematical structure to these families, so they can then be represented by points in complex geometrical spaces, much the way “x” and “y” coordinates, in the simpler system of high school algebra, correspond to points on a two-dimensional plane.
Different types of categorization produce different geometrical spaces, and reflect the different ways in which musicians over the centuries have understood music. This achievement, they expect, will allow researchers to analyze and understand music in much deeper and more satisfying ways.
The work represents a significant departure from other attempts to quantify music, according to Rachel Wells Hall of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. In an accompanying essay, she writes that their effort, “stands out both for the breadth of its musical implications and the depth of its mathematical content.”
The method, according to its authors, allows them to analyze and compare many kinds of Western (and perhaps some non-Western) music. (The method focuses on Western-style music because concepts like “chord” are not universal in all styles.) It also incorporates many past schemes by music theorists to render music into mathematical form.
“The music of the spheres isn’t really a metaphor — some musical spaces really are spheres,” said Tymoczko, an assistant professor of music at Princeton. “The whole point of making these geometric spaces is that, at the end of the day, it helps you understand music better. Having a powerful set of tools for conceptualizing music allows you to do all sorts of things you hadn’t done before.”
Like what?
“You could create new kinds of musical instruments or new kinds of toys,” he said. “You could create new kinds of visualization tools — imagine going to a classical music concert where the music was being translated visually. We could change the way we educate musicians. There are lots of practical consequences that could follow from these ideas.”
“But to me,” Tymoczko added, “the most satisfying aspect of this research is that we can now see that there is a logical structure linking many, many different musical concepts. To some extent, we can represent the history of music as a long process of exploring different symmetries and different geometries.”
Understanding music, the authors write, is a process of discarding information. For instance, suppose a musician plays middle “C” on a piano, followed by the note “E” above that and the note “G” above that. Musicians have many different terms to describe this sequence of events, such as “an ascending C major arpeggio,” “a C major chord,” or “a major chord.” The authors provide a unified mathematical framework for relating these different descriptions of the same musical event.
The trio describes five different ways of categorizing collections of notes that are similar, but not identical. They refer to these musical resemblances as the “OPTIC symmetries,” with each letter of the word “OPTIC” representing a different way of ignoring musical information — for instance, what octave the notes are in, their order, or how many times each note is repeated. The authors show that five symmetries can be combined with each other to produce a cornucopia of different musical concepts, some of which are familiar and some of which are novel.
In this way, the musicians are able to reduce musical works to their mathematical essence.
Once notes are translated into numbers and then translated again into the language of geometry the result is a rich menagerie of geometrical spaces, each inhabited by a different species of geometrical object. After all the mathematics is done, three-note chords end up on a triangular donut while chord types perch on the surface of a cone.
The broad effort follows upon earlier work by Tymoczko in which he developed geometric models for selected musical objects.
The method could help answer whether there are new scales and chords that exist but have yet to be discovered.
“Have Western composers already discovered the essential and most important musical objects?” Tymoczko asked. “If so, then Western music is more than just an arbitrary set of conventions. It may be that the basic objects of Western music are fantastically special, in which case it would be quite difficult to find alternatives to broadly traditional methods of musical organization.”
The tools for analysis also offer the exciting possibility of investigating the differences between musical styles.
“Our methods are not so great at distinguishing Aerosmith from the Rolling Stones,” Tymoczko said. “But they might allow you to visualize some of the differences between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. And they certainly help you understand more deeply how classical music relates to rock or is different from atonal music.”
I wanted to include this article from eMedExpert (online e-zine) because it has a lot of great references at the end of the article. If you are researching the effects of music, these references will be a great tool in getting you exposed to a lot of the literature that is out there supporting the use of music for so many areas of our lives – in health and well being. Much of this information I have included in previous postings, but the review is good and once again, these references are great! Enjoy.
How Music Affects Us and Promotes Health
Music is one of the few activities that involves using the whole brain. It is intrinsic to all cultures and can have surprising benefits not only for learning language, improving memory and focusing attention, but also for physical coordination and development.
Of course, music can be distracting if it’s too loud or too jarring, or if it competes for our attention with what we’re trying to do. But for the most part, exposure to many kinds of music has beneficial effects:
1: Music heals
Effective therapy for pain
Overall, music does have positive effects on pain management. Music can help reduce both the sensation and distress of both chronic pain and postoperative pain.
Listening to music can reduce chronic pain from a range of painful conditions, including osteoarthritis, disc problems and rheumatoid arthritis, by up to 21% and depression by up to 25%, according to a paper in the latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing29.
Music therapy is increasingly used in hospitals to reduce the need for medication during childbirth, to decrease postoperative pain and complement the use of anesthesia during surgery30.
