“莫扎特效应”余波未了 音乐疗法之谜仍待研究
南方周末 2005-08-25 14:34:56
□张田勘
听莫扎特的音乐能够提高智商，这一轰动一时的结论后来遭到了不少研究者的反对，但所谓“莫扎特效应”的影响至今仍然随处可见
真有“莫扎特效应”吗
加利福尼亚大学欧文分校的劳舍尔（F.H.Rauscher）和肖（G.L.Shaw）等人怎么也想不到，他们发表于1993年10月14日的英国《自然》杂志的一篇文章会产生巨大的社会效应。文章的标题是《音乐和空间任务能力》。
劳舍尔等人说，他们邀请大学生听音乐，然后对他们进行智商测试。大学生在听了10分钟的莫扎特《D大调双钢琴奏鸣曲》后，在空间推理测试中的得分有明显的提高。比如，“与听放松指令和不听音乐时相比，听了音乐的大学生智商得分（IQ）提高了8或9分。”这种现象就是后来被广泛传播的“莫扎特效应”。
脑部的音乐活动和人类大脑中其他辨认能力有一种共同的遗传性神经机制，是由高度组织化的短暂空间密码通过在大脑皮质部位传播而产生的。作者认为，音乐和空间能力之间的关系其实是通过训练大脑数组特定的神经元，借此累积类比的模式，完成音乐性功能思考。
这一成果经过《纽约时报》的报道，立即产生了轰动效应，因为这个结果也可以解读为听古典音乐的孩子要比不听的孩子智商高。在美国，望子成龙的家长们以及教育工作者、政府官员都对此表示了极大的兴趣。最为典型的是美国佐治亚州政府的行为，1998年6月，当时的州长米勒先生身体力行，为该州每一名新生儿免费发放古典音乐CD和磁带。而佛罗里达州则要求公立日托幼儿园播放古典音乐。一时间让孩子听古典音乐成为一种时尚。
当然，“莫扎特效应”并非只是在美国流行，它及时地传播到了世界各地，包括中国。至今在网上随便搜索，都能找到无数出售“莫扎特效应CD”的网站或免费下载试听。
但“莫扎特效应”随后也受到了一些科学家的质疑。1999年8月26日的《自然》杂志上发表两篇文章，对16项所谓的“莫扎特效应”的研究进行了分析，而且有相应的实验。研究人员的结论是：音乐对空间智力的总体影响可忽略不计。这两篇文章引起了更大的关注。
第一篇文章的作者是美国哈佛大学心理学系的查布里斯（C.F.Chabris）。他使用统合分析（Meta－analysis，也称后设分析，是对具有共同研究目的相互独立的多个研究结果给予定量分析、合并分析，剖析研究之间的差异、特征，综合评价研究结果）证明，“莫扎特效应”所说的任何认知的增强都是很小的，而且在总体上并不能反映出IQ或推理能力的任何变化。
另一篇文章是由斯蒂尔（M.Steele）和贝拉（S.D.Bella）等9位作者联名发表的。这9名作者说，“莫扎特效应”称，听了莫扎特音乐后大学生的斯比量表（Stanford－Binet IQ scale，我国国内仍习称比西量表）智商测试提高了8或9分，而“我们依照原始报告所用模型的步骤进行研究，结果表明几乎没有证据证实听音乐对推理能力的提高有直接的作用”。
科学传播的典型案例
随着时间的推移以及儿童听莫扎特成为一种时尚，在英、美等国更多的学术和非学术的评论和评估加入了进来。
瑞士心理学家班格特（A.Bangerter）和美国斯坦福大学的希思（C.Heath）在2004年12月的《英国社会心理学杂志》上发表了一篇题为《“莫扎特效应”：追踪一个科学传奇的演变》的文章。这篇文章显然是把“莫扎特效应”的产生、演变、发展和应用当作一个典型的科学传播案例来研究。与此同时，他们文章的主要内容也在欧美一些媒体和网站广为传播，尤其是大学的校报和网站，比如斯坦福在线（Stanford Business Wire）、斯坦福日报、韦的特日报（The daily Vidette，伊利诺斯大学的新闻报纸）。
在班格特和希思看来，“莫扎特效应”并不可靠，但它能流传却是有原因的。在现实生活中有那么多人相信“莫扎特效应”，并认为这个研究是针对婴儿的，这是因为婴儿是很多人焦虑的中心。父母非常担心其年幼的孩子，而“莫扎特效应”似乎是缓和这种担忧的一种方法。这种担心是一种普及面很广的被贴上婴儿决定论标签的陈旧观念。这种观念在世界各国广为流传，认为孩子成长的早期有一个关键阶段，对孩子的一生有着不可逆转的影响。相应地，在中国就是胎儿和出生时期，所以在“不要让孩子输在起跑线上”的鼓动下，胎教音乐、莫扎特音乐和早期教育在中国大行其道。
班格特和希思分析说，“莫扎特效应”能成为一个科学传奇流传深远而广泛是因为它能为社会和教育界找到教育失败的借口。他们发现，在教育系统特别不令人满意的州，如佐治亚州和佛罗里达州，媒体和报纸宣传“莫扎特效应”的比率比教育搞得好的其他州高得多。而且，当一个社会面临问题和麻烦时，人们就越热衷于寻找答案，即使这些答案的来源并不可靠，而且只是通过政府讨论和新书出版来告知公众，而不是靠科学研究的资料告诉人们。
另外，一些公共团体也对“莫扎特效应”作出了并不认同的解读。美国“儿童智力开发媒体联合会”的创建人拉尼·勒维女士就认为，大多数生产商的产品（儿童古典音乐）都是基于一些未经很好验证的理论，如果父母认为孩子听古典音乐就能变聪明的话，那么结果可能会让他们失望。
音乐仍然是强大的
面对强大的质疑，在1993年发表“莫扎特效应”的劳舍尔仍不肯放弃自己的观点。她在1999年11月6日的英国《新科学家》杂志上透露了其新近的研究成果。主要内容是，“莫扎特效应”不仅在人身上存在，在小鼠身上也存在，而且作用更大。她让30只小鼠一天听莫扎特《D大调双钢琴奏鸣曲》12小时，持续了8个多星期。结果显示，这些小鼠通过迷宫的速度大大加快。在迷宫试验中，听了音乐的小鼠比起那些未听音乐或呆在无害噪音环境的小鼠来，犯错误小于37％，过迷宫的速度快了27％。而这些结论是通过对照组获得的，因而具有意义。
