I stepped into the world of professional music and
healing in 1990. Prior to that time, I was a
professional musician and college music professor
who believed in the healing power of music
intuitively. I do believe that almost 25 years
later, the world is much more aware now of all of
the many ways that music and sound can be used for
healing and restorative purposes. I also
believe that people are more aware of all the
medical and health situations that can be treated,
healed and improved with music and sound. From
preemies and newborns to the well and frail elderly,
music is powerful and should be considered just as
much as medication, surgery, or other kinds of
therapy. Today, there are thousands and
thousands of pages of information online about how
to use music for healing purposes. I'm proud
to say that
www.HealingMusicEnterprises.com was one of the
pioneers in the field, being launched in 1996.
As we begin 2014, let's look at some events that
feature new developments in health and
wellness.
The Heart-Centered Musician: Honoring our Past, Envisioning our
Future,
October 23-26, 2014, sponsored by the Music for Healing and
Transitions Program (MHTP) at beautiful Camp Allen in Navasota, TX.
Camp Allen
Website.
This conference will celebrate MHTP’s 20th year of training
therapeutic musicians.
It is being held in Texas, where MHTP started.
A new app will be available in 2014 for
wellness and insomnia. It is a
collaborative effort between Concord Music
Group in Los Angeles and the Music Therapy
Department at U of California, Northridge.
Stay tuned for more information about this!
The app will be available for iPad or MacBook and is Beta testing now! For
more info see
www.tuneupsleep.com/ .
Subtle
Energies & Music,presented by
Stella Benson:
Friday, February 7, 2014, 2pm-4pm PST. Healing musicians influence,
and are influenced by, subtle energy. The new science of subtle
energies is emerging with surprising results that can affect our
work as healing musicians. Learn what the research community has
learned, how we are affected by subtle energies, and how we affect
subtle energies, which can enhance or defeat our service at the
bedside. Includes three 2-6 minute videos, and a short audio lecture
on Geometric Effects on the Human Psyche. Please see "Time Zone
Converter" at the top for national/international time conversions.
$80.00/2hrs. per person. (Optional 2 CEU credit)
There is a
lot going on in 2014 if you want to learn more about music and healing.
This is just a beginning! I am also available to speak in your
city, or at your university or association or conference! My
topics range from Music Healing with Pregnancy, Preemies and Newborns to
Music with Alzheimer's and other Dementias. Of course my specialty
now is music with surgery, so if want more information, just contact me
at
DrAlice@SurgicalSerenity.com.
Healing Music Blog
A small
lesson
on
ancient
music
healing
methods
When did the culture of Sumeria thrive? According to my sources, that would be 4th millennium B.C.
According to Wikipedia, instruments of Ancient Mesopotamia include harps, lyres, lutes, reed pipes, and drums. Many of these were shared with neighboring cultures. Contemporary East African lyres and West African lutes preserve many features of Mesopotamian instruments (van der Merwe 1989, p. 10).
The vocal tone or timbre was probably similar to the pungently nasal sound of the narrow-bore reed pipes, and most likely shared the contemporary “typically” Asian vocal quality and techniques, including little dynamic changes and more graces, shakes, mordents, glides and microtonal inflections. Singers probably expressed intense and withdrawn emotion, as if listening to themselves, as shown by the practice of cupping a hand to the ear (as is still current in modern Assyrian music and many Arab and folk musics) (van der Merwe 1989, p. 11).
Two badly damaged silver pipes have been excavated from a grave at Ur and dated to c. 2500 BCE. The pipes were crafted with what appear to be finger holes, and it is believed that they formed a pair of tubes – “double-pipes” – that had reeds inserted. A number of reconstructions have been proposed, the most recent being a pair of thin tubes with three finger holes in one tube and four finger holes in the other.[1
So how were these instruments used for healing purposes? Probably the Sumerians were well-aware of the connection between emotions and health as well as the ability of music to induce emotion of all kinds.
In ancient Rome, Minerva (Etruscan: Menrva) was the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and defense. … She was the virgin goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, and magic.
Music has always been a huge part of civilization and many ethnomusicologists believe that the first music was an attempt to imitate nature: the waves lapping the shore, the wind through the trees, chirping crickets and birdsongs. Music is one of the greatest gifts God has given us and can calm the savage breast (yes, that’s the correct phrase) as well as stir us to be brave and do great things. It can bring sadness and tears or inspire great joy and happiness. We are just beginning to understand how all of this happens. In the meantime, just enjoy all the beautiful music our world provides.
Surgical Serenity
Solutions featured in Local Magazine
TodaysWoman.2013
One of the challenges that we musicians, music therapists, and
clinical musicologists have is publicity. In the past, unless one
had a very healthy marketing and advertising budget, it was just not
possible to let the world know what all of the possibilities were
for healing with music, how music affects the brain, and the
tremendous benefits of music with surgery. Now, much of that has
changed!