There are several theories about how music positively affects perceived pain:
Music serves as a distractor
Music may give the patient a sense of control
Music causes the body to release endorphins to counteract pain
Slow music relaxes person by slowing their breathing and heartbeat
Reducing blood pressure
By playing recordings of relaxing music every morning and evening, people with high blood pressure can train themselves to lower their blood pressure – and keep it low31. According to research reported at the American Society of Hypertension meeting in New Orleans, listening to just 30 minutes of classical, Celtic or raga music every day may significantly reduce high blood pressure.
Medicine for the heart
Music is good for your heart. Research shows that it is musical tempo, rather than style. Italian and British researchers32 recruited young men and women, half of whom were trained musicians. The participants slipped on head phones and listened to six styles of music, including rap and classical pieces, with random two-minute pauses. As the participants kicked back and listened, the researchers monitored their breathing, heart rates and blood pressure. The participants had faster heart and breathing rates when they listened to lively music. When the musical slowed, so did their heart and breathing rates. Some results were surprising. During the musical pauses, heart and breathing rates normalized or reached more optimal levels. Whether or not a person liked the style of music did not matter. The tempo, or pace, of the music had the greatest effect on relaxation.
Speeds Post-Stroke Recovery
A daily portion of one’s favorite pop melodies, classical music or jazz can speed recovery from debilitating strokes, according to the latest research. When stroke patients in Finland listened to music for a couple of hours each day, verbal memory and attention span improved significantly compared to patients who received no musical stimulation, or who listened only to stories read out loud, the study reports33.
Chronic headaches & migraine remedy
Music can help migraine34 and chronic headache35 sufferers reduce the intensity, frequency, and duration of the headaches.
Music boosts immunity
Music can boost the immune function. Scientists explain that a particular type of music can create a positive and profound emotional experience, which leads to secretion of immune-boosting hormones22. This helps contribute to a reduction in the factors responsible for illness. Listening to music or singing can also decrease levels of stress-related hormone cortisol. Higher levels of cortisol can lead to a decreased immune response23-24.
2: Effects of music on the brain
Music enhances intelligence, learning and IQ
The idea that music makes you smarter received considerable attention from scientists and the media. Listening to music or playing an instrument can actually make you learn better. And research confirms this.
Music has the power to enhance some kinds of higher brain function:
Reading and literacy skills11-13
Spatial-temporal reasoning14-15
Mathematical abilities16-17 Even children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder benefit in mathematics tests from listening to music beforehand.
Emotional intelligence
The Mozart effect
Earlier it has been thought that listening to classical music, particularly Mozart, enhances performance on cognitive tests. However, recent findings18 show that listening to any music that is personally enjoyable has positive effects on cognition.
Music improves memory performance
The power of music to affect memory is quite intriguing. Mozart’s music and baroque music, with a 60 beats per minute beat pattern, activates the left and right brain. The simultaneous left and right brain action maximizes learning and retention of information. The information being studied activates the left brain while the music activates the right brain. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time, such as playing an instrument or singing, cause the brain to be more capable of processing information.
Listening to music facilitates the recall of information19. Researchers have shown that certain types of music are a great “keys” for recalling memories. Information learned while listening to a particular song can often be recalled simply by “playing” the songs mentally.
Musical training has even better effect than just listening to classical music. There is clear evidence20, that children who take music lessons develop a better memory compared with children who have no musical training.
Note: For learning or memory performance, it’s important that music doesn’t have a vocal component; otherwise you’re more likely to remember the words of the background song than what you’re supposed to be recalling.
Music improves concentration and attention
Easy listening music or relaxing classics improves the duration and intensity of concentration in all age groups and ability levels. It’s not clear what type of music is better, or what kind of musical structure is necessary to help, but many studies have shown significant effects21.
3: Music improves physical performance
Music improves athletic performance
Choosing music that motivates you will make it easier to start moving, walking, dancing, or any other type of exercise that you enjoy. Music can make exercise feel more like recreation and less like work. Furthermore, music enhances athletic performance6-8! Anyone who has ever gone on a long run with their iPod or taken a particularly energetic spinning class knows that music can make the time pass more quickly.
The four central hypotheses explaining music’s facilitation of exercise performance include:
Reduction in the feeling of fatigue
Increase in levels of psychological arousal
Physiological relaxation response
Improvement in motor coordination
Music improves body movement and coordination
Music reduces muscle tension and improves body movement and coordination25-26. Music may play an important role in developing, maintaining and restoring physical functioning in the rehabilitation of persons with movement disorders.
4: Music helps to work more productively
Fatigue fighter
Listening to upbeat music can be a great way to find some extra energy. Music can effectively eliminate exercise-induced fatigue9 and fatigue symptoms caused by monotonous work10.
Keep in mind that listening to too much pop and hard rock music can make you more jittery than energized. Vary what you listen to and find out what type of music is most beneficial for you. You could try classical music one day, pop the next day and jazz the third.