劳舍尔对此的解释是，听了莫扎特奏鸣曲的小鼠，其大脑海马区内刺激和改变脑细胞联系的几种基因的活跃水平有明显提高。这些基因分别负责生成一种神经生长素、一种与学习和记忆有关的化学物质以及一种神经突触生长蛋白。后来，在2004年4月28日于旧金山举行的认知神经学研讨会上，劳舍尔重复了这些说法，并希望她的发现有助于为阿尔茨海默氏症和其他神经退化疾病的患者设计音乐疗法。
对“莫扎特效应”的争论或许还会持续下去。无论“莫扎特效应”有无劳舍尔等人所说的那么神奇，音乐在开发大脑、抚慰心灵和进行音乐疗法上的作用正在逐步显现出来。人类离不开音乐也是显而易见的事实。
2003年11月29日的《新科学家》为音乐与人、疾病的关系开辟了一个专辑，专辑的总标题就是《音乐的力量》。文章指出，婴儿对音乐或歌声的反应要比话语更强烈。对于6个月大的婴儿，母亲的歌声是最容易让其入眠的。同时，音乐中最广泛的旋律恰恰反映出我们人体自身的韵律，比如，心跳和呼吸的节律。人类用声音的大小、高低、强弱来表达我们的喜怒哀乐，同样音乐也是如此表达情绪和情感的。这些因素无疑是进行音乐疗法的天然基础，无论是创伤、外伤还是各种疾病、紧张及不良情绪。因为音乐本质上是一种声音，对音乐做出反应是人类天生的一种能力，很难说为什么它能以微妙的变化牢牢地吸引人们。
对于音乐为什么有强大的作用，心理学家斯罗博达（John Sloboda）对此做了一个概括。第一，音乐是一种强大的个人体验的源泉；第二，音乐有一种天生的特质，能模仿这个世界的情绪信号；第三，最有趣的是，随着时间展开的音乐结构所表现出的音乐情绪效应，而我们的情绪是可以感知到变化的。
已有的研究证明，音乐有助于人体健康。音乐来自空间，人是用耳朵来聆听音乐的。由于人耳的前庭功能影响着身体不同肌肉群，迷走神经连接着不同的组织、器官，因此，来自鼓膜的听觉震动与副交感神经系统可以调节人体一些组织、器官的功能。
音乐同样可以辅助人们的学习。在人的学习过程中，重要的是能够让注意力集中到学习的内容上。音乐有传播的作用，可以以它的节拍和旋律帮助个体对学习内容进行编码；音乐也有唤起作用，可以用不同的曲调将个体领入情绪平静或激动的状态，以帮助学习；音乐还有引导作用，可以以乐曲为个体打开进行学习加工的特定神经通路；音乐还有帮助记忆的功能，人们多年不忘的事件和知识通过背景音乐能唤起记忆就是明证。
同样，音乐疗法也在临床上开始应用，无论是莫扎特还是巴赫，至于疗效当然有待评估和继续研究。对于儿童来说，大脑发育是通过多种感官刺激而逐渐发育成熟起来的。各种类型的音乐，不管是流行音乐，还是古典音乐，都能对大脑产生刺激。不过，也有认知心理学家认为，婴儿是通过多种感官的同时作用来学习的。所以，对孩子而言，除了音乐，更好的学习机会是与他人接触，因为人可以同时刺激孩子的视觉、听觉、味觉、触觉。
所以，不管有没有“莫扎特效应”，以及“莫扎特效应”的奥秘是什么，人们都有理由去喜爱音乐。音乐会牵引你的灵魂，去它最想去的地方。它始终忠于你。
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莫扎特的音乐能不能治病，我不清楚。但他音乐的健美效果绝对一流
，瞧人家卡拉扬，还有美纽因，越年高风姿越带劲。
另外我觉得毛细血管中的毛病，比如头痛腰酸之类，听听音乐恐怕有
些帮助，象渴碗热水，冲个淋浴，有时来点重金属才行（心痛）。
- posted on 08/27/2005
xw wrote:
莫扎特的音乐能不能治病，我不清楚。但他音乐的健美效果绝对一流
，瞧人家卡拉扬，还有美纽因，越年高风姿越带劲。
They did lots of music. How can you attribute the effect to Mozart? :)
Music, selected on a personal basis, helped my emotional health,and probably other health as well.
When I need power, I go for Beethoven; when I need serenity, I go for Bach; when I am flimsy, I go for Chopin; when I am fine, I listen to myself. - Re: 鈥滆帿鎵庣壒鏁堝簲鈥濅綑娉㈡湭浜嗐��闊充箰鐤楁硶涔嬭皽浠嶅緟鐮旂┒(寮犵敯鍕�)posted on 08/27/2005
xw wrote:
莫扎特的音乐能不能治病，我不清楚。
Mozart can always cure my headache, it's my no. 1 listening choice at work. :) - posted on 08/27/2005
莫扎特的音乐能不能治病，我不清楚。但他音乐的健美效果绝对一流
，瞧人家卡拉扬，还有美纽因，越年高风姿越带劲。
指挥之长寿和健康，有另外一个研究支持，这些人的心血管甚至比马拉松运动
员还粗。
从身体运动上解释不了，有人认为是音乐的情绪特性的效果。
有人听音乐，只找自己喜欢的东西沉溺进去，其实是合理化或宣泄或强化很局限
的情感情绪，容易偏执。音乐欣赏要全面，全面享受音乐的广阔性，多样性，借
