MUSIC AND THE BRAIN

Well, for starter, there's a strong correlation between music and the brain. It is well known that music can influence the way you think, the way you learn or the way you react. You probably already know that you can have different reactions according to the music you listen to at any given moment. Do you usually listen to relaxing music while you work? Music may help you think better and thus working more efficiently. Yes, music does affect the brain; promoting a more positive attitude and motivating you do continue whatever you are doing. Music can even help you study better when your brain listens to a certain type of music, while you're learning new things. Poor grades are often an outcome of lack of interest or lack of motivation in studying; they don't automatically reflect poor intelligence. Music can help you overcome your lack of interest towards learning by boosting your self-confidence. Music can help your brain to better understand one of the most intimidating subjects for many students: math. Why is that? Because music stimulates those areas of the brain that are responsible for your thinking, planning and critical analysis, you become more capable of solving challenging math problems.

HOW DOES MUSIC AFFECT THE BRAIN?

Understanding how music affects the brain has been a topic of scientific research for many years and yet scientists can't fully understand music and the brain. Despite this inconvenience, alternative treatments already embraced music effects on the brain through music therapy to enhance memory, to manage stress, treat depression, anxiety, cure insomnia or solve problems in so-called lucid dreams .

Listening to relaxing music while performing a challenging task will probably make the activity seem a whole lot easier. Whatever task you want to accomplish, there's a good chance that your brain will make that chore more manageable. Music will most likely affect your brain by improving its memory, its capacity of learning, feeling or sleeping. Studies also showed that music helps in the release ofendorphins (neurochemicals that aid the body heal) and thus distracting the body from suffering and pain to promote faster healing. Music affects the levels of alertness and concentration, enhancing your creativity (the right side of your brain). If knowledge is "food for thought," then music is definitely the digestive system that helps your brain proper *digest* that knowledge. For example, music helped Thomas Jefferson write his "Declaration of Independence" and also helped Albert Einstein become one of the smartest men in history.

Stress, depression and anxiety create uneasy feelings in the brain, affecting its overall functionality. Weaker reasoning and difficulty in accomplishing tasks are results of decreased levels of serotonin (a neurotransmitter located in our central nervous system). The serotonin is a well-known contributor to our feelings of well-being and approximately 50 million brain cells are affected by its levels. Low levels of serotonin may lead to feelings of hopelessness and despair; however, people respond to music in different ways.

The Effects of Music on the Mind

Beyond Soothing the Savage Beast

by Kristian David Olson 2-22-96 Are people typically geniuses? Statistically, people probably are not. In fact, most people probably aren't even intellectually gifted at all. Most people are likely to be pretty much average, maybe a little bit above average, or a little below, but very average none the less. It is universally understood that people strive to learn to become wiser and more informed about the world around them. The more people learn, the more powerful they can become. It is the speed at which people learn that separates the geniuses from the average people from the learning disabled. Geniuses don't run into problems while learning, because they learn so fast. It is everyone else that could really use help. One solid way to increase the speed at which people learn is with music. People learn through music and their minds grow faster because of it. Some music, when implemented properly, can have positive effects on learning and attitude. Music is a powerful thing, and when we understand its significance, it can bring dramatic changes both positive and negative into our lives. The earliest stages of learning for young children are the most important. The fundamentals of learning are instilled into a child at a very young age and how much importance is placed on these fundamentals can have dramatic affects on the future of the child's learning. Music, when applied in a constructive way, can have positive effects on a child's learning and help them in many ways. One way that music can make learning easier for a young child is by implementing music lessons into a child's normal activities. A small study was done two years back