Music improves productivity
Many people like to listen to music while they work and I am certainly one of them. How about you? Did you know you can perform better at your work with music? Whilst there may be many reasons for wishing to listen to music in the workplace, it really improves your productivity27!
According to a report in the journal Neuroscience of Behavior and Physiology28, a person’s ability to recognize visual images, including letters and numbers, is faster when either rock or classical music is playing in the background.
5: Music calms, relaxes and helps to sleep
Relaxing music induces sleep
Relaxing classical music is safe, cheap and easy way to beat insomnia1. Many people who suffer from insomnia find that Bach music helps them. Researchers have shown that just 45 minutes of relaxing music before bedtime can make for a restful night2.
Relaxing music reduces sympathetic nervous system activity, decreases anxiety, blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate and may have positive effects on sleep via muscle relaxation and distraction from thoughts.
Music reduces stress and aids relaxation
Listening to slow, quiet classical music, is proven to reduce stress3. Countless studies have shown that music’s relaxing effects can be seen on anyone, including newborns.
One of the great benefits of music as a stress reliever is that it can be used while you do your usual deeds so that it really doesn’t take time.
How does music reduces stress?
Physical relaxation: Music can promote relaxation of tense muscles, enabling you to easily release some of the tension you carry from a stressful day.
Aids in stress relief activities: Music can help you get “into the zone” when practicing yoga, self hypnosis or guided imagery, can help you feel energized when exercising and recover after exercising, help dissolve the stress when you’re soaking in the tub.
Reduces negative emotions: Music, especially upbeat tunes, can take your mind off what stresses you, and help you feel more optimistic and positive. This helps release stress and can even help you keep from getting as stressed over life’s little frustrations in the future. Researchers discovered4 that music can decrease the amount of the cortisol, a stress-related hormone produced by the body in response to stress.
6: Music improves mood and decreases depression
Prescription for the blues
Music’s ability to “heal the soul” is the stuff of legend in every culture. Many people find that music lifts their spirits. Modern research tends to confirm music’s psychotherapeutic benefits5. Bright, cheerful music (e.g. Mozart, Vivaldi, bluegrass, Klezmer, Salsa, reggae) is the most obvious prescription for the blues.
References
1Harmat L, Taka’cs J, Bo’dizs R. Music improves sleep quality in students. J Adv Nurs. 2008 May;62(3):327-35. PubMed
2Lai HL, Good M. Music improves sleep quality in older adults. J Adv Nurs. 2005 Feb;49(3):234-44.
3Labbe’ E, Schmidt N, Babin J, Pharr M. Coping with stress: the effectiveness of different types of music. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2007 Dec;32(3-4):163-8. PubMed
4Khalfa S, Bella SD, Roy M, Peretz I, Lupien SJ. Effects of relaxing music on salivary cortisol level after psychological stress. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2003 Nov;999:374-6. PubMed
5Maratos AS, Gold C, Wang X, Crawford MJ. Music therapy for depression. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD004517. Review. PubMed
6Simpson SD, Karageorghis CI. The effects of synchronous music on 400-m sprint performance. J Sports Sci. 2006 Oct;24(10):1095-102. PubMed
7Edworthy J, Waring H. The effects of music tempo and loudness level on treadmill exercise. Ergonomics. 2006 Dec 15;49(15):1597-610. PubMed
8Copeland BL, Franks BD. Effects of types and intensities of background music on treadmill endurance. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1991 Mar;31(1):100-3. PubMed
9Jing L, Xudong W. Evaluation on the effects of relaxing music on the recovery from aerobic exercise-induced fatigue. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2008 Mar;48(1):102-6. PubMed
10Ladenberger-Leo E. Effect of music on the general feeling of persons performing monotonous work. Med Pr. 1986;37(6):347-52. PubMed
11Besson M, Schon D, Moreno S, Santos A, Magne C. Influence of musical expertise and musical training on pitch processing in music and language. Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2007;25(3-4):399-410. PubMed
12Register D. The effects of an early intervention music curriculum on prereading/writing. J Music Ther. 2001 Fall;38(3):239-48. PubMed
13Overy K. Dyslexia and music. From timing deficits to musical intervention. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2003 Nov;999:497-505. PubMed
14Spatial-Temporal Task Performance Jausovec N, Jausovec K, Gerlic I. The influence of Mozart’s music on brain activity in the process of learning. Jausovec N, Jausovec K, Gerlic I. Clin Neurophysiol. 2006 Dec;117(12):2703-14. PubMed