此调节，扩展和深化个人的情感情绪维度、深度、内涵。
可惜的是人们常把音乐当成功利性的工具，比如对莫扎特效应趋之若鹜的众人们
以及为了混口饭吃而音乐的人。还有大量所谓民间的爱好者，其实爱好的不是整
个音乐，而是音乐里恰好逢迎了个人的某种情调，某个心态的那点动静。
音乐能提高人，也能毁人。就像大多数世间的事物一样，端看你如何对待。 - posted on 08/27/2005
不过，也有认知心理学家认为，婴儿是通过多种感官的同时作用来学习的。所以，对孩子而言，除了音乐，更好的学习机会是与他人接触，因为人可以同时刺激孩子的视觉、听觉、味觉、触觉
所以还有“巧克力效应”。有实验表明复习时闻了巧克力香味的学生，记忆性的考试成绩比对照组显著提高。
新式教学环境讲究光线，味道，音乐，背景，坐姿，穿着的舒适。。。
我女儿学校上课的教室里不用日光灯，学生进教室不穿鞋，可以不坐椅子上（可以坐地毯上，或Bean Bags),放背景音乐（包括莫扎特），点香，有人工喷泉，室内植物，上下课不打铃。。。 - posted on 07/07/2006
音乐疗法 Music Therapy 就是上次我说想去学一学的事。今天读了一篇论文，是 Chapman University 音乐疗法系主任 David Luce, Ph.D., MT-BC 做学生时的研究。他的文字很差，内容还算有趣，我把他的文章改写了一遍，算是一个学习的机会。发现玛雅咖啡已经有这方面的讨论，贴到这里做个资料。论文里的 Reference 太多，我就不都列出来了。
Musicality of Living Processes
Is there a musicality of living processes? "It depends..." Dr. Luce answers, although he hopes to answer in the affirmative. He believes a musical essence of human physiology, and that we are living, breathing, playing, creating, and singing organisms, like the planet that we live on and the universe we inhabit. This is a summary of Luce's investigation.
First there is a discussion of musicological, philosophical, and cultural characteristics, and the effects of music on physiological processes. The supporting literatures is based on the fundamental notion of entrainment and whether or not physiological processes can be entrained to external stimuli, or are entrained by internal mechanisms yet to identify. The literature is inconclusive, and the question of music's ability to entrain or affect physiological processes is still actively debated.
The physical act of making music is often discussed as biological, kinesthetic experience, or an aesthetic creative process. He looks into the phenomenological perspective of music making as an expression of embodied experience.
Finally, in the scientific literature, the suggestion of the musicality of living processes has been discounted since the 17th century. Living processes are biochemical processes, while sound and music are mechanical process. Moreover, music is perceived as an art, not a science. However, some researchers have noted that DNA and RNA transcription processes and analysis are cyclic or repetitive, if not down right musical and harmonic. Algorithms have been developed that interpret coding sequences through aural rather than visual means, so that hearing the coding sequences facilitates interpretation more so than purely visual means. He wonders if the musicality of living processes is "just a theory", a misappropriation of ideas to construct an illogical ideology, or is it a fundamental belief that we have forgotten.