involving ten three-year-olds who were tested on their ability to put together a puzzle and the speed at which they could do it ("Learning Keys" 24). After the initial test was taken, five of the children were given singing lessons for 30 minutes a day and the other five were given piano lessons for 15 minutes a week (24). The lessons were conducted over a six- month period of time, and after the six months, all of the kids showed substantial improvement in the speed at which they could put together the puzzle (24). The researchers understand this skill in putting pieces of a puzzle together as the same reasoning that engineers, chess players and high-level mathematicians use. In this study of inner-city kids, their initial scores were below the national average, but afterwards their scores nearly doubled (24). The term they give to the type of reasoning and thought that goes into putting pieces of a puzzle together is called abstract reasoning. By teaching music, people exercise the same abstract reasoning skills that they use for doing math or some other exercise in which the people have to visualize in their head. An eight month study was conducted by Frances H. Rauscher of the University of California at Irvine, in which 19 preschoolers, ranging in age from three to five, received weekly keyboard and daily singing lessons while another 15 preschoolers received no musical training at all (Bower 143). At the start, middle and end of the study, the subjects were tested on five spatial reasoning tasks (143). After only 4 months, scores on the test to assemble a puzzle to form a picture improved dramatically for the group with the musical training, while the control group didn't, even though both groups started out with the same scores (143). It can be understood that this kind of improvement may not be substantial enough to alter the way people are fundamentally taught, but its results cannot be ignored. Rauscher explains, "Music instruction can improve a child's spatial intelligence for a long time, perhaps permanently" (qtd. in Bower 143). Implementing such changes and improvements into a young child's learning could have great effects on them in the future when dealing with the same spatial reasoning skills. With its resulting improvements in spatial reasoning, music can also be a very helpful tool when actually implementing it into the classroom and involving it with learning basic curriculum. In New York City, a program called Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, or LEAP, has been going on for a while now in which music and the arts is implemented into the school curriculum to improve scholastic scores of

children at all levels (Dean and Gross 614). One way in which music is implemented is with math. They call it "musical math," in which the teacher incorporates rhythm with counting and gaining a grasp on the fundamentals of math (618). With the rhythm, they are able to learn basic elements of math like fraction and multiplication. Christine Bard, the LEAP consultant explains, "Music helps teach the precognitive skills. It gives students the capacity to trust themselves by providing internal discipline through a highly repetitive structure" (qtd. in Dean and Gross 618). On the whole, students' feeling of self-confidence and accomplishment are great and most importantly, the students' attitude toward math and learning is increased dramatically (618). Music as a separate and thorough curriculum can have dramatic positive changes in the learning process of young people. Mary Jane Collett, the Director of the Office of Arts and Cultural Education of the Division of Instruction and Professional Development of New York City Public Schools says: ... a well taught sequential music curriculum not only results in music learning that has inherent value; it also gives students the chance to listen, react, see, touch, and move. Instruction in music skills, appreciation, and theory also provides a wealth of learning strategies that enhance children's analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating skills. Students learn to process information and transfer knowledge through these concrete, kinetic, and cognitive experiences (Collett 61). Mary Jane Collett is an advocate for a program called Learning To Read Through The Arts (LTRTA), which makes music and the arts a separate course in the elementary curriculum instead of using it as an aid to different parts of the curriculum here and there (61). Music is taught through listening to different types of music while talking about the music, trying to understand it and interpret it in different ways and in many ways, imitate it (63). She further explains: These integrated music experiences provide excitement in learning for children and thereby improve students' reading, writing, thinking, and analyzing skills and strategies. Learning through all the senses expands the learning process to accommodate different learning styles. Opportunities for integrating communication arts, literature, science, social studies, and the arts are limited only by the educator's imagination, creativity, and open-mindedness (64). Music, when involved in the classroom, can have great effects on the early stages of learning for the very young up through elementary age school children. Music can also have significant effects on older people in a learning environment. Music does not have the same effect on older people as it does on younger people, however. It is