15Sarnthein J, vonStein A, Rappelsberger P, Petsche H, Rauscher FH, Shaw GL. Persistent patterns of brain activity: an EEG coherence study of the positive effect of music on spatial-temporal reasoning. Neurol Res. 1997 Apr;19(2):107-16. PubMed
16Schmithorst VJ, Holland SK. The effect of musical training on the neural correlates of math processing: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in humans. Neurosci Lett. 2004 Jan 16;354(3):193-6. PubMed
17Rauscher FH, Shaw GL, Levine LJ, Wright EL, Dennis WR, Newcomb RL. Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning. Neurol Res. 1997 Feb;19(1):2-8. PubMed
18Schellenberg EG, Hallam S. Music listening and cognitive abilities in 10- and 11-year-olds: the blur effect. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Dec;1060:202-9. PubMed
19Mammarella N, Fairfield B, Cornoldi C. Does music enhance cognitive performance in healthy older adults? The Vivaldi effect. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2007 Oct;19(5):394-9. PubMed
20Ho YC, Cheung MC, Chan AS. Music training improves verbal but not visual memory: cross-sectional and longitudinal explorations in children. Neuropsychology. 2003 Jul;17(3):439-50. PubMed
21Patston LL, Hogg SL, Tippett LJ. Attention in musicians is more bilateral than in non-musicians. Laterality. 2007 May;12(3):262-72. PubMed
22Kuhn D. The effects of active and passive participation in musical activity on the immune system as measured by salivary immunoglobulin A (SIgA). J Music Ther. 2002 Spring;39(1):30-9. PubMed
23le Roux FH, Bouic PJ, Bester MM. The effect of Bach’s magnificat on emotions, immune, and endocrine parameters during physiotherapy treatment of patients with infectious lung conditions. J Music Ther. 2007 Summer;44(2):156-68. PubMed
24Kreutz G, Bongard S, Rohrmann S, Hodapp V, Grebe D. Effects of choir singing or listening on secretory immunoglobulin A, cortisol, and emotional state. J Behav Med. 2004 Dec;27(6):623-35. PubMed
25Bernatzky G, Bernatzky P, Hesse HP, Staffen W, Ladurner G. Stimulating music increases motor coordination in patients afflicted with Morbus Parkinson. Neurosci Lett. 2004 May 6;361(1-3):4-8. PubMed
26Rosenkranz K, Williamon A, Rothwell JC. Motorcortical excitability and synaptic plasticity is enhanced in professional musicians. J Neurosci. 2007 May 9;27(19):5200-6. PubMed
27Fox JG, Embrey ED. Music – an aid to productivity. Appl Ergon. 1972 Dec;3(4):202-5. PubMed
28Pavlygina RA, Frolov MV, Davydov VI, Milovanova GB, Sulimov AV. Recognition of visual images in a rich sensory environment: musical accompaniment. Neurosci Behav Physiol. 1999 Mar-Apr;29(2):197-204. PubMed
29Siedliecki SL, Good M. Effect of music on power, pain, depression and disability. J Adv Nurs. 2006 Jun;54(5):553-62.
30Nilsson U, Unosson M, Rawal N. Stress reduction and analgesia in patients exposed to calming music postoperatively: a randomized controlled trial. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2005 Feb;22(2):96-102. PubMed
31Teng XF, Wong MY, Zhang YT. The effect of music on hypertensive patients. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2007;2007:4649-51 PubMed
32Bernardi L, Porta C, Sleight P. Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory changes induced by different types of music in musicians and non-musicians: the importance of silence. Heart. 2006 Apr;92(4):445-52. PubMed
33Sarkamo T, Tervaniemi M, Laitinen S, Forsblom A, Soinila S, Mikkonen M, Autti T, Silvennoinen HM, Erkkila J, Laine M, Peretz I, Hietanen M. Free Full Text Music listening enhances cognitive recovery and mood after middle cerebral artery stroke. Brain. 2008 Mar;131(Pt 3):866-76. PubMe
34Oelkers-Ax R, Leins A, Parzer P, Hillecke T, Bolay HV, Fischer J, Bender S, Hermanns U, Resch F. Butterbur root extract and music therapy in the prevention of childhood migraine: an explorative study. Eur J Pain. 2008 Apr;12(3):301-13. PubMed
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It’s been awhile since I posted an article so thanks for being patient with me. This article is very interesting and shows a measurable chemical response that our body can have to music. I believe it is one of many pieces of information that continue to show us how important music is to our health. I hope you are enjoying these posts – and feel free to send along any articles that you may find to my e-mail address: waterfallofgrace@hotmail.com
Blessings – Steve
9 January 2011 Last updated at 13:04 ET
Music ‘releases mood-enhancing chemical in the brain
By Sonya McGilchrist | Health reporter, BBC News
Researchers scanned volunteers’ brains with MRI and PET machines
Music releases a chemical in the brain that has a key role in setting good moods, a study has suggested.
The study, reported in Nature Neuroscience, found that the chemical was released at moments of peak enjoyment.