The Historical and Philosophical Traditions
Throughout the history of western civilization, the relationship between human beings and their music has been discussed and debated. There are the distinctions between the so-called Pythagorean School and the musical theory of Aristoxenus, most notably the Pythagoeran study of mathematical harmonics as a means of understanding the universe. Aristotle's infamous quip to the notion of the music of the spheres typifies this disagreement: If it existed, certainly we should be able to hear it. The rules of number, ratio, and proportion formed the basis of music theory due in large part to Boethius's translations of ancient Greek texts and his positioning of music within the Quadrivium of the liberal arts. Boethius's document was laden with diverse references to Nichomachean mathematics and Ptolemeic harmonics with Aristotelian natural logic mixed in among Platonic notions of reality.
Between Boethius in the 5th century and the rise of the humanists, there were a host of beliefs based on the relationships of number, ratio, and proportion as representing the essence of the universe. It was through the study of music that the learned individual could prepare himself for the "higher" study of philosophy. There was also the use of human pulse that was related to musical pulse for diagnosis and healing, a relationship based on a mistranslation of the Latin subjunctive case. The perfections of duple and triple meter and the definitions of consonance and dissonance were not only based on number, ratio, and proportion, but also ascribed to theological constructs. The isorhythmic motet and Renaissance architectural design are examples of this reliance.
In the 17th century, a shift to Aristotelian based natural logic, along with the emergence of the Cartesian paradigm and scientific empiricism, separated music from its role in medicine and healing. The belief in the musical nature of all things including human physiology, and other mystical practices, were cast out of medicine.