With the internet and the world wide web, we now have the
possibility of electronic magazines (ezines), blogs, Facebook,
Twitter and so much more. All of these are basically free, but there
is just a little bit of a learning curve. Thanks to all of the new
“social media” options, millions more people are now aware of the
healing power of music. And this week, out came one more great
article about the Surgical Serenity Solution.
http://issuu.com/todayswoman.com/
Would love to get your comments and questions after ready this!
Thanks!
The Sale Price is only available on this page. We are making the
special sales page accessible to our viewers that have followed us
in 2013. To see the sales price, you have purchased before, signed
up for our monthly ezine, or joined our list through Facebook or
Twitter.
Purchase today
only
with this special link and receive:
Our Surgical Serenity Headphones 25%
off!
PLUS a
30-minute consultation
with Dr. Cash, creator of the Surgical Serenity Solution!
Brain injuries have always been with
us. Every year, thousands of brain
injuries occur in the U.S. alone, but
now scientists are discovering how
powerful music can be in restoring
memories for the survivors of brain
injury. Today, another study was
published on some exciting findings!
In the first study of its kind, two
researchers have used popular music to
help severely brain-injured patients
recall personal memories. Amee Baird and
Séverine Samson outline the results and
conclusions of their pioneering research
in the recent issue of the journal
Neuropsychological Rehabilitation.
Although their study covered a small
number of cases, it’s the very first to
examine ’music-evoked autobiographical
memories’ (MEAMs) in patients with
acquired brain injuries (ABIs), rather
than those who are healthy or suffer
from Alzheimer’s Disease.
In their study, Baird and Samson played
extracts from ‘Billboard Hot 100′
number-one songs in random order to five
patients. The songs, taken from the
whole of the patient’s lifespan from age
five, were also played to five control
subjects with no brain injury. All were
asked to record how familiar they were
with a given song, whether they liked
it, and what memories it invoked.
Doctors Baird and Samson found that the
frequency of recorded MEAMs was similar
for patients (38%-71%) and controls
(48%-71%). Only one of the four ABI
patients recorded no MEAMs. In fact, the
highest number of MEAMs in the
whole group was recorded by one of the
ABI patients. In all those studied, the
majority of MEAMs were of a person,
people or a life period and were
typically positive. Songs that evoked a
memory were noted as more familiar and
more liked than those that did not.
As a potential tool for helping patients
regain their memories, Baird and Samson
conclude that: “Music was more efficient
at evoking autobiographical memories
than verbal prompts of the
Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI)
across each life period, with a higher
percentage of MEAMs for each life period
compared with AMI scores.”
“The findings suggest that music is an
effective stimulus for eliciting
autobiographical memories and may
be beneficial in the rehabilitation of
autobiographical amnesia, but only in
patients without a fundamental deficit
in autobiographical recall memory and
intact pitch perception.”
The authors hope that their
ground-breaking work will encourage
others to carry out further studies on
MEAMs in larger ABI populations. They
also call for further studies of both
healthy people and those with other
neurological conditions to learn more
about the clear relationship between
memory, music and emotion; they hope
that one day we might truly “understand
the
mechanisms underlying the unique memory
enhancing effect of music.”
Journal Reference:
A. Baird, S. Samson. Music evoked
autobiographical memory after severe
acquired brain injury: Preliminary
findings from a case series.
Neuropsychological Rehabilitation,
2013; : 1 DOI:
10.1080/09602011.2013.858642
For nearly two decades, I've been helping people use the music that
they already love to heal their lives and increase their wellness
quotient!
I
am one of the world's only clinical musicologists and hold
a Masters degree in piano performance, a Ph.D. in
musicology and a Master of Social Work in clinical social work. I
am also a licensed clinical social worker. I work with people and
diagnoses of all kinds, enabling them to find healing, acceptance and
hope.
I love
performing, researching, and teaching and have put them all together
in a career called "Music Medicine."
Dr. Alice H. Cash is often asked to share her
Grand Rounds Presentation with hospitals' doctors and staff. Learn
what is currently happening around the world and the results they are
having.
"It was the
easiest of all hand surgeries! I was listening to music, then a slight
lull of nothing and then back to the music. Wonderfully comfortable. The
best surgical experience yet. I am honored to know, worked with and
utilized Dr. Cash's magnificent medical field
understands the import of her invention!"
According to Wikipedia, instruments of Ancient Mesopotamia include harps, lyres, lutes, reed pipes, and drums. Many of these were shared with neighboring cultures. Contemporary East African lyres and West African lutes preserve many features of Mesopotamian instruments (van der Merwe 1989, p. 10).
TodaysWoman.2013
One of the challenges that we musicians, music therapists, and
clinical musicologists have is publicity. In the past, unless one
had a very healthy marketing and advertising budget, it was just not
possible to let the world know what all of the possibilities were
for healing with music, how music affects the brain, and the
tremendous benefits of music with surgery. Now, much of that has
changed!
I
am one of the world's only clinical musicologists and hold
a Masters degree in piano performance, a Ph.D. in
musicology and a Master of Social Work in clinical social work. I
am also a licensed clinical social worker. I work with people and
diagnoses of all kinds, enabling them to find healing, acceptance and
hope.