Researchers from McGill University in Montreal said it was the first time that the chemical – called dopamine – had been tested in response to music. Dopamine increases in response to other stimuli such as food and money. It is known to produce a feel-good state in response to certain tangible stimulants – from eating sweets to taking cocaine. Dopamine is also associated with less tangible stimuli – such as being in love.
In this study, levels of dopamine were found to be up to 9% higher when volunteers were listening to music they enjoyed. The report authors say it’s significant in proving that humans obtain pleasure from music – an abstract reward – that is comparable with the pleasure obtained from more basic biological stimuli. Music psychologist, Dr Vicky Williamson from Goldsmiths College, University of London welcomed the paper. She said the research didn’t answer why music was so important to humans – but proved that it was.
This paper shows that music is inextricably linked with our deepest reward systems.
Musical ‘frisson’
The study involved scanning the brains of eight volunteers over three sessions, using two different types of scan. This paper shows that music is inextricably linked with our deepest reward systems” By Dr Vicky Williamson Goldsmiths College, University of London
The relatively small sample had been narrowed down from an initial group of 217 people. This was because the participants had to experience “chills” consistently, to the same piece of music, without diminishing on multiple listening or in different environments. A type of nuclear medicine imaging called a PET scan was used for two sessions. For one session, volunteers listened to music that they highly enjoyed and during the other, they listened to music that they were neutral about. In the third session the music alternated between enjoyed and neutral, while a functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI scan was made. Data gathered from the two different types of scans was then analyzed and researchers were able to estimate dopamine release. Dopamine transmission was higher when the participants were listening to music they enjoyed.
Consistent chills
A key element of the study was to measure the release of dopamine, when the participants were feeling their highest emotional response to the music. To achieve this, researchers marked when participants felt a shiver down the spine of the sort that many people feel in response to a favorite piece of music. This “chill” or “musical frisson” pinpointed when the volunteers were feeling maxim pleasure. The scans showed increased endogenous dopamine transmission when the participants felt a “chill”. Conversely, when they were listening to music which did not produce a “chill”, less dopamine was released.
What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a common neurotransmitter in the brain. It is released in response to rewarding human activity and is linked to reinforcement and motivation – these include activities that are biologically significant such as eating and sex. Dr Robert Zatorre said: “We needed to be sure that we could find people who experienced chills very consistently and reliably. “That is because once we put them in the scanner, if they did not get chills then we would have nothing to measure. “The other factor that was important is that we wanted to eliminate any potential confound from verbal associations, so we used only instrumental music. “This also eliminated many of the original sample of people because the music they brought in that gave them chills had lyrics.”
In my last post, I referenced the power of frequencies to “heal” water. I wanted to follow up on that concept with some more information on the studies that were done to make those claims. First of all, I want to say that I try to be careful about what I post and the sources that they come from. There are a lot of questionable claims out there and sometimes it is difficult to discern fact from fiction. That being said however, there is another area that deserves consideration, and that is where I believe this information comes from. Even though Dr. Emoto’s scientific method has been called into question, I believe that some of his conclusions are worth considering. I will be referencing an article published by Kristopher Setchfield, BA, Health Science, Natural Science Department; Castleton State College, Vermont – published in December 20, 2005 titled: Review and analysis of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s published work on the effects of external stimuli on the structural formation of ice crystals.
“Dr. Emoto became a Doctor of Alternative Medicine at the Open International University for Alternative Medicine in India in 1992, and he has become famous throughout the world in the alternative medicine realm for his 1999 self-published book, ‘The Messages of Water’. Since that time, his narrative and collection of photos of ice crystals has been picked up by independent publishing companies and has grown into subsequent works, such as The hidden messages in water (HMW). Recently his work was featured in a highly controversial movie titled “What the Bleep do We Know!?”and published in an essay in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (JACM). These thrust his work into the international spotlight and portrayed his work as proven scientific research. It was because of the notoriety gained by his books and the Bleep movie that I first learned of Emoto’s fantastic claim that he has found evidence that human thought affects ice crystal formation and that the structure and level of detail of an ice crystal is an indicator of water quality.”
Setchfield’s analysis primarily looked at the scientific methodology of Emoto and endeavored to assess whether or not the results could be duplicated with what he considered “scientific reliability”. Without going into a lot of quoting, I will give you the cliff note version of his findings. He believes that Emoto’s methods are questionable and not duplicable to reach the conclusions that Emoto has published. He further suggests that it would be wonderful if the funding could be obtained to conduct a rigorous scientific methodology and actually determine if some of these conclusions could be established scientifically. In short, he is very skeptical of the conclusions that Emoto reached and published.
Of particular interest to me was Dr. Emoto’s report that he found “stunning correlations between the types of music played and the quality and beauty of the ice crystals that would form upon freezing. For instance, the crystal below on the left was observed in a sample of distilled water that had been played Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, and the crystal on the right was observed in a sample of distilled water that had been played so-called “heavy metal” music (Emoto, Messages 17). It is interesting to note that this claim closely mirrors the well-known pseudoscientific and so-far unsubstantiated claim that classical music has a beneficial effect on plant growth, and rock music hinders plant growth.”
