Facebook Twitter Instagram
    India Art Review
    • Dance
    • Music
    • Art
    • Heritage
    • Theatre
    • Books
    • Films
    • Team
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    India Art Review
    Home»Music»Healing Notes — Hindustani Classical Music as Therapy
    Music

    Healing Notes — Hindustani Classical Music as Therapy

    Nabanita ChowdharyBy Nabanita ChowdharyJune 21, 2021
    Healing Notes — Hindustani Classical Music as Therapy
    Share
    WhatsApp Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Telegram

    On World Music Day (today) the writer, a leading Hindustani classical vocalist and a music therapist shares the healing qualities of ragas and how it helped her autistic child.

    Hindustani classical music is the science and art of sound, embedded with the postulates of tone, tempo, stimuli and euphony. These elements collectively posit musical signals to the auditory system to instigate appropriate responses via the cognitive and intuitive processing systems of the neural functions of the brain.

    In Indian classical music, distinct ragas or melodic frameworks manifest and elicit perceptible emotions. Each raga is constructed from certain musical notes. Sundry combinations of consonances and dissonances comprise a canon of harmonious themes with varied canorous corollaries. Precisely, spiritual and emotional intents are the discerning and distinguishing features of the raga system.

    Brain injuries or more colloquially used fancy terms like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder – not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), Global Developmental Delay (GDD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Communication Disorder and so on are incapabilities to decode and encode the communicative gestures and forthcoming sound signals along with certain comorbid conditions.

     Besides comprehensive and cohesive clinical therapies, ragas provide significant respite to these people as well as their parents or caregivers. Several meticulously devised types of research proved that several ragas can truly mend and heal, even cases damned by conventional medicos.

    The executions of systematic movement of the central nervous system occur through auditory-motor communications on the brain stem and spinal cord. Soothing raga music actually arouses the excitability and responses towards stimuli of spinal motor neurons of the cerebra.

    Ragas to rescue

    In my own child’s recovery journey, I have been extensively applying celestial “OM” (AUM) sound for its soothing effect to assist the mind and body to enter into states of balance and harmony. I have keenly observed the structural musical elaborations and integrative experiences of ragas like Bhatiyar, Pilu, Shree, Lalit etc. refine brain-injured people’s auditory sensitivity, thereby increasing their mindfulness, consciousness and creativity. Ragas like Deepak, Hansdhwani etc. generate noteworthy reactions to the hypo children and young adults who otherwise barely respond to the usual communications. 

    The “spiritual melodicism” of Hindustani music generates perfect synergy with ethereal harmonies and textural rhythms in the purest minds of these brain-injured people.

    On the contrary to the general myth that instrumental music like the flute is more impactful to persons with ASD or other disorders, I perceived and experienced that vocal music therapy is better for semi verbal and those who can make sounds. Many who have difficulty in their throat and vocal cords start singing in perfect rhythm following a substantial exposure of integrated sonority and eventually attain clear speech. 

    Choose the right note

    24-hour Continuous Electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring with intermittent vocal music inputs to our child expounded that the very sharp tonal work produces sudden spikes which agitate the brain cells while they traverse through the lower notes with a soft tonal effect that ensures no sharp spikes. 

    Hence it is imperative to have the requisite skill to determine the right kinds of alankars and swar practices to have the equilibrium of the right and left cortex of the brain. The vivid improvement in our child’s confidence through the appropriate selection of ragas made her more vocal about her feelings. Now she expresses emotions more aptly and almost recovered on many fronts.

    The non-invasive approach of raga music with particular phonetic sounds can amalgamate the seven main Chakras or nerve plexuses of brain-hurt people. Consistent guided listening sessions of judiciously selected ragas have a unique potentiality of associating locations of Chakras in the body with the corresponding picture, colour and phonation which consequently channelize the Chakras accurately for the well-being of the brain.

    In essence, the acoustic aspects of Hindustani music promote wellness, manage stress, alleviate pain, express feelings, enhance memory and promote physical rehabilitation in brain-injured people. Here healing is considered as a movement toward mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wholeness to confront the mysterious challenges of brain-injured individuals.

    Autism and music featured Hindustani music music therapy Ragas and brain
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Telegram WhatsApp
    Previous ArticleArtist’s Talk Series
    Next Article Family Matters: Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Master Class on Relations
    Nabanita Chowdhary

      Related Posts

      Talat Mahmood

      Talat Mahmood: The King Of Ghazals

      May 9, 2025
      Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee

      String by String: The Dream of a Sound and the Making of a Sitar

      April 7, 2025
      The Old Man and the Sea

      The Old Man and the Sea: Reinterpreting Hemingway in Kathakali

      February 28, 2025

      3 Comments

      1. Pradeep Dixit on June 21, 2021 4:09 am

        Good morning!! Wish you a great success in your every future walk of life.!!