Outside of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the framework of Aristotle's natural logic, the rhythmic pulse of all life within and outside of the human body was acknowledged and celebrated. In Eastern philosophical traditions, the interrelatedness of sound and form is fundamental. Creation begins with a movement, or a rhythm, in the void, and leads to the emergence of air, friction, substance, form, and the mass of all living things. The organic nature of all creation is a vibratory process of harmonic interactions, and thus the essence of all things is vibrations-in-harmony in an ever-evolving and continuing process of creation.
Since the emergence of Western-European scientific empiricism in the 18th century, these traditions were discounted as "esoteric", immeasurable, and irrelevant to modern science. By separating the physical body from its spiritual essence, medical practice is firmly placed in the realm of modern science. Only in limited situations, a few physicians continued to use music in their practice through the late-18th century.
Discussion and debate about the musicality of living processes is divided between the two fundamental belief systems. Scientific empiricists discount the work because it cannot be observed or studied in reality, while believers reaffirm their faith. Towards the end of the 20th century, the ancient beliefs received increasing levels of attention.
Scientific Considerations
The cyclic nature of human experience is evident from the fundamentals of cellular processes, to the organic operations of bodily systems, to the systemic functioning of the human body. Within and outside us, each has an ebb and a flow, an on and an off.
Sound is a periodic response to rapid changes in air pressure resulting in simple or complex waveforms of certain frequencies. Audible sound is perceived sound. An initial vibration is transferred to a sounding body that transforms the vibration energy into a modified sound that is further transformed by the transmitting environment. The resulting vibration is perceived as sound through physiological auditory processing that further transforms the sound. Sound is defined and limited to our perception of an external auditory even though it is experienced and perceived through neurobiological, psychophysical processes. In Western culture, music listening is a discreet external event and not related to internal processes.
Some sounds are aesthetically pleasing within the context of musical scales. The notions of consonance and dissonance are culturally determined. In the West, people prefer the tempered scale, while other cultures have attuned to different scale. Music in all cultures consists of organized, structured rhythmic successions and superpositions of tones, selected from a very limited repertoire of the discreet pitches of some scale. Music may be a by-product of the evolution of language development, and our ability to process and respond to music may be related to neurological entrainment mechanisms. Through this entrainment process, we interpret and respond to acoustical information as a psychophysical event of neurological, aesthetic, and affective processes. Summarily, we tend to dismiss the possibility that organized vibrational experiences within our physiological experience are musical.
We refuse to consider that our body sings as we resonate to the presence of a loved one, or our muscles sings with pain when overworked, strained or exhausted, or our mind sings with an enlightened thought, creative idea, or peak experience, or an autistic individual is singing when what we hear is loud and non-verbal and "yelling". We refuse to consider that our complete persona--physical, emotional, and spiritual--is creating and singing the fundamental, metabolic, psychological, and spiritual processes of our living experience. Certainly, the biochemical processes of living matter could not be misconstrued, misinterpreted, or misapplied as a musicality of living processes?
Entrainment Mechanisms in Music Therapy
While it is generally agreed that there are physiological cyclic or rhythmic processes, these on-off cycles do not necessarily suggest the presence of harmonically or musically physiological processes. An extensive literature base has examined the effects of music or simple auditory stimuli on physiological parameters such as heart rate, respiration rate, hormonal activation, and brain wave patterns through processes of entrainment.
Entrainment is a physical phenomenon often examined through an experiment using pendulums: two pendulums are set in asynchronous motion and after a period of time, they become synchronous. Given the rhythmic character of physiological processes, it was assumed that music could serve as an entraining mechanism, much as it does in the development of trance states by indigenous cultures.
Rhythm is considered as a unifying element of the social and temporal order, an entrainment mechanism that drives and collectively unites a culture in chronological time. The recognition of rhythm as an organizer in time is a fundamental construct of music therapy. Rhythm in music has the function to organize experience within structure, the self, and in relating to others. Entrainment mechanisms drive the philosophical approaches in music therapy clinical practice.
Psychophysics of Music
The physiological and psychological perception of sound and music has been widely studied in the psychology of music literature and is closely related to the entrainment mechanisms. The studies focus almost exclusively on auditory processing of music as a neurobiological event with some limited discussion of affective responses and sociological issues. The biology of music making literature focus on physical mechanics and auditory processing in a biophysical or ethological model grounded in mechanical physics.