“Following his study of the effects of music on ice crystal formation in distilled water, Dr. Emoto wondered if water crystal structure might be affected by other seemingly illogical external things, such as words written on paper. In the HMW prologue, Dr. Emoto states, “It didn’t seem logical for water to ‘read’ the writing, understand the meaning, and change form accordingly. But I knew from the experiments with music that strange things could happen.”
“He began by writing phrases like “thank you” and “you fool” in various languages on paper and placing the paper under the distilled water samples, and his published photos below (Emoto, Messages 7) show a surprising result. Samples that had been exposed to the words “thank you” exhibited beautiful crystals, while samples that had been exposed to the words “you fool” would not form crystals at all.”
“Encouraged by his findings, Emoto began studying the effects of prayer, blessings, and spoken words. Not surprisingly, his results indicated that water crystal formation was also sensitive to these things–yielding his current hypothesis; “Molecules of water are affected by our thoughts, words, and feelings.” (Emoto, Messages cover)”
Setchfield goes on to delineate the methodology used by Emoto and then point out that his methodology was too open to observer bias and not rigorous enough or duplicable in follow up testing. He believes that the double blind method would produce much better, verifiable results, but bemoans the fact that it is difficult to get the funding to conduct the necessary experimentation under what he believes to be ”scientifically reliable” conditions. He goes on to say,
“While Emoto has published his claim in one peer reviewed journal, it has neither been substantiated nor disproved by research scientists. It is worth noting that Emoto’s Journal article is not a scientific report, but a three page long “photo essay.” Dr. Emoto, himself, stated “Even though my book, Message from Water, was first published in 1999 and has been translated in over 20 languages, I have not heard of anybody else conducting similar research” (Woodhouse). His claims resonate with “Alternative therapists, religious leaders, spiritual researchers, artists, and musicians” (Emoto, Healing 3), but it appears that his work has widely been disregarded by traditional scientists as pseudoscience that does not merit further inspection.”
The claims of Dr. Emoto are very interesting. I am scientifically trained myself and can appreciate Setchfield’s assessment. On a purely scientific level, I have to agree with him that the work of Dr. Emoto does call questions to mind. At the same time, I also have to step back and take a look at other things that “science” tells me are not possible. It tells me that the earth could not possibly have been created in 6 days by a Divine Architect. Yet my faith in His word brings me to the conclusion that I would rather believe Him than the scientists.
In my experience in the medical profession, I have seen many things that could not be explained scientifically. One of the phenomenon called “placebo effect” has been well documented to produce positive effects simply because the brain “believed” that it would work. The power of the brain to heal the body, what is called psycho-sematic, is not necessarily understood, but accepted as true none the less.
I take studies like Dr. Emoto’s with a “grain of salt” but at the same time believe there is something there that we need to understand. Besides that, what can it hurt if I believe that frequencies actually can “heal” water and by extension my body? I may not be able to “scientifically prove it” but I certainly have seen many instances of healing of body, mind and soul under the effects of the frequencies coming from my harp as I have played at the bedside. Let’s not be too quick to dismiss something just because we can’t get the scientific backing we think we should have. After all, it’s hard to get scientist to agree on anything!
A study I came across in e-zine “Collective Evolution” written by Grazyna Fosar and Franz Bludorf from September 2, 2011 has some evidence and conclusions that are very interesting. While I do not share some of their conclusions and applications, never the less, I believe that there are some things we can take from the article. It’s kind of like a buffet lunch – you take the things you like and leave the things you don’t like. Most interesting is their opening paragraph;
“THE HUMAN DNA IS A BIOLOGICAL INTERNET and superior in many aspects to the artificial one. Russian scientific research directly or indirectly explains phenomena such as clairvoyance, intuition, spontaneous and remote acts of healing, self-healing, affirmation techniques, unusual light/auras around people (namely spiritual masters), mind’s influence on weather patterns and much more. In addition, there is evidence for a whole new type of medicine in which DNA can be influenced and reprogrammed by words and frequencies WITHOUT cutting out and replacing single genes.”
While I am not in agreement with the more new age terminology of the “spiritual masters”, there is much here to pay attentions to. They go on to explain some of the details of how this works.