easily understood that for young children, getting them to do fun musical things like learning to play an instrument is somewhat easy compared to getting an adult to do the same thing. Children will do it because it is something new and exciting whereas adults need to be motivated to do something because they won't do something simply because they can. For adults it is a matter of choice, but when they choose to involve music into their everyday lives, the effects can be just as dramatic, but different when compared with music effects on younger children. One important aspect that music can have on learning for people of all ages is attitude. It seems logical to assume that it is more helpful for adults who are less likely to want to do a particular job or activity, but music can change this and give a listener a more positive attitude and motivation. As we will see, by simply listening to pleasant music in the background while doing an arduous task can make it seem so much easier, or in some cases, music may not increase positive attitude, but will ease the strain of an activity. A study was conducted by Shawn E. Mueske, a graduate student at Mankato State University, to determine the effects of background music on a biology lab. He studied to determine the effects of background music on attitude, achievement, time spent in the laboratory and on task behavior (Mueske 6-7). He used a control group which entailed one lab where no music was present, and one experimental group which listened to popular/soft rock music at an appropriate, soft sound level for background music (14). He found that there was no real difference in attitude or achievement among the two groups, but there was a significant increase in time spent in the laboratory and time spent on task (18-28). Listening to music as background can help when people when they're thinking, learning, or working, but the music needs to be implemented correctly. It can be easily understood that if it's vocal music, it needs to be somewhat quiet, for if it isn't, it can be very distracting to the mind. It is logical to conclude then that if it's instrumental, it can be somewhat louder than vocal music, but not too loud because any music that is loud enough will make it hard to learn or think. As we will see, the listener's preference to music must also be taken into account, because the primary goal is for the music to affect the person's mood and attitude positively, and if they are listening to music that they absolutely deplore, it won't help them think because it will be hard to shut it out of their mind. When people listen to music in the background, it is very important that they listen to music that they are familiar and comfortable with. It is not necessarily better for people to listen to music that is supposed to relax them if they are unfamiliar with it. It is better for people to listen to music they are comfortable with and know well and like. A study of 50 male surgeons was conducted to see if they performed a basic surgeon-related task better and more efficiently while listening to surgeon-selected music, experimenter-selected music, or no music at all (Allen and Blascovich 882).

The test monitored skin conductance response frequency, pulse rate, blood pressure, speed and accuracy (883). The experimenter-selected music was Pachelbel's Canon in D. Both conditions with music showed significantly better results than the condition without music, but the condition with surgeon-selected music was clearly even higher than the other (883). Another study was conducted on 54 people (25 males and 29 females) to determine the difference of subject-selected music, experimenter-selected music and no music on affect, anxiety, and relaxation (Thaut and Davis 210). This study was done under the understanding that stress is a major factor to health problems of the day. It is important to cut down on stress in our daily lives and any way that we can do that is beneficial to our health in some way or another. One way to try and cut down on stress in people's everyday lives is by listening to music. In past years, there has been quite a bit of music created for the sole purpose of relaxation and the reduction of stress. The question posed by this survey is: Do these relaxation tapes really work better than a person's personal preference in music or no music at all in reducing stress? The study found that all three ways worked well for relaxation and reducing tension, but listening to music proved a little bit more beneficial. Of both music groups, it found that the relaxation tapes were equally as good as the subjectselected music, but were no better (219-220). Music is an invaluable tool when it comes to reaching students who fail to do well in school. Scott Shuler, a music consultant in the Connecticut State Department of Education and adjunct professor in the Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, Conn. describes at-risk students as students that express characteristics such as: academic underachievement, lack of self-esteem and self-respect, inability to communicate thought and feeling on an intimate level, limited conflict resolution and problemsolving skills, boredom with traditional schooling, need for a supportive peer group with whom they can establish a social bond, learning styles that differ from those addressed by traditional modes of instruction, interest in artistic expression and eagerness to pursue tasks they find interesting, need for an experiential, hands on approach to learning, avoidance of academic risk taking, and need to experience success somewhere in the school setting (Shuler 31). Shuler proposes that there are two essential reasons why students fail in school. They are lack of ability to learn or lack of desire to learn, and while most students who fail have the ability to do well, they choose not to because their school experience doesn't motivate them (30). At-risk students create an aversion to traditional styles of teaching and when attempts are made to cut out "nonessential" subjects from curricula, it only worsens the problem and further distances the at-risk student from the goal of becoming motivated to do better (30-31). For many reasons, music can be one of the most influential factors in getting at-risk students motivated. Music related courses in curricula give students many of the