Musicality can be defined as an ability to play or create music based on neurological processing. Research fails to identify a specific neurological process that inhered in musically able individuals.
The neurobiological processes of creativity are requisite in music making. The peak or flow experience of a completely harmonious interaction of movement, physiological, and emotional experience is coupled with an attendant, yet detached awareness that builds a peak experience. Such experience not only inspires and propels the music maker, but also fully engages other participants and observers, and manifests creative music making that is in harmony with the world as sound. People of indigenous cultures embraces and recognized the power and spirit of music to make their lives whole and complete.
The in-utero sound experience has been measured in terms of sound pressure units (dB) and cardiac deceleration in the fetus. While the external sound source is transformed by various level of attenuation, there is nonetheless a qualified perception of sound, through the mother's body, by the fetus. This acoustical phenomenon suggests that the human body, not just the auditory mechanism, experiences sound.
Sound Healing
The theory and philosophy of sound healing is grounded in a belief in the musicality of living processes and the Eastern philosophical traditions. Sound healers recognize and acknowledge the existence of energy fields such as the meridians of Chinese acupuncture and the Chakras and Nadis of Indian yogic practice. Sound healing is accomplished by manipulating these energy fields and other biophysical processes by applying sound directly to the body, or by using sound to intervene in physiological or neurological processes. Healing is intended to restore balance to the energy fields and to support one's natural condition of health. Healing may or may not involve curing a specific disease or addressing a specific symptom.
Much of the sound healing literature, rhetoric and testimonials are grounded in myth, legend and misinterpretations of the fundamentals of sound, acoustics and philosophy, some research claims. This is a genuine concern for the proliferation of "unsound medicine" at a time when individuals are actively seeking alternative paths to health, healing, and curative processes.
There are six general techniques of sound healing: (1) self-generated sound; (2) projecting sound into the body; (3) sounding the body; (4) listening technologies; (5) healing compositions; and (6) sound environments. Music therapists want to know how and if these affects are occurring. The effects should affect both the client and the therapists at the same time. Music therapy and sound healing are related and may be two facets of a continuum of healing with sound and music.
The Musicality of Living Processes
Hamerman in The Musicality of Living Processes identified and discussed four remarkable musical qualities of living processes, without the support of references.
- Living processes are tuned to DNA, which resonates at precisely 42 octaves above the tone C=256 Hz.
- All biological processes function in a defined span--two musical octaves plus a fourth--in the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that is 42 octaves above the musical notes between C=64 and F above C=512.
- The key characteristic spectra associated with the most fundamental of biological processes--photosynthesis, mitosis, protein synthesis, and vision--form an ordered array within the defined span that maps onto the precise notes of the well-tempered major and minor musical scales 42 octaves below.
- Biological processes on earth utilize three qualitatively different forms of electromagnetic radiation--ultraviolet, visible light, and infrared. When the characteristic biological "tone" are arrayed in their natural well-tempered "musical scale", the phase changes or "register shifts" from one type of this EM radiation to the next fall in the interval between F and F-sharp tones. This is the same interval in which trained soprano and tenor voices experience a register shift from the center of the voice to the head voice (the 2nd to 3rd register) more than 40 octaves below.
When one assigns musical values to DNA transcription analysis, repetitive melodic sequences sounding much like "Three Blind Mice" is found. Later researchers assigned full-spectral tones through algorithms that provided an audio interpretation of the sequences, and improved analysis and reduced errors that may occur through only a visual analysis.
A 100-Hz electromagnetic field induced alterations in transcription and translation in cell cultures. There are changes in messenger class RNA and polypeptide synthesis.
One research notes a possible connection between the long-range correlation in DNA sequences and observed in music. The study considered intron segments, those that do not code for protein and produce extremely long correlation lengths of mutual information functions. The comparison to long-range correlations in music was restricted to classical music compositions.
In Infinite Harmony: Musical Structures in Science and Theology, Hayes regards DNA molecules is a biochemical manifestation of the heptatonic musical scale, based on the numerical properties and composition of the DNA molecule and the biochemical processes of the DNA-RNA complex, DNA transcription and protein synthesis could be compared to an eight-note musical scale across three octaves, 22 notes allowing for octave repetitions.