“Only 10% of our DNA is being used for building proteins. It is this subset of DNA that is of interest to western researchers and is being examined and categorized. The other 90% are considered “junk DNA.” The Russian researchers, however, convinced that nature was not dumb, joined linguists and geneticists in a venture to explore those 90% of “junk DNA.” Their results, findings and conclusions are simply revolutionary! According to them, our DNA is not only responsible for the construction of our body but also serves as data storage and in communication. The Russian linguists found that the genetic code, especially in the apparently useless 90%, follows the same rules as all our human languages. To this end they compared the rules of syntax (the way in which words are put together to form phrases and sentences), semantics (the study of meaning in language forms) and the basic rules of grammar. They found that the alkalines of our DNA follow a regular grammar and do have set rules just like our languages. So human languages did not appear coincidentally but are a reflection of our inherent DNA.”
We have already seen evidence of how frequencies and words can change the crystalline structure of water molecules with several publications out of Japan, but we now see a much more far reaching effect of these same words and frequencies on our DNA structure and information. The scripture Proverbs 18:21 comes to mind and now makes a lot of “scientific sense”.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that indulge it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
The article goes on to explain:
“The Russian biophysicist and molecular biologist Pjotr Garjajev and his colleagues also explored the vibrational behavior of the DNA. [For the sake of brevity I will give only a summary here. [For further exploration please refer to the appendix at the end of the original article.] The bottom line was: “Living chromosomes function just like solitonic/holographic computers using the endogenous DNA laser radiation.” This means that they managed for example to modulate certain frequency patterns onto a laser ray and with it influenced the DNA frequency and thus the genetic information itself. Since the basic structure of DNA-alkaline pairs and of language (as explained earlier) are of the same structure, no DNA decoding is necessary.
One can simply use words and sentences of the human language! This, too, was experimentally proven! Living DNA substance (in living tissue, not in vitro) will always react to language-modulated laser rays and even to radio waves, if the proper frequencies are being used.
Think about the amazing potential we have to influence our health and wellbeing just by the way we speak and the frequencies we expose ourselves to. One of my friends plays my harp music all day long in her house and tells me that it has made such a difference on how her day goes. She says that life has taken on a whole new flavor with these frequencies vibrating through her home.
The article goes on to site more scientific studies that showed how these words and frequencies were able to repair and reprogram the DNA structures of various organisms. I will not extend this post by siting more of the article, but I think you get the picture.
Our words and the frequencies we expose ourselves to really do make a difference in how our lives progress. One of the main reasons that I have devoted the last 7 years of my life to making harp music available to whosoever is that I truly believe it will make a difference in the lives of those who listen. I first began to understand this when I read of David playing for King Saul:
1Samuel 16:16 “ Let our lord now command thy servants, that are before thee, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall be, when the evil spirit from God cometh upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.”
As I have continued to study the effects of music on our physiology and spirituality, I have become more and more convinced of how valuable this music is. I hope you will join me in getting the word out to your sphere of influence (family and friends) so they too can receive the truly wonderful benefits of these “Miracle Frequencies”.
By Linda Weaver Clarke | From American Chronicle | May 15, 2006
If a child hears good music from the day of his birth, and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart.” –Shinchi Suzuki (1898 – 1998)
I remember when my mother encouraged me to practice my instrument and how I tried to find one excuse after another to get out of it. Soon, she was sitting at the piano, willing to help me practice. I reluctantly began playing, not putting my heart into it, feeling a bit rebellious. But it did not take long until I began to feel the soothing notes of the music and my soul began to relinquish the unruly attitude within me. Why did this music have an effect on me?
Music has changed throughout the years, but its purpose is the same. The type of music we listen to affects the brain. Some music has been proven to help memorization, to help us retain information we have learned. It has to do with order, symmetry, rhythmic patterns, repetition, ideal mathematical form, and harmony.
A study was done to test whether or not music can help in retaining information. White mice were taught to go through a maze to find food. One group listened to no music, the second group listened to Strauss waltzes, and the third group listened to hard rock music. After eight weeks, the mice were tested to see if they had improved. The mice with no music had improved but the mice that listened to Strauss waltzes made it through much faster. When the scientists checked the hard rock mice, they were not prepared for what they found. The mice did not get better in finding the food, but had gotten worse, becoming disoriented. The scientists waited a few weeks to see if the results were the same. The Strauss mice had retained their memory while the hard rock mice had lost their memory of the whole thing.
The American Psychological Association wrote, “Those dreaded piano lessons pay off in unexpected ways: According to a new study, children with music training had significantly better verbal memory than their counterparts without such training, plus, the longer the training, the better the verbal memory. Psychologists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong studied 90 boys between age six and fifteen. Half had musical training as members of their school´s string orchestra program. The other 45 participants were schoolmates with no musical training. The researchers, led by Agnes S. Chan, Ph.D., gave the children verbal memory tests, to see how many words they recalled from a list, and a comparable visual memory test for images. Students with musical training recalled significantly more words than the untrained students. There were no such differences for visual memory.” (“Music Training Improves Verbal but Not Visual Memory,” American Psychological Association, Neuropsychology, Vol. 17, No. 3.)