important elements that will erase the characteristics of an at-risk student. Every student likes music if only one kind, and outside of school, most students seek out music pretty actively (31). Therapists use music to help severely handicapped individuals, so why can't schools do the same thing to help at-risk students (31)? Musical groups such as choir, orchestra or band help bring people together as well as improving communication skills, group work, and forming peer groups. Music creates a higher standard among people; where on a math test a grade of 90% would be an "A", a 90% grade on a performance would be quite bad (32). This study seems to suggest that music can provide a student with a level of individuality to learn in his/her own style. Music education creates a much more well-rounded student that do much more and learn much easier. Music can also have very interesting and beneficial effects on the mind. A study was conducted at the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California at Irvine by Frances H. Rauscher, Gordon L. Shaw and Katherine N. Ky in which 36 college students listened to one of three listening condition for ten minutes and then took the Stanford-Binet intelligence test designed for abstract reasoning (Rauscher, Shaw and Ky 611). The experiment was repeated for each of the listening conditions which were listening to a Mozart piano sonata, a relaxation tape, and complete silence (611). They found that the equivalent IQ scores were the equal between listening to the relaxation tape and complete silence, but after listening to the Mozart piece, IQ scores were an average of eight to nine points higher than the others (611). The scientists explain how the enhancing effect doesn't last for more than ten to fifteen minutes after listening to the sample (611). They were able to draw a certain amount of theories out of the results of this study, but much more testing is required for any solid conclusions to be made. They think that music that is without complexity or is highly repetitive will not enhance abstract reasoning, but rather interfere with it (611). Their findings are put under scrutiny and criticism by Kristin Leutwyler, who tries to set the record straight about misinterpretations in the media regarding the findings of Rauscher, Shaw and Ky. She asserts that "...the popular press have suggested that anyone can increase his or her IQ by listening to Mozart. This supposed quick fix is false" (28). She explains that the IQ scores were based solely on spatial ability and not other factors that IQ takes into account (28). Leutwyler explains that Rauscher's work is "... based on the premise that listening to music and performing a spatial task prime the same neural firing patterns. But that's just a guess." (28)

Despite the skepticism of Leutwyler in the findings of the three scientists and the fact that more testing needs to done to take into account different variables, the initial findings cannot be ignored. There is some correlation between listening to music and spatial reasoning and through it, there is some connection with IQ. A good sized study was done many years ago to test intelligence across a wide range of fields and subjects (Schoen 94). On the study, 205 college students were given the Minnesota College Ability Test, all of the Seashore tests for musical talent, and were rated on a scale for musical training (94). After the testing was complete, they separated out the top 25 and the bottom 25 to determine if there was a difference in musicality among them, but found none (94). Next, they excluded the 25 students with the greatest and least amount of musical training and found two interesting groups (94). Of the two groups left, the top group's average student had taken music theory, private piano lessons for two years, voice and cello for four years while he/she had played in orchestras for four years, sung in choir for six years, had three musicians in the family, could read music and supply missing parts, and attended concerts regularly (94). The lower group's average student had never had any private lessons, didn't play an instrument, had no musicians in his/her family, and never attended operas or concerts (95). Music won't turn anyone into a genius, but it can have some substantial effects on bringing people above average at least. One thing that music does that cannot be ignored is it stimulates the brain- sometimes positively and sometimes negatively, but it effects the brain nonetheless. Some positive effects on the brain can be seen from the study conducted by Rauscher, Shaw and Ky where they found a temporary increase in spatial reasoning after listening to a bit of Mozart. These findings are somewhat inconclusive, but cannot be ignored altogether. It shows how there is much more studying that needs to be done in the future on this subject. I have a personal anecdote about how music stimulates the mind. When I was in high school, I took the ACT for the first time in the fall of my Junior year. It was a normal day and I wasn't extremely focused or unfocused on the morning that I took it. That morning before I left, and on my way to the test site, I listened to some of my favorite rock music on my radio. The test seemed a little hard, but I got through it. When my results came back a few weeks later, I received a 19. That was a horrible score for me. I figured that I had better take it again and get a higher score, so in the spring of my junior year I took it again. This time, I felt a little more focused and during the entire morning before I left and on my way to the test site, I listened to Mozart. This time I was much more confident on how I did when I was finished. A couple weeks later, I found out that I received a 26. Most people improve on their ACT score when they