Each of the 64 possible RNA combinations correspond with the 20 amino acids used in the manufacture of living protein, and also with the two coded instructions for "start" and "stop". In other words, there are 64 biochemical signals on the inanimate side. Each "inanimate" triplet-codon therefore corresponds with one or another of the 22 evolutionary signals at the next, "animate" amino-acid level of development.
Hayes details his search through the exoteric, mystical and musical beliefs from ancient Egypt through modern time and concluded that the DNA-RNA complex is "in reality, the oldest song on earth".
Dreamer developed musical scales and compositions based entirely on a tuning system derived from certain frequencies that naturally occur in DNA. He derived his pitches by having the frequencies of DNA spectrographs until a frequency fell within the audible spectrum. Each base molecule after being subjected to light yielded 15 to 18 frequencies, 60 in all. The resulting frequencies were then programmed into a synthesizer as microtonal scales for each of the bases. One pitch emerged as a kind of tonal center, a fluctuating C# in each of the bases (Adenine=545.6 Hz, Guanine=550 Hz, Thymine=543.4 Hz, Cytosine=537.2 Hz, average=544.2 Hz). By comparing all 60 pitches, one can find all of the precise ratios found in the first 16 harmonics of the overtone series. Randy Masters of Aptos, California is trying to discover a fundamental that could possibly be generating all of the DNA frequencies as overtones.
The physiological experience of music according to these authors goes beyond auditory processes. The body mass feels sound as pressure. The body is piezoelectric, translating pressure into electrical signals. Sound impacts the many realms of the molecular world directly, and somehow finds its way to the parts of us that make meanings.
Lyden ("Orbital path of electrons using musical principles", Speculations in Science and Technology 5, 289, 1982) discussed electron paths in musical terms and offered several interesting parallels between the 12 chromatic tones of the tempered musical scale and the structure of a benzene ring. A whole tone scale displays the hexagonal structure of the graphite form of carbon. He paralleled the circle of fifths to nitrogenous growth production in nature, and suggested other relationships that could be represented in both the chemical processes around a benzene ring and the musical aspects of the chromatic scale and circle of fifths.
Hydrogen is the chromatic and augmented 4th scale. It is form and melody. Carbon is the diminished, whole tone and augmented scales. It is strength and energy. Nitrogen is the circle of fifths. It is growth and harmony. Oxygen is the diatonic scale. It is time in perfect rhythm.
Rhythmic, melodic and harmonic laws apply to all sciences. When science becomes stymied in one field, it should look toward other fields where a similar phenomenon is understood.
More about fields
In Rebirth of Nature: the Greening of Science and God, Sheldrake reintroduced an early 20th century biological construct of morphogenetic fields as "invisible regions of influence with inherently holistic properties... that were unknown to physics. They existed with and around organisms and contained within themselves a nested hierarchy of fields within fields--organ fields, tissue fields, cell fields". He suggested the presence of a pre-existing imperceptible form for multiple levels of biological development at the cell, tissue, organ, organism, and systemic levels. If these fields exist and biochemical processes function to fill in these fields, then the potential for healing or possibly even curing may rest in the manipulation of these fields with sound or music, if possible.
Through the learning of quantum theory, the holographic universe, chaos theory, theories of mind, and the presence of music in the world, Luce comes to see that world is vibration, vibration is pulse, pulse is rhythm, and rhythm is the energizer and organizer of music and the universe.
Implications and Applications for Music Therapy
If there is a musicality of living processes, then music making for therapeutic purposes should strive to unite with that musicality to move towards health, healing, and wholeness. A behaviorist model has permeated the music therapy profession in the US. However, models that seek to understand the effects of music on behavior, physiology, or affect have limited the profession to an incomplete manifestation and recognition of the power of music.
There are two significant influences on creative music therapy, anthroposophy based on the writing of Steiner and humanistic psychology as discussed by Maslow. Creative music therapy recognizes the music within us.
As we create music, we hear and play the music that is within us that organizes our bodily experience, and entrain our body with music. As we connect musically with another individual, we entrain our experience of creativity and join ourselves together. We listen to each other, create with each other, play with each other, influence each other, and we heal together. The therapist and the patient are active participants.
As we create music, we organize our selves in the music, construct our identity, create health for ourselves, and give meaning to our lives. We create a phenomenological experience in which we must fully participate to create music that is isomorphic, holistic, and a qualitative reflection of our individual and collective selves as being in the world.
