Music Care

What is Music Care?

by Bill Protzmann

There wasn't a name for how music cares for us physiologically -- actually minds us in a safe, effective and useful way -- so we gave it one: Music Care.

Music Care is the use of specific music -- music that YOU love -- to produce a desired emotional, mental or even physical result. That result could be calming you after a stressful day, firing you up at a ball game, helping you focus or study to prepare for an exam, or transforming "negative" emotions into "positive" ones. Music in church can help you to feel reverent or peaceful, happy or connected.

Physiologically, human beings respond to sound without effort or thought. That is, when we hear sound, the vibrational energy of the sound is converted to electrical impulses in our brains, which then trigger the release all sorts of brain chemistry and hormones. The release of brain chemistry and hormones causes our emotions to change. Just two examples: an "adrenalin rush" can result from certain kinds of music; other kinds of music predictably lower blood pressure.

If you know that, and then pay attention to how the music and sound around you is making you feel, you will have unlocked your own powerful skill to care for yourself using music: Music Care.

Soldiers, Symphony Conductors and Self-Medication

by Bill Protzmann

Self-medication. All too common in a negative context. Hardly ever mentioned in a positive one. No wonder, as self-medication often involves substance abuse: alcohol, drugs - both prescription and illegal.

There are other ways of self-medicating too. Extreme sports, extreme speed and mixed martial arts give you an adrenaline boost you can't get any other way.

Or can you?

If you've never been in combat - and most of us never will - you will never experience the kind of brain chemistry overload that it takes to be an effective soldier or cage fighter. Preparation for and execution of an effective combat maneuver - whether on the ground, sea or air - pushes the human system to an incredible limit of endurance, physically, mentally and emotionally. Remarkably, human beings are built to do this. The combination of brain chemicals available to trained Service members is remarkable.

At a recent presentation, I spoke to a Marine F-18 pilot told me he finally got it when it came to the music his team listens to before flight. I asked him what they listen to afterwards.

Think about the music on ESPN before a game, or the music AT the game. It's designed to pump you - and the players - up to peak performance. Just like the music those fighter pilots use. Is this self-medication?

We know that hearing music is directly related to release of brain chemicals (hormones, neurotransmitters and the like), so if you or me are self-medicating with music does that make you or me an addict?

Given the incredible sacrifices made by the folks who fight our wars, crime and fires, it's tragic that their average lifespans are so short. It's even more tragic that we don't have our heroes around to honor for many many years - as parents, public servants and exemplary human beings - and that so many of them take their own lives after they leave the Service.

One ad-hoc study found that, of all the professions and occupations, symphony conductors generally have the longest life span AND continue to perform many years beyond the age where most of us will have retired from our jobs. The same study theorized that the gentle aerobics of conducting an orchestra and the classical music in which a symphony conductor is immersed combine to provide longevity. Make no mistake: it's not life threatening (in most cases!) to conduct a symphony, but it is a HIGHLY stressful, politically demanding, intellectually challenging career which some have likened to herding cats.

To rise to the top of your profession in business, banking, technology, politics, medicine, education or the creative arts for example pretty much demands some kind of self-medication. In the music industry, we think of Kurt Cobain, any number of rappers, John Lennon, Billie Holliday - many many others - who died way too young, but who gave the world some incredible art. What part of self-medication didn't these hugely gifted musicians understand?

Plenty of examples, both of those who survive into old age and those who don't. Sure: plenty of career Service members who are combat Veterans live long lives, as do ex-CEOs, surgeons, teachers, artists, actors and musicians. So what's the difference between those who live to enjoy a long life and those who don't?

All these questions have one possible answer, but it's a difficult one to swallow:

The music you hear matters.

Symphony conductors survive to do their jobs late into life in part because they engage in gentle, consistent movement over many years, and in part because of the kinds of music bathing them regularly. Classical music, it had been shown, provides a life-affirming combination of brain chemistry.

Rock, rap, some kinds of jazz, electronica, hip-hop, house music, the sound of a jackhammer and other similar sounds have the opposite effect. You get a GREAT adrenalin boost, but not much that contributes to longevity. Great music for pumping up for a fight; poor choice for healing.

