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I just read a fascinating article on the healing power of music for animals. According to Live Science, a handful of harpists throughout the country are using their music on animals.
Harpist Alianna Boone states, “The structure of the harp is considered to be the most healing instrument next to the human voice”. She produced a CD for ill pets called “Harp Music to Soothe the Savage Beast”. Boone conducted one of the few actual studies of harp music’s effect on animals, rather than just relying on anecdotal reports.
In 2000 she performed for hospitalized dogs at a Florida veterinary clinic, and the hour-long sessions were shown to lower heart rates, anxiety and respiration in many cases.
Dogs, however, aren’t the only animals that respond to music. Cassie is a cow who came to live in a sanctuary farm in Massachusetts after she scaled a 7-foot-high fence fleeing from a slaughterhouse. After she arrived at the farm, she exhibited some anxiety-related behavioral problems. She snorted and stomped her hooves, making some of the volunteer workers at the farm fear for their safety around the 1,500 pound beast. Then one of the volunteers decided to play Alianna Boone’s CD of harp music for the angry, stomping bovine. Within 20 minutes, the cow calmed down and drifted off to sleep.
At the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, a group of gorillas were treated to a live harp performance, and appreciated it so much that the youngest gorilla blew the musician a kiss before falling asleep.
While not all animals respond to it, for the animals on which it works, it works extremely well. Humans respond to harp music as well. Some harpists have found that certain harp vibrations resonate with a patient’s own cellular rhythms to help release tense muscle tissue, calm anxieties, induce restful sleep, and increase endorphins for pain management, aiding the body’s own efforts to heal itself.
This story got me to wondering why we love music so much. Why does music give us chills? The drawing of emotion from music is classic. Music has been with us as long as we can remember; musical instruments have been found dating back tens of thousands of years. Nobody really knows for sure why we all love music, or what function it serves, but there’s no denying that most everyone has some sort of reaction to music.
Scientists have yet to find a music center in our brains, but a 2001 study at McGill College using brain scans showed that while listening to music, the brain structures that were activated are the same ones linked to euphoric stimulation, such as food, sex and drugs. Blood flow in the brain rises and falls to swells of music in areas associated with reward, emotion and arousal.
In humans, music has been found to ease labor pain, reduce the need for sedation during surgery, evoke strong memories, and lessen depression. So it’s obvious that music has some kind of interpretive effect on a subconscious level, suggesting this could be an evolutionary side effect. In the near future, scientists intend to further study the central nervous system’s reactions to music.
So the next time your kitty or puppy seem anxious or upset, play them some music and see what happens. You might both relax.
(from Kran's Crackers)