This notion of a musicality of living processes speaks well to a form of music therapy that considers the therapist and client as co-conspirators in a process of creating health, healing, wholeness, and wellness.
The direct application of this understanding would significantly affect the clinical practice of a behaviorally oriented individual, and possibly enhance or facilitate the clinical practice of a humanistically oriented person.
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Notes:
I met Dr. Luce of Chapman University last week and discussed my interest in music therapy as a career. We talked about his main academic interest--the musicality of living processes. He gave me a paper he wrote for his doctorate qualifier. Today I finished studying it, and re-wrote it for my own reference. We both would like to recognize the musicality of living processes, but he aims at finding it scientifically while I am satisfied with the metaphysical implications.
Here I offer one short comment on Hayes's claim that DNA molecules are biochemical manifestations of the heptatonic musical scale, and Lyden's discussion of the parallels between musical terms and electron paths. These claims are far-fetched and only make the speculation less reasonable. I'm reminded of the numerological analysis of Bach's Goldberg Variations. I consider myself a mystic. I believe in the existence of fundamental principles of all things in the universe, and I believe that everything is a reflection, a metaphor, a manifestation of the universe as a whole. Music and science are linked metaphorically. Trying to link them scientifically like Hayes and Lyden shows only a lack of sense. Perhaps I should read the original books and articles to make a better judgment on these claims.
另外，欢迎光临我的读书音乐笔记博客 excursions of the mind: http://jorielle-music.blogspot.com/ - Re: 鈥滆帿鎵庣壒鏁堝簲鈥濅綑娉㈡湭浜嗐��闊充箰鐤楁硶涔嬭皽浠嶅緟鐮旂┒(寮犵敯鍕�)posted on 07/07/2006
阿姗's English is very good. Is this the reason she married a Whtie?
- posted on 07/08/2006
是墨杂特还是音乐 wrote:>从身体运动上解释不了，有人认为是音乐的情绪特性的效果。
有人听音乐，只找自己喜欢的东西沉溺进去，其实是合理化或宣泄或强化很局限
的情感情绪，容易偏执。音乐欣赏要全面，全面享受音乐的广阔性，多样性，借
此调节，扩展和深化个人的情感情绪维度、深度、内涵。
这个说得挺好的吧? :)
可惜的是人们常把音乐当成功利性的工具，比如对莫扎特效应趋之若鹜的众人们
以及为了混口饭吃而音乐的人。还有大量所谓民间的爱好者，其实爱好的不是整
个音乐，而是音乐里恰好逢迎了个人的某种情调，某个心态的那点动静。
这个有点吹毛求疵。“所谓民间的爱好者”当然要从“个人的某种情调，某个心态的那点动静”出发。职业的其实也是。只不过，既然是职业就要“扩展和深化个人的情感情绪维度、深度、内涵”。就象我们做其它行业的，不也得经常参加点CONFERENCE，注意一下行业新动向吗。
偏执有时也是一种难得的视角，偶尔为之，好象于健康无损:) - Re: 鈥滆帿鎵庣壒鏁堝簲鈥濅綑娉㈡湭浜嗐��闊充箰鐤楁硶涔嬭皽浠嶅緟鐮旂┒(寮犵敯鍕�)posted on 07/08/2006
阿姗一字一句改写的英文，一定得看。阿姗有好东西在咖啡里也留一
份，你那博客我也不常去的:-)
- posted on 07/08/2006
xw wrote:
阿姗一字一句改写的英文，一定得看。阿姗有好东西在咖啡里也留一
份，你那博客我也不常去的:-)
xw 不用仔细看。论文我只改到一半满意，让自己能看懂就好了。读的英文书多，习惯了好文好字，忘了原来不是所有英文作品都是好的。写这篇的美国人博士，虽然知道很多字和用语，但他不会组织材料，句子反反复复，绕来绕去的。他的背景既不是音乐也不是科学，但文章里收集的材料应该还是很全的。我是想从他的论文找一个出发点，探讨一下音乐与人的关系。
那我在咖啡贴一点自己的读书笔记吧。也不是什么好东西，给自己看的随笔而已，所以一直没敢拿过来。
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