Folks listening to classical music have been shown to need half as much pain medication, increase their level of the "healing hormone" - pituitary growth hormone, - have more restful sleep, lower their blood pressure. This ONLY from self-medicating with music.

Interested?

Here's an idea: try it.

An example:

Some Servicemen I know practice cage fighting. Pre-fight, I'd suggest they boost adrenalin by listening to hip hop or rap, as hard and loud as they can without hurting their ear drums. Post-fight, I'd recommend they put on some Chopin, Rachmaninoff, or even the piano jazz of Brad Mehldau (Mozart might be a bit to airy-fairy, but the others have a lot more healing pathos). This will reverse the effect of the adrenalin boost and provide a wash of healing and soothing brain chemicals.

With iTunes or spotify.com it's easy to get started with musical self-medication, and with Pandora.com it's easier still to find the music that does it for you. I'd be the last to say that one particular song is any better than another - that's a personal choice everyone makes based on their own preferences - but there's enough research to generalize in an effective way about the genres of music and what they can do to the human system.

Many of you know about Guitars for Vets - is playing a guitar to relieve symptoms of combat-related post-traumatic stress "self-medicating with music?" Positive self-medication with music may be a tough term to grasp, but the Department of Veterans Affairs has concluded fieldwork for a study to be released in December 2011 demonstrating the results of the Guitars for Vets program. To quote the study's Purpose:

"Post traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) is a common condition for persons who have served in the Armed services during combat or deployment. Treatments include medications, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other social support mechanisms.

"[The Study's] aim in this project is to critically evaluate the effects of a novel music therapy intervention on the symptoms of PTSD."

Preliminary results of that Study indicate that the Guitars for Vets program has a greater than 50% effectiveness rate with symptoms of post-traumatic stress in Service members. Here's the Study link: Guitars for Vets: Evaluating Psychological Outcome of a Novel Music Therapy.

Music as medication? You decide. And choose wisely.

There's a reason we like music. It can be exciting or soothing. It can help us connect more deeply with our emotions, whatever they are. Whether at the seventh-inning stretch, in a Balinese ceremony, a mosh pit, or in the cry of a hawk, music -- sound -- has a unique and specific physiological impact on us.

Over more than 30 years of observing audiences from the piano my curiosity about music's effect on folks who listen has become something of a project. The volume of research into music and healing has increased dramatically over the last ten years, and I will be sharing some of the recent medical studies with you in this newsletter. Most recently, I've been teaching short seminars based on my research. (Click on my nearby photo to launch my FaceBook fan page, where you can see a brief clip from one of them!

Last July I met a decorated VietNam veteran -- a Native American and County Veterans Services Officer -- who told me his story of dealing with war-related post-traumatic stress. For thirty years -- 1979 until 2009 -- all he could do to relieve his symptoms was lie on the floor for 30 minutes a day with the headphones on listening to music he loves. After 30 years, he finally sought professional treatment. Maintaining a lifestyle that works for 30 years is solid testimony to the power of music.

Here's the bottom line: if you take some time, say, 10 minutes regularly (whatever that means for you) to do nothing but put on the headphones (I prefer the over-the-ear kind because they won't damage your eardrums like the ear buds do) and listen to some music you love, I promise it will change you. Yes: change you. Why? Because you can't help it, physiologically speaking. Set your intention to simply listen...and if thoughts come wandering into your listening presence, just be OK with that. Let me know how it goes!

Alzheimer's and Music Care
by Kae Hammond, Caregiver, Founder and Executive Director of ALZ Life Matters

The majority of us will take on the role of caregiver to a loved one with Alzheimer's without much, if any, advanced planning, prior experience or specialized training.

70% of the caregivers succumb before their loved ones according to the national Alzheimer's Association so it's crucial to learn about and understand the disease while discovering the tools needed to minimize the physical, emotional and mental drain. Taking Care of the Caregiver is really #1.

· Delete denial. No one wants this diagnosis for a loved one; we've all seen how this insidious disease affects the afflicted and, of course, their diagnosis begs the question, "Will I face this disease in later years?" Denial is not an effective strategy for you and limits your ability to properly support and aid your loved one.

