Editorial Musings

In order to best focus on issues most relevant to my readers, I am asking readers to write in their most important or pressing questions about how to use music for wellness or for healing. I will answer a number of them in my next ezine. I will also be soliciting questions from those who attend my workshops and lectures. Please invite friends and acquaintances to send in their questions too. I would like to collect between 50 to 100 questions. Thank you in advance for all your questions. Please feel free to e-mail, write or call in your questions. Questions can pertain to any area of physical, emotional, or spiritual health and can also include questions on music and learning, music and various life stages, music with surgery and on and on. If I don’t know the answer I will do my best to find it for you.

So, put on your thinking caps friends. This may become an article or even a booklet. I’m counting on you!

Dr. Alice H. Cash
President, Healing Music Enterprises
"Tune Your Life with Music!"
www.HealingMusicEnterprises.com
502/895-7688 (phone) 502/896-7277 (fax)
502/419-1698 (mobile)

Last month I started an article on Music and Wellness: Ten Top Tips. We got through the first five. Now I will give you the last five. The workshop at Milestone was a big success (see the evaluations) and will probably be repeated somewhere else in Louisville. Of course the lecture travels too!

6. Music for sleep and rest
Almost everyone has some music that they enjoy listening to while they rest. When one is ready to sleep however, that music is often not good for falling or staying asleep. More often, people need the same sort of music that one would use for surgery, i.e., purely instrumental music with a simple texture such as harp or flute, and the tempo of the healthy resting heartbeat. Many people report that they like to use the machines that have a variety of nature sounds to choose from, such as gentle ocean waves, babbling brooks, gentle rain, crickets, and so forth. If one has trouble staying asleep, a continuous soft sound in the background that blocks street noise or other noise, can be very effective.

7. Music in the Workplace
Apparently, there are some workplaces today that have banned all music. A friend has told me that at his business, which is a printing business, workers are not allowed to wear headphones because the managers feel it is a safety hazard. He reports that he can hear perfectly well when his music is at a low level and that the calming effect is very important to his sense of well-being. I understand that managers have to put the safety of workers foremost, but I think if workers are willing to sign a release saying they believe they can control the sound level adequately, they should be allowed to do so. The music can not only calm people, it can also help them to focus.

8. Music and Pain Management
There are two kinds of pain: chronic pain and acute pain. Music will help some people simply because of the distraction factor. Others may be helped by what we call “vibro-acoustic therapy.” In this, instruments with a strong vibration, such as a drum, are used to communicate rhythm and intensity in a way that can feel like a massage. Also people with hearing loss can feel vibration and intensity when hearing the music would be impossible.

9. Music with Addictions
When one is in the early stages of recovery, withdrawal symptoms are powerful. The craving to “use” is almost overwhelming. People in 12-step recovery programs are taught to call their sponsor or recovery friends, use prayer and meditation, and also read their program literature. I have found with my clients that both chanting something simple, like the “Serenity Prayer” and toning on long, medium pitched vowel sounds to be very effective in breaking the thought of using again.

10. Music with the Elderly
The well elderly as well as the impaired elderly are among the populations with whom music therapy has been the most effective. Everyone loves the music from their youth and “courting years.” This music immediately brings back memories of a time when most of us are at a physical peak and emotionally happy and hopeful. Patients I have worked with love the music from their childhood and youth as well as Hymns and other sacred music. Research has documented the fact that when patients with Alzheimer’s disease can no longer recognize their family members to stay oriented to time and place they can often times still hear familiar music, enjoy it, and even sing along. Afterwards these patients are calmer, sleep better and eat better.

This concludes my “top ten tips” but there are many, many other ways that music can be utilized for health, wellness, healing, and recovery. Please send me your own questions!

At the conclusion of every workshop and presentation that I give, I hand out an evaluation to determine what people liked the best and what ideas they will use first. This month I have three new sets of evaluations for my readers to enjoy in the Testimonials section of the HME web site at: www.healingmusicenterprises.com/testimonials.html

Several private workshops scheduled in Louisville: call 502-895-7688 to see if there is room for you.

Read about the newest Calendar updates!

If you haven't visited my new "shoppe" yet, I'd really urge you to do so. There is an impressive array of musical instruments from piccolos and harps to table drums and violins. If you need books on how to play them, those are available too. Please write to me if you ever have a problem or question.

Dr. Cash is available for as a keynote speaker, workshop and seminar leader, course educator, and individual "music medicine consultations" with people, as well as other group and individual instruction in using music for healing and promoting health and wellbeing. Go to http://www.healingmusicenterprises.com/services.html for more information.

Attention: Louisvillle Area Health Professionals

Dr. Cash offers classes on a regular basis on:

1. How to create music tapes for surgery
2. Using music with pregnancy, childbirth and newborns
3. Understanding how music affects the Mind-Body-Spirit & applying this to practice
4. Toning, Chanting, and Drumming for Health
5. Using Music with Alzheimer's Patients