Positive Health Online

Don Campbell is one of the world's foremost authorities on the connection between music and healing. He has written many books on this subject. He has also produced a series of CDs called Music for the Mozart Effect. (See web site below for details).

The Mozart Effect is a fascinating and inspiring book about the effects of sound and music. Don Campbell says that music is good for us, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Did you know that Gerard Depardieu; the great French actor could hardly string a sentence together before he embarked on a course of sound therapy?

Did you know that Ronald Parkinson PhD a music professor at Northern Illinois University keeps his Parkinson's disease at bay by playing the harp? The disease struck him in his mid-twenties.

Did you know that students who sing or play a musical instrument at school score higher in all other subjects than other non-musical students?

Learning

The music of Mozart assists both sides of the brain to work together overcoming the left brain dominance of our Western society.

Scientists suggest that listening to Mozart can help to improve concentration and enhance our ability to make intuitive leaps. Mozart's music does this by organising the firing pattern of neurones in the cerebral cortex.

The music of Gregorian Chant can help students to learn more effectively. The most in-depth use of music to accelerate learning was developed by the Bulgarian psychologist, Geogi Lozanov.

Developed initially for adults studying foreign languages, his technique known as 'Suggestopedia' has been incorporated into curricula throughout Europe and the United States. He has proved that slow baroque music improves learning.

Healing

Don's book has three hundred pages crammed with evidence of music's healing powers. Campbell lists fifty common illnesses that have all responded to sound and music.

Campbell provides conclusive evidence that music; particularly Mozart's music can be used to reduce high blood pressure and anxiety. Music can break up cancer cells in our bodies and can help to heal mental illnesses.

Scientists concluded that preferred music may produce a positive emotional experience that can release hormones, which create a healing effect in the body.

The director of Baltimore hospital's coronary care unit says that half an hour of classical music produces the same effect as ten milligrams of valium.

Don includes many inspiring stories of people who have been given a new lease of life through music therapy who had previously been written off by society.

Autism

The parents of autistic children have found that music therapy can help their children to interact with them in a normal way. Sam a seven-year-old child diagnosed with autism at the age of two would be unable to tolerate any loud sound. He had tantrums and when his mother sang to him he would say to her, "stop singing."

After sound therapy he said to his mother "Hold me. Hum with me."

Babies

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported in that in a study of expectant mothers, those who listened to music during childbirth did not require anaesthetic. Listening to music releases endorphins and this decreases the need for medication. It also provides a distraction from pain and relieves anxiety.

In another study of pregnant mothers, babies were found to prefer Mozart and Vivaldi to other composers in early, as well as the later stages, of pregnancy. When mothers listened to rock music, foetuses would kick violently and have increased heart rates.

Rock Music

Researches at the John Hopkins University have found that rock music causes people to eat faster and to eat a larger volume of food, while slow classical music makes people eat more slowly and consume less.

The book also contains practical exercises to help the reader incorporate sound and music into their daily ritual. The book also contains an excellent bibliography and section on sound resources.

UK Sound Healers Association

The UK Sound Healers Association is a non-profit making organisation dedicated to promoting sound healing in Britain. For more information visit their web site at:www.uksoundhealers.fsnet.co.uk.