· Emotional feeling lasts a lifetime. Your loved one will retain the ability to feel deeply and experience emotions until their final hours. It's crucial to remember this daily so that you speak with kindness, patience and love. Even when they are no longer able to speak they can hear and feel your tone of voice. Look directly at them when you speak so they connect the message with the expression on your face. Touch them often with softness, they will respond to gentle pats, hugs and physical warmth and this will bring them an inner calmness.

· Truth vs. Fiction. Your loved one will revert to a life set in the distant past asking about people who have long since departed. They may want to see them or speak with them on the phone. Telling them their parents or friend is deceased will prompt extreme anguish and pain which is unnecessary. Reply matter-of-factly, "They are on a cruise to Alaska and will be back in 10 days." "We're going to see them tomorrow, remember?" You've avoided unnecessary pain for you both. I bet you are thinking, "I can't tell them a story like that, they'll know if isn't true." If they were dealing in reality, they'd know their parents and friends have passed long ago. And you can tell the same story again and again!

I hope programs like we've developed become commonplace nationwide to empower the caregiver to better understand the disease, thereby dramatically minimizing the physical, emotional and mental toll to themselves as they as they continue on their caregiver's journey.

I'm asked frequently: "Bill, what music should I listen to?" You've probably read my response before, but I'll repeat it again because the point is so powerful. Listen to music that you love. We both might love the same music, and that happens often when I perform for people, but I really want to encourage you to find the music that speaks to you in the very best possible way. That can change, depending on your mood and activity, and that's completely fine, especially if you are able to set up iTunes playlists for various purposes or activities like some of the rest of us gearheads.

If you're not a computer geek like me and you're just getting started with intentional listening -- that is, bringing your entire focus and purpose to really hearing the music you choose -- then check out Pandora for incredible preselected playlists that are assembled by human beings who really know the music. Pandora is free online streaming music organized by category, and it conveniently lets you choose favorites, then builds suggested listening based on what you like. A great tool for the intentional listener, and value-based too, since unlike iTunes you don't have to buy a lot of music in order to get familiar with what flips your skirt.

>So, listen to music that you love. With intention. Which means that you 1) sit down, 2) put on some comfortable over-the-ear headphones and 3) give yourself five or ten minutes of music and nothing but music.

This stuff works! Want to know more? Check out the tabs that follow below for my Facebook fan page Notes tab for my current reading list, or the second page of my one-sheet (both are also available here) for real-life examples and medical studies on how and why it works.

The Los Angeles Times published an article on March 1 2010 from which this quote is taken:

"Patients in the depths of Alzheimer's and other dementias regularly respond to - and even play and sing - music from their distant past, without missing a word or a note. Nursing homes have seized upon that fact, exposing residents to the songs of their childhoods or courtship years to help reunite spouses in dancing and singing and try to coax dementia sufferers from their isolation."

In addition to triggering helpful brain chemistry, music also triggers memory. Have you ever tried to forget the words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or gotten a song stuck in your head for hours at a time? Monks chanting religious liturgies benefit from the same triggers. Music and memory are intertwined in our minds in a way we can use to re-connect with emotion, memory, and even physical movement. Folks whose ability to walk has been compromised by Parkinson's disease were able to walk immediately when accompanied by music with a strong beat. To quote Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, a Harvard University neurologist interviewed for the LA Times article:

"It works well and it works instantaneously, and it's hard to think of any medication that has this effect."

Did you know that stroke victims whose speech has been impaired (aphasia) are able to sing without difficulty? It's called "melodic intonation therapy," in case you were wondering, and it works by musically bypassing the speech centers of the brain. I'd like to suggest that it may actually build new connections in the brain. If you know someone who's having difficulty speaking, ask them to attempt to sing the same words and see what happens.

I'm writing to you this month about warriors in distress. Ones who have been discharged from active duty and ones who are about to be discharged. There's a huge issue facing too many of these fine your men and women: suicide.

Two days ago, I sat in the monthly meeting of the San Diego County Veteran/Family Forum. VetFam was put together a few years back so that all the agencies and individuals and private and public companies and non-profit organizations who care about the second-largest population of veterans in America (hint: we'll all in San Diego County together) -- would have something like a clear shot at coordinating a County-wide approach to doing what needs to be done.

