Drumming Therapy as Music Therapy in Orange County, California
This page contains our earlier (2003-05) content on music & therapy and has not been updated. For more up to date information on music therapy and drumming therapy, see the following pages:
Music and the arts offer many techniques that aid health and cognition. Much has been published regarding the study of music for students in grades K through 12, demonstrating higher IQ scores and increased creativity. Music study and performing serves as a catalyst for learning, and is known to be helpful in rehab following illness, and neurological injury. The benefits are seen through an improved understanding of spatial, analytical, and creative relationships. These stimulate new interests and comprehension in learning, and help seniors that may be suffering ill health, and neurological changes such as stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, hydrocephalus, dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, and other disorders.
Click to listen/download to music from the instrumental healing song "Evening Solstace." The song was recorded in 2002, and has been listened to by persons with cancer, neurological disorders, and chronic illnesses across the U.S.
We believe the most significant advancement in music therapy more recently has been in the healing and communications benefits with rhythm and percussion through participation in Drum Circles, often incorporating instruments that are hundreds of years old. Rhythm is felt to be highly inspirational because human, plant, and animal functions are closely linked through the Earth's "harmonics," as biological organisms having common amplitude and frequency vibrations.
In 2002, and later amended in 2005, we undertook a neurological sound processing study that studied the relationship between auditory, vestibular, and visual stimuli - and neurological deficits (defined in the study as neuro-hypersensitivities) - which commonly involve a decrease in the tolerance to sights, sounds, and vestibular orientation. We found a direct relationship between heightened sensitivities to specific repetitive rhythm patterns, and headache, dizziness, disorientation, and fatigue - which affect one's ability to learn and comprehend. Next, we introduced a protocol gradually exposing the study subjects to the offensive stimuli, to improve his/her tolerance and compensation, thereby improving the associated neurological deficit. We found a causative relationship between simple harmonic rhythms and complaints and one's decreased ability to learn, where more complex or syncopated rhythms were actually helpful in learning and in developing compensatory function.
Listening to classical music while performing complex intellectual tasks has been reported to improve concentration. This music may also improve the well being in individuals who are ill. Classical music may also produce an emotional response, thereby releasing specific neurotransmitters, facilitating new brain synapses, and cognitive levels. The full scope of these processes is not well understood, but music has been shown to cause increased recall of long term memory in patients following traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, and surgical trauma.
Painting and graphic arts strengthen spatial and creative reasoning critical in cognitive health. Many seniors have taken up these arts in recent years, and it has been shown to further happiness, quality of life, and life extension.
Dramatic acting, musical performing, and dance can stimulate multiple areas of the brain. One its surface, the arts allow free expression of thought and feeling - thereby improving emotional health. Emotional health influences overall health. They stimulate creative thinking, and improve cognitive function and learning. They aid spatial and energy awareness through coordination of movement. These arts do require a level of cognitive function to memorize and execute the performances. If done successfully, they can induce powerful changes in individuals.
Viewing film and theatrical performances provides a multitude of benefits. Primarily, it aids in the compensating mechanism to poor health, by enabling the viewer to focus their thoughts on positive or rewarding experiences. You can actually laugh many of your thoughts and awareness of ill health away. It can aid in creative and analytical thinking, and stimulate cognitive function in a similar manner as would a game. The movie, "Groundhog Day", which repeats 30 to 40 variations of the same scene, is an excellent exercise to improve short and long term memory.
As founder of Dolle Communications, Mr. Stephen Dolle has had numerous personal and professional experiences with Music & Art. In 1992, after suffering a brain injury, he devised techniques that facilitated his own rehabilitation. For instance, he used the analytical (math) aspect of music to strengthen his reasoning functions, while writing and creatively playing music to boost overall well being.
Music and Art has been shown to benefit people of all ages and skills level. A simple Internet search of "music therapy" or "art therapy" will reveal thousands of useful resources. Please visit the music industry's national site American Music Conference (AMC) section on music and wellness.