take it a second time, but I've never heard of anyone improving as much as I did. I had read the report about listening to Mozart and how it supposedly raised your IQ temporarily, and that's why I listened to it that day. I was much more prepared for the test the second time, but to improve as much as I did, one has to wonder if listening to Mozart had anything to do with it. Music has been known to have a very direct effect on people's moods. By just listening to music, people's moods are easily altered. Several studies were conducted to test people's mood changes after listening to certain kinds of music (Schoen 89-99). One large study of 20,000 people showed music changes mood and the changes in mood were very uniform (89). A large number of people listened to classical music by various composers from various musical periods and were asked how the music made them feel. Another study showed that the effects of mood varied from person to person depending on their musicality. Non-musical people enjoy music rarely and when they do, the enjoyment is slight, while semi-musical people enjoy music quite often and when they do, it is enjoyable to them, while musical people enjoy music rarely, due to discriminating tastes, but when they do, it is with the greatest intensity (90). These studies also showed that certain types of moods/emotions are characteristic with music while certain emotions are not such as anger, fear, jealousy, and envy (91).Certain emotions are more characteristic with vocal music because of the words such as: love, longing, reverence, devotion (91). Another study was done on 205 people testing the effects of major and minor modes. Minor mode gave the feelings of "... melancholy, mournful, gloomy, depressing..." while major mode most often gave the feelings of "... happy, sprightly, cheerful, joyous, and bright ..." (99). Music is an important and extremely useful tool in the way we learn and to deny its power is a waste of a truly wonderful resource. In recent years there have been concerns about some types of music such as Gangsta Rap having very negative effects on peoples minds and moods. This type of music imprints an extremely violent image into people's minds and there has been growing concern about it and tying it in with violent crimes. In cases like this, it only shows how much more we need to study music to fully understand its full impact on the human mind. In these days where cutbacks are always eminent in people's local schools, people need to struggle to keep the music and art intact. Music and the arts are what make life worth living and without them, people lose hold of their culture and diversity. The ideal way to learn in the future would be to fully incorporate music into the curriculum of every school. If every school supported and encouraged their students to freely pursue music with the

culture of music in their everyday lives, people would become much more efficient in their learning and would become much better students on the whole. Music is a power too great for man to comprehend at this point but through further study man can learn how to better harness its power to use it to its full potential.

It may be the greatest secret on the spiritual path. Most of today's music is a hindrance not a help. This has been written about from ancient Greece and even more so today but has fallen on deaf ears. Why? Because this very same music makes us feel good, relieves our stress and tensions, releases anger and we're happier listening to it, so it can't be bad. Before investigating why feeling good may be bad, lets review the evidence published and otherwise documented. Dr. John Diamond published a book called BK, Behavioral Kinesiology, later changed to Your Body Doesn't Lie. He relates the story of feeling terrible one fine day in New York City. Being a health practitioner set him on a path of deduction. He wanted to know what common elements over two days made him feel ill. The only thing he could come up with was a visit to the record store Sam Goodys each day. But why would that effect him that way? The clue came when he realized the same song was played both days in the store. Voila! the common denominator. He just happened to be an expert in kinesiology and so began his odyssey of muscle testing himself and other people listening to various kinds of rock and roll for that is what he heard in Sam Goodys. The results startled him. The harder the 'rock' the weaker people became. From that harmless side trip to a record store, began a new career for Dr. Diamond. He has gone on to write several books on the positive side of music, discovering that even the consciousness and abilities of a conductor can effect how much 'energy' comes from a performance or recording. In their 1973 classic, The Secret Life of Plants, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird devote a whole chapter on how music affects plants, called 'The Harmonic Life of Plants.' Dr. T.C. Singh, head of the Dept. of Botany at Annamalai University discovered that ragas helped plants grow. He observed this down to the microscopic level as well. They go on to describe several other experiments in Canada and the