Unfortunately, even with that level of commitment, there's more to do than VetFam and all the various groups represented in it can handle.

This last meeting, VetFam touched on the topic of suicide, specifically among warriors. The most poignant observation, made by an individual with experience to back it up, is that counseling someone who is suicidal is NOT intuitive.

Let me repeat that: counseling -- helping -- someone who is suicidal is NOT intuitive.

This means that our human tendencies will not -- cannot -- serve us well if our goal is to help someone in need choose not to take their own life. We need to teach ourselves some very specific techniques if we are to be effective in preventing suicide, even and maybe especially for those who are closest to us.

I absolutely urge each of you to immediately contact one the many many services available to you to learn what you need to do to be effective in identifying and preventing suicide. It may be of use to you some day, especially if you are the family member or friend of a warrior or are in any kind of counseling capacity, professionally or as a volunteer -- and especially if you call San Diego County home.

Here in San Diego County we are about to see a huge influx of warriors coming out the service with honorable discharges. As these men and women enter civilian life, they will face unemployment of 24% among their peers. They will face other financial hurdles of all kinds. If they have families, those two issues will be compounded. If they have combat experience, those two issues will be further compounded by recovery from wartime stress, commonly called post-traumatic stress. As if that's not enough, there's just no adrenalin rush from daily life in San Diego County that can compare to the war zone, and the camaraderie of the combat unit will be fractured and inadequately replaced by daily life without their fellow warriors. Getting through the first few months of assimilation is hard; some don't make it. Resilience is low at this stage. Very low.

All the agencies in VetFam are committed to a better result for all the warriors who return to San Diego County. I would hope that flagship corporations in San Diego -- Petco and Qualcomm come to mind -- also reach out to employ these talented warriors. It would be so cool if entire fighting units were employed as teams by savvy businesses. This could take full advantage of the built-in ironclad unit coherence forged as warriors and reduce the unemployment rate to something more like the civilian unemployment rate.

I hope that if you live in San Diego County or if you don't, you will do your part to prepare to be a resource for your returning family warrior(s) or friend warrior(s).

It turns out that one effect of adrenalin is the spontaneous creation of connections within groups. Strangers who are scared tend to join closer together, for example, and emerge from frightening situations as an ad-hoc cohesive unit. This effect is powerful in a trained fighting force. It can also be a powerful non-fighting force. If someone you love is scared, and it scares you, pull together rather than separating from one another. Ride it out together, in silence if that's what it takes -- locked in an embrace if that's what it takes -- but ride it out together. Brain chemicals are powerful things, and working with them instead of against them is good practice.

You can use music to activate your brain chemicals. I've written before about the Viet Nam veteran I met who told me that, without music, he would not have been able to live with the post-traumatic stress of combat. He tried everything, but music was the only way he could self-medicate for 30 years before he had the courage to seek treatment by conventional means.

Grab an iPod, or a CD, and give yourself and your family and your friends a meaningful soundtrack to ride through the adrenalin rush, or depression's pit, or the slashing, frustrating anger. Music will deepen the feeling, yes, and it will connect you with a way to understand that feeling for what it is: a feeling, one of many you may have, but not who you ARE. You will find that you can quickly develop an ability to program your own feelings using music. Program yourself some useful ones, ok?

You can use this for lots of things -- but it won't take the place of a short course in suicide counseling. Do that too, please, even if you don't have a pressing obvious need. It's like CPR; you never know when you'll be called on to use it and save a life.

And, if you'd like me to come over and do my "healing with music" presentation with you, your family, and your friends, please give me a call.

These questions and my answers were transcribed from a Connected! presentation given for caregivers and cared-for in April 2010. Thought you might be interested. The questioners anonymity has been preserved.

A -- (Plays the melody to "Twinkle twinkle little star" or "A B C") -- When you learn or memorize with music, the information is learned faster and retained longer. Practically, music is being used to help treat stuttering or recover language skills after a stroke -- singing the words rather than speaking allows the verbal communication to be plain.

Nostalgia -- songs that we remember from our childhoods or significant times in our lives -- is very powerfully embedded in our memory. Using music to wake that memory up and connect on that level can be very useful. I have been able, for example, to connect on the level of shared experience through music with people suffering from dementia where "normal" verbal communication was not possible.

Q -- I had lung cancer and had a lung removed in 1994. After the surgery I never took any medication. I used earphones and listened to music and evidently the message of the pain didn't get to the head. It worked for me. Evidently music can also stop certain messages that we don't want to deal with or "hear."

A -- The overwhelming release of the hormones that you get out of music is more powerful than the pain messages.

Q -- I like very different kinds of music depending on the time of the day, what I'm doing or whatever. What surprised me is that at nighttime my favorites are standards -- Frank Sinatra, that type of thing -- that literally make me annoyed, nervous and irritable if I listen to them during the day. Why would that happen?

A -- It's just us! There's no real reason for it...it's just how we're wired! I like to take different music and try to make myself listen to it -- alternative rock and roll and head-banging music -- I love that stuff because it's so incredibly complex and rich. It's fun to build a sort of daily soundtrack. So my answer is to go with it and give yourself a sound track that works for you throughout the day.

I spend some time playing for Veterans who come back from the war with post-traumatic stress. On the front line you want something that's going to fire you up, but when you get back and you're dealing with the emotional results of that you want a completely different kind of music. If you know this about yourself, you can use it to give yourself support throughout the day, or, if you're curious like me, you can sort of intentionally annoy yourself with music to see what happens.

Q -- Is it correct that there are certain tones that are better in the morning for someone than in the evening?

A -- I have heard music therapists say this. I'm not a music therapist -- I function more as outreach, to try to get you to do something more than just sit with what you have. I think there's merit in that, but I haven't found that playing things in a particular key does something differently than others. I've been told that each of the seven tones in the scale corresponds to a specific chakra.

My observation is that love songs tend to be in the "flat" keys (A flat, E flat). Chopin wrote lots of beautiful melodies in the flats; when Chopin and Beethoven wrote tortured, angry music it tended to be in the "sharp" keys -- still, there are lots of popular love songs in A and G and D and lots of angry or melancholy music in the sharp keys. You really experience the flats and the sharps differently. If I played a piece of music in a key other than the one used in a popular recording, you would notice a difference, even though you might not be able to explain it. I believe that we remember tonality and pitch and that it effects us, but I don't believe that there's any "perfect pitch" for you that's different from my "perfect pitch."

Q -- Can you make any comment on what differentiates us from the animals in that humans have music and animals do not?

A -- I'd just be speculating! What I can say is that my cats respond differently to different kinds of music. For example, as I was rehearsing for a particular program, one of my cats would always come up to the piano at the same point in the program each time and want attention. Other than that, I don't have a comment....

Q -- I'm a caregiver in our family for three different people. Why is it when you're a caregiver you want to listen to sad music? I find myself not wanting to hear happy upbeat music. I will turn on the radio or CDs and listen to love songs or sad songs. I do not want to get whoop-de-do'd up and it's hard to get out of that whoop-de-do feeling when I have three cancer patients in the family. I had a nervous breakdown too, but I'm doing pretty good. Why do I not want to dance around and go to functions and listen to happy music?

A -- I have an answer from my own personal experience. I grew up in a family where emotion was not expressed on a very wide range. We were not allowed to be too sad and we were not allowed to be too happy. I really believe that the only reason I came out anywhere near as good as I did was because I had a way of experiencing those feelings that was acceptable. I could go to the piano and the feelings that I wanted to feel deeply I could experience through the music. I've since learned that this is an actual practice that exists in a lot of the Eastern traditions, and the practice is this: to identify a feeling and to go fully through to the very bottom of that feeling. This, as it turns out, is something that a lot of therapists use in their practice of psychotherapy. I've been doing it all my life. Some people would call it meditation.

The best music -- for me -- for doing this are the ballads and the slow songs. I would just encourage you to keep listening. What you can do with that is love it, and put on those songs, with headphones especially, and try to find the very bottom of that emotional experience, whatever it is. If it sadness, if it's despair -- if it sounds like it might be a "bad" thing, just go with that -- nothing's going to happen to you; you're sitting there in your chair with the headphones. And when you've found that bottom place, I promise you that you will also find the gold that's buried there.

Music Care

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