C. A. Harding did brain studies in 1982 at the University of North Texas. They brought in 300 people. They wanted approximately the same kind of learning abilities, so everyone they chose had Phd´s. These people were separated into two groups and taught 300 vocabulary words. The first group listened to Handel´s Water music as they learned the words and definitions. The second group learned their words without music. To the surprise of the scientists, there was a big difference in the test scores. The group with the music scored much higher. Two weeks later, the groups were brought back in and checked to see if they had retained the words, and there was a much bigger difference in the scores. The group without music had forgotten half the words. In the first group, the brain must have felt the orderly manner of the music and was able to retain the vocabulary words.
I read an article in the Time Magazine from July 5, 1999 titled “Fingers, Brains, and Mozart.” It said, “Mozart´s music has intrigued researchers since 1993, when scientists at the University of California at Irvine found that college students who heard 10 minutes of the composer´s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major raised their IQ scores on tests of spatial-temporal reasoning—a skill related to math. Mozart appears to strengthen the neural connections that underlie mathematical thought. Other researchers have used the two-piano sonata to improve the spatial-temporal reasoning of an Alzheimer´s patient and to reduce the number of seizures in epileptics.”
It has been found that music can change behavior. The right kind can turn depression into joy, anger to calmness, hate to love, and fear to courage. Beautiful music has an effect on people and it can soothe and take away feelings of frustration and anger. music definitely makes a difference in alleviating tension.
Professor Vladamir Conechne tested this theory. He paid actors to antagonize a group of people, making them angry and hateful. After the actors left, he turned on gentle soothing music and watched the people carefully as he took notes. He noticed that their behavior and attitude began to change and their hatred left.
In another part of the country, this theory was proved once again. At the Soviet Union, the Soviets used music to rescue 3,000 Beluga Whales trapped in the Narrow Strait off the Bering Sea. Icebreakers had cleared an escape path for the whales, but they were confused and frightened by the noise of engines and propellers that had chopped the ice away. It finally dawned on the captain to pipe music through the loud speakers. When the whales heard Beethoven´s music, they began to calm down and after a while followed the sound, swimming through the narrow channel to freedom. The music seemed to calm them down.
One time our little family traveled many hours to see our folks up north for Christmas. It was an eight-hour drive. The children were tired, crowded, and miserable from the long drive. We were traveling through a beautiful canyon and only had a half an hour left to arrive at our destination. I started singing some Christmas songs, and then my husband joined in. Soon the rest of the family joined in singing and the contention gradually left and we were laughing and having fun as we joyfully sang Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and many Christmas Carols. music does make a difference.
David O. McKay said, “Music is truly the universal language, and when it is excellently expressed how deeply it moves our souls!”
In 1865, during the Civil War in Atlanta, Georgia, General Sherman had his army ready and prepared for a battle. It was recorded that while they waited, a young man began to sing American Songs, beloved songs that were familiar to both sides. The music was soothing and nostalgic, and it floated across the field for everyone to hear. The soldiers on both sides heard the songs that were sung. The hearts of everyone were touched, and the battle that was supposed to be, did not occur that day. No one felt like fighting. It had deeply moved their souls.
It is vitally important to listen to music that uplifts us. When words and music are combined, I believe it expresses our deepest thoughts. What we can´t understand in words, we can understand with music. Words alone, many times, can´t express the true feelings that are meant, but music and words put together can touch the hearts and souls of people. When music is added to sacred words, it helps us to understand the simple love of God and feel the spirit of reverence.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr. said, “We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing… except prayer.” (President J. Reuben Clark Jr., in Conference Report, Oct. 1936, 111)
How much does music play a part in our lives? I believe that music goes beyond the spoken language. When words don´t seem enough or when we can´t express our feelings in the right way, we can listen to a song and say, “That´s exactly how I feel.”
Written by Linda Weaver Clarke, author of the historical/romance series “A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho” and the mystery/adventure series “The Adventures of John and Julia Evans.” To learn more, visit www.lindaweaverclarke.com.
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And the so-called musica universalis or “music of the spheres” emerged in the Middle Ages as the philosophical idea that the proportions in the movements of the celestial bodies — the sun, moon and planets — could be viewed as a form of music, inaudible but perfectly harmonious.
The method, according to its authors, allows them to analyze and compare many kinds of Western (and perhaps some non-Western) music. (The method focuses on Western-style music because concepts like “chord” are not universal in all styles.) It also incorporates many past schemes by music theorists to render music into mathematical form.
The trio describes five different ways of categorizing collections of notes that are similar, but not identical. They refer to these musical resemblances as the “OPTIC symmetries,” with each letter of the word “OPTIC” representing a different way of ignoring musical information — for instance, what octave the notes are in, their order, or how many times each note is repeated. The authors show that five symmetries can be combined with each other to produce a cornucopia of different musical concepts, some of which are familiar and some of which are novel.