United States in the 50's and 60's where plants and crops grew faster and healthier when listening to Bach, Gershwin and certain sound frequencies. The book continues to relate the story of a former organist and mezzo soprano, Mrs. Retallack, who decided to become a biology student. She remembered one of those experiments using music and set out to do some controlled experiments with her Professor, Francis Broman. Two other students intrigued by Mrs. Retallack's lead, conducted their own tests and: "ran an eight-week experiment on summer squashes, broadcasting music from two Denver radio stations into their chambers, one specializing in heavily accented rock, the other in classical music. The cucurbits were hardly indifferent to the two musical forms: those exposed to Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and other eighteenth and nineteenth-century European scores grew toward the transmitter radio, one of them even twining itself lovingly around it. The other squashes grew away from the rock broadcasts and even tried to climb the slippery walls of their cage. Impressed with her friends' success, Mrs. Retallack ran a series of similar trials early in 1969 with corn, squash, petunias, zinnias and marigolds; she noticed the same effect. The rock music caused some of the plants first to grow either abnormally tall and put out excessively small leaves, or remain stunted. Within a fortnight all the marigolds had died, but only six feet away identical marigolds, enjoying classical strains, were flowering. More interestingly, Mrs. Retallack found that even during the first week the rock-stimulated plants were using much more water than the classically entertained vegetation, but apparently enjoying it less, since examination of the roots on the eighteenth day revealed that soil growth was sparse in the first group, averaging only about an inch, whereas in the second it was thick, tangled, and about four times as long." The Secret Life of Plants, p. 154-155 She went on to address critics by showing that plants indeed did shun rock music. She played rock first on one side of the plants then on the other. Each time the plants turned away, growing in the opposite direction. She went on to test various types of music and percussive sounds with varying results. Her research gained her exposure in newspapers and even on CBS. Some of this notoriety also brought the usual bag of skeptical scientists who immediately dismissed the findings with flippant remarks like, 'plants have no ears.' In another study, reported by Insight Magazine, April 4, 1988, physicist Dr. Harvey Bird (Fairleigh Dickinson University) and neurobiologist Dr. Gervasia Schreckenberg (Georgian Court College) wanted to see how music affects animals. They used three

groups of mice. One group heard voodoo music, another Strauss Waltzes and the third silence. The music was played at low levels so that loud volume would not be a factor. The mice had to run through a maze to find their food. The mice that listened to the voodoo music had a difficult time finding the food until it got so bad they were hopelessly lost. The other two groups had no problem finding the food. In fact, the mice listening to the Waltz music did slightly better. All groups received a break of silence for three weeks. The voodoo music group still got lost but the others had no problem finding their way back to the food. At the end of the experiments the brains were examined and compared. The rock/voodoo group did not fair well. There was excessive branching of the neuronal dentrites and significant increases in mRNA. Dr. Schreckenberg explains: "We believe that the mice were trying to compensate for this constant bombardment of disharmonic noise," says the neurobiologist. "They were struggling against the chaos. If more connections among the neurons had been made, it would have been a good thing. But instead there were no more connections, just wild growth of the neurons. ... As a result of the exposure to the disharmonic sounds," she says, "we believe there was less capacity for memory in the exposed mice." A high school student, David Merrell, who had won awards at science fairs conducted a similar type experiment with mice and a maze. The group subjected to the rock music did far worse navigating the course. In David's words, "I had to cut my project short because all the hard-rock mice killed each other. None of the classical mice did that at all." (Nexus Magazine 12\97; Washington Times 7\2\97). If you trace Rock back to it's roots, Big Band and Jazz, then go back a couple steps further, you'll end up in New Orleans and Haiti and ultimately back to the voodoo beat, the drum beat of Africa. Why is the beat so debilitating? One can point to syncopation or stress on the off or weak beat. For example, the Waltz has three beats with the natural emphasis on the first: One, two, three; One, two, three. Change that emphasis to the last weak beat and you get: da, da, dumb; da, da, dumb. That's a syncopated rock beat. That explains the mechanics but not the effect. It is almost as though the first beat of the waltz is a space or cosmic interval. God sends the energy and then the soul listening, hears and feels the initial wave of life force within the heart. The interchange takes place as the soul pauses to make atunement with the God above, then responds with the second and third beats. A beat with no emphasis on any beat seems mechanized not attuned to the cosmic cadences. The emphasis on the last beat seems to make a statement that the physical plane is most important in this exchange, that the ego supercedes the Divine intent. The final beat says 'there will be no divine interchange, the energy will stay right here.'

In the beginning, we were spiritual beings, equally created and filled with Light . What we do with that Light is our choice. We have free will. This Light courses through the meridians and chakras as chi, light, fire and energy even filling the spaces in blood molecules. The major energy centers are the chakras as seen below.
The Seven Chakras in Man 1. Crown (yellow) 2. Third Eye (green) 3. Throat (blue) 4. Heart (pink) 5. Solar Plexus (purple) 6. Soul (violet) 7. Base of the Spine (white)
SummitLighthouse

It is these seven energy centers that get affected by the syncopation. They are intended to be spinning at different frequencies and are supposed to look like the pure colors above. Our desires, wrong behavior, thoughts, emotions and outside forces can alter the color and slow down the spinning, even stopping the wheel of the chakras completely. I hope to show that what is actually happening is that the vibration and beat of discordant music sets up a direction and flow of energy that passes through the chakras, creating friction, simulating the spinning of these chakras and therefore, making us feel good. Our chakras are so sullied by the vagaries of modern day life that we crave relief. Rock music brings those chakras back to life but only for a moment. If we had the chakras above, we would instantly recognize the assault upon our Light. Science points to this hypothesis as it continues to explore the effects of sound impacting matter. Sound travels through the ethers in waves and patterns. Several scientists have studied how sound creates shapes and patterns. Hans Jenny used clay materials, sands, and liquids. He created the form on the left, below. This particular frequency is setting up a Tai Chi kind of flow. In another experiment (right) at the Univ. of Texas, Scientific American (November 1996) reports on a device called an oscillon. Different frequencies made tiny brass spheres form pillars (additional link).

In both experiments, many different patterns resulted. Most of the time, the medium used was lifted up, defying gravity, as if it had a mind of it's own, wanting, yearning to explore beyond it's own physical universe and limitations. While some might say the sound created heat in the liquids causing it to rise, the same cannot be said of the numerous inert substances used, such as the two above. No, it was the sound causing movement. Each frequency has it's own little dance. Imagine the effect on us, not only on our spiritual body but on the 70% of water within us. Researcher, Masaru Emoto, has done some revolutionary work on how water is affected by sounds, words and music. He subjected water and water crystals to different sounds, even swear words. Pure water looks like a beautifully formed crystal, a unique pattern like a snow flake. Polluted water looks like mud. Normal looking water turned to the intricate crystal pattern when prayed over or when classical music was played. When negative thoughts or even words like 'Hitler' were used, it turned to an amorphous non-descript glob like the one below. This same effect happened when heavy metal rock music was played and can be seen in the picture immediately below and at this link: Miraculous Messages of Water.
Left: The music of Bach impacts a water molecule and crystal. Right: Heavy Metal music impacting a water molecule

Beautiful thoughts and sounds make beautiful patterns. The energy rises up and out, following defined pathways. Negative words and a syncopated beat prevents the water from this growth and expansion. It's as if the energy drives the water down, flattening the patterns pure water is intended to out picture. What is the beat doing to our light and energy centers? Many enlightened thinkers compare each soul to a crystal. We have unique patterns, colors and frequencies that make up our spiritual body. Is our crystal-like etheric body turning into the glob above? Go back to the plants. When they died and shriveled up but thrived with classical music, they still had physical light and nutrients in the soil. Other studies have proven that plants also have auric fields, smaller, but there. It is that energy or Light that is being siphoned away from them, causing extreme trauma even death. We have greater Light than plants and animals as God gives it to us to do with what we will, for a short time. We can use it correctly or squander it. When that beat rolls in, it presses the Light out and down, just as it did with the water crystals. It goes down to the lower chakras rather than going back to God. As it goes down, it's passing through those sluggish chakras. The friction stimulates them. It feels good even giving people the sense of power; but the real power comes from God and is the pure Light of the chakras. The energy drops down to that bottom, base of the spine chakra, creating an over-sexed society but that 'feels good' so it 'can't be that bad.' The light is lost. Light that would have fed the other chakras on the way back to God. The love in the heart could have increased or the mind of Christ could have expanded with the opening of the crown chakra. Sex is good, but all the time? Do we need to be thinking about it as much as we do? The spiritually inclined of old, east and west, knew these principles. Below is an ancient symbol called a Shri Yantra depicted over the centuries with slight variations but always with the interlaced triangles. It represents the Aum or Om, the unifying sound representing all sounds that come from God. It can place one in contact with God and the God in each one. The figure on the right shows the pattern when the Om is spoken into an electronic device. There are sounds and music that help mankind connect with his divine potential and with God.

Left: Indian Shri Yantra depicting the Aum mantra Right: Aum mantra spoken into an electronic transmitter (from
Ajit Mookerjee collection)

Other individuals in the west also had the grace and intuitive ability to recognize the importance of music, such a one was Plato over 2,000 years ago. He didn't need ocilliscopes and mice frantically running around a maze. He did know mathematics and understood the science of music.

Plato

He wrote in the Republic: "Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated, graceful." Later he writes in the Republic about the negative effects on society: "The introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperilling the whole State: since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions." In Laws he wrote:

"Through foolishness they deceived themselves into thinking that there was no right or wrong in music -- that it was to be judged good or bad by the pleasure it gave. By their work and their theories they infected the masses with the presumption to think themselves adequate judges ... As it was, the criterion was not music, but a reputation for promiscuous cleverness and a spirit of law-breaking." Another statue of Greek philosophy, standing equally tall in history, Aristotle said: "emotions of any kind are produced by melody and rhythm; therefore by music a man becomes accustomed to feeling the right emotions; music has thus the power to form character, and the various kinds of music based on the various modes, may be distinguished by their effects on character---one, for example, working in the direction of melancholy, another of effeminacy; one encouraging abandonment, another selfcontrol, another enthusiasm, and so on through the series." As with many theories and studies of this nature, there is an element of faith. Hopefully more research will come to the fore. Look for it on the internet. It pops up occasionally. To understand why Plato is concerned for our souls, why Aristotle warns of character, why plants turn away from rock, why animals become disoriented and water crystals turn to mud; you can try your own simple experiment. Pick a morning, the earlier the better. Do some prayers or mantras and meditate for at least 15 minutes or longer. Ask God, Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, or Maitreya to show you the truth. Then play some rock or rap music and meditate on what is happening. I think you'll find that the energies flow downward, not back to God but give rise to feelings of anger, sex or even a false sense of empowerment. Try to analyze that sense of power. Is it true? Does it come from God and/or your true Self or is it ephemeral, an illusory emotion whipped up by a frenetic beat? Here's another test. Put yourself in a good space again. Wait till you're calm and attuned to the subtle vibrations of the spirit. Then listen to a traditional rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by a famous Opera star like Robert Merrill (he opens the Yankee games--hey, I just had a thought, maybe that's the real reason they've won so often. It's not the money!), or someone else who sustains notes and sings it as it is supposed to be sung. You can feel the power and majesty of the song. It is actually thrilling. The thrill is not just self generated, there is a movement of energy (and light) as demonstrated above. The sustained notes, sung with power and, yes, even love or devotion moves molecules and unseen prana, odic forces, orgone energy, chi, light, whatever you want to call it; into pathways and invisible grids of sound rays that benefit all who hear or feel the radiance emanating.

Now, listen to one of the modern versions sung at a championship game. The singers add all sorts of curlicues and ever changing notes at the end of words. Picture what happens to the clay and sand formation above, or the shri yantra. It's going to be a jangled, chaotic mess, kind of like a nightmarish picture of modern art. There is a correlation. People's emotional bodies are out of whack for various reasons. Their astral bodies may look like a Klee painting or a Picasso. Therefore this type of music and art resonates with them, so much so, they probably think I'm nuts. That's okay, some will know what I'm saying here. The quest to contact the Divine within and above, is a daily occurrence. It takes effort. Music is intended to aid that path. The world and it's ways loves a yo-yo. The string is let out. We learn advanced spiritual techniques. We strive, do better, climb up the spiritual path of the world's mainstream religions or the feel good philosophies of today's movements. We stay at that plateau for awhile, feeling connected to God, to pure Love and wanting to serve the Christ in others. But these paths are lacking certain spiritual truths. One of these is a secret the vampires of the Spirit do not want you to know. They know how easy it is to steal the Light. The string gets jerked back. They pull on your chain. The Light garnered in the chakras is lost in a fit of anger, a moment of lust, depression, etc. Add the rock\rap beat to those emotions and you have the perfect formula for keeping the populace dumb and happy while sucking their Light and preventing them from becoming their true divine potential. The world wants you to be a yo-yo, to love that rock and rap beat, because as we all know, it feels sooo good. William House Editor, Reverse Spins