The Whole Music Experience

Recently, I spoke to a woman on the bus about the rise in popularity of music therapy. I told her about brain and music studies from the last decade. The most remarkable aspect of music as medicine is that it has no side effects and if you find the right music for the condition, miracles happen. So what do we focus upon these days? I believe that we will continue with the brain-music science and that will play out in the medical community in larger ways. I doubt pharmaceutical companies will enjoy competing with sound vibration, especially purposeful sound vibration, but with fewer side effects and research to back up the healing power of music, why would we toss out this healing tool? Of course, there is the danger of companies creating formulaic music or musical formulas to heal various ailments which they'll find a way to package and market. If people find that they're getting the right results this is not a bad way to go, however, let's not lose the organic qualitie...

Photo by Patricia Herlevi Music resonating within you Psychoacoustic researcher Joshua Leeds introduced me to resonance and rhythmic entrainment in 2008 when I interviewed him for my radio show.   At the time, we were discussing how a sonic environment affects our canine companions, but we also spoke about how a sonic environment affects humans through rhythmic entrainment and resonance. I will give you a non-musical example of resonance.   Imagine a time when you walked into a party or a gathering of some kind.   How were you feeling before you walked into this gathering? And did your feelings change as you spent time in the room with the other people? Did someone walk in with dark cloud emotions and change the vibration or feeling in the space? How did this person resonate with you? Did this person resonate with your subconscious in such a way that he or she brought up your matching core issues? My focus in this essay revolves around musical resonan...

  Joshua Leeds Good Night Baby Music to Soothe Your Infant to Sleep Sounds True Jai Uttal Kirtan Kids The Elephant, the Monkey, and The Little Butter Thief Sounds True If adults find the technological era stressful, imagine what children feel, especially the extra-sensitive infant.  Plenty of record labels release recordings for children and I’ve featured a handful on this blog already.  I contacted Putumayo about its children’s compilation series and never received a response, then Sounds True came out with Jai Uttal’s  (famous in the world of yoga kirtans) Kirtan Kids and psycho-acoustic researcher Joshua Leeds’ Good Night Baby (Music to Soothe Your Infant to Sleep) .  While I don’t have any children myself, I feel that music is a healthy non-toxic medicine for stressed out children.  And in the case of Jai Uttal’s recording, he offers an avenue to a higher spiritual source.  A child needs to feel connected to t...

Joshua Leeds and Lisa Spector Through A Dog's Ear Music to Calm Your Dog in the Car Sounds True Concert pianist Lisa Spector has the good fortune of a dog named Sanchez who relaxes when he hears classical piano. So when Lisa takes Sanchez along in her car, playing a recording of classical piano music is similar to hitting Sanchez' snooze button. Sound unreasonable? Too good to be true? For those folks with anxious dogs that pant excessively or bark in the car or won't get in the car to begin with, there is hope. The latest installment of the Through A Dog's Ear project, Music to Calm Your Dog in the Car is now available. Again, psycho-acoustic expert Joshua Leeds, pianist Lisa Spector have teamed up. The beauty of this recording is that it relaxes dogs without putting the driver to sleep. Music by Chopin, Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Scarlatti, Mozart, Gluck and Debussy flows generously off of this disc. While the music acts as a wonderful soundtrack for a d...

Through a Dog's Ear CD Music to Calm Your Canine Companion Joshua Leeds & Lisa Spector Sounds True Through a Dog's Ear (book) Joshua Leeds & Susan Wagner, DVM, MS Sounds True Two loves have remained constant throughout my life thus far--the love of animals and music. My human instincts and experiences have proven to me that animals enjoy music as much as humans. Certainly animals do not hold intellectual conversations about rhythmic structure and their understanding of music probably does not bode well in an academic setting. However, recent research has proven that animals' moods are affected by music and just like humans, sound healing concepts such as entrainment and resonance are just as true for dogs as they are for humans. According to authors Joshua Leeds (sound healer and researcher), and Susan Wagner (doctor of veterinarian medicine), in their book, Through A Dog's Ear , dogs have refined taste in music. They prefer European classical com...