        Reply
      2. P K Mukherjee on June 23, 2021 12:15 am

        Would present day classical music, based on “fixed” A=440 (or whatever) western note values, have effect on physical well being and/or spiritual experience?

        Reply
      3. Dr.L.S.Ramesh on December 13, 2023 6:45 pm

        Music chakra for Music Therapy
        I designed an innovative music chakra which can be used to teach children with autism, Downs syndrome to learn to play musical scales on the piano or keyboard.
        Please see website http://www.faces108.com
        If possible kindly help me reach out to a wider audience through your reputed Indian Art Review.
        Regards
        Dr.L.S.Ramesh .Musicologist
        Chennai

        Reply

      Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

      Author In Focus VK Karthika

      Pathaan

      Pathaan: A Triumph of Love Over Hate

      V K KarthikaMarch 31, 2023

      Pathaan breaks the typical stereotype of Islamic Terrorism.

      Avatar

      Eastern Ethos Lifts up Cameron’s Avatar Sequel

      V K KarthikaJanuary 31, 2023

      Eastern ethos and laws of the nature are set to get a new tech-driven meaning as Cameron is planning two more sequels.

      Yazh

      Reviving Yazh, the Indian Harp

      V K KarthikaNovember 28, 2022

      Without Tharun, Yazh, an ancient instrument would not have taken birth in modern times

      Tholppavakoothu

      Girl Power up in Puppetry

      V K KarthikaSeptember 30, 2022

      Rajitha Ramachandra Pulavar and her team gave a new meaning to Tholppavakkooth and the body politics went in for a change in 2021

      Nanjiyamma tribal singer of Attappady

      Why the National Award for Tribal Singer Nanjiyamma Matters

      V K KarthikaAugust 27, 2022

      India witnessed a debate on the ‘purity of music’ when tribal singer Nanjiyamma won the National Award.

      EVENTS

      Sooryakanthi festival

      Sooryakanthi Dance Festival From Nov 28- Dec 1

      India Art ReviewNovember 25, 2024

      Memorial Awards and Dance Performances in Chennai

      India Art ReviewNovember 25, 2024

      Tribute to Yamini Krishnamurthy

      India Art ReviewAugust 13, 2024

      Kuchipudi Drama

      India Art ReviewMay 24, 2024

      Have You Read These?

      Youth

      The Fountain of Youth

      Vineeth AbrahamMay 16, 2023

      What will happen when a bookworm set out to clean his library? One of the…

      The Elephant Whisperers

      Poetics of Fostering the Animal: The Elephant Whisperers

      Babu Rajan P PMay 1, 2023

      With the decline of natural habitats, human-elephant conflict has seen a surge, often leaving the majestic creatures as unwitting participants. “The Elephant Whisperers” documentary pays homage to the conservation endeavors aimed at preserving these habitats and raising awareness among communities about the perils of anthropocentrism.

      1899 and the Virtual Studio: Futuristic Filmmaking

      IAR DeskMarch 12, 2023

      1899, the new web series from the creators of German masterpiece Dark, will be filmed entirely in a virtual studio. Here’s all you wanted to know about ‘Volume’ and why it matters to futuristic filmmaking.

      Yazh

      Reviving Yazh, the Indian Harp

      V K KarthikaNovember 28, 2022

      Without Tharun, Yazh, an ancient instrument would not have taken birth in modern times

      A ‘Lyrical Dance’ Tribute to Edassery’s Poem

      G S PaulNovember 8, 2022

      Choreographic ingenuity of Vinitha Nedungadi created alluring visuals of the sublime poetic imagination of Edassery in Anthithiri.

      vijayakumar menon

      Vijayakumar Menon Taught Kerala How to Appreciate Art

      Renu RamanathNovember 3, 2022

      The only wealth Menon amassed during his solitary journey was that of art. When Vijayakumar…

      About
      About

      India Art Review is a dedicated digital journal of art and culture, based in Chennai and with representatives in Kerala, Delhi, the UAE, Canada and the US.

      We're social, connect with us:

      Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn Telegram
      People in Art
      Kalamandalam Vasu Pisharody: Beauty of Restrained Kathakali

      Kalamandalam Vasu Pisharody: Beauty of Restrained Kathakali

      March 10, 2021
      Malini Rajurkar: A Hindustani Vocalist’s Unparalleled Journey

      Malini Rajurkar: A Hindustani Vocalist’s Unparalleled Journey

      January 8, 2021

      Alice Boner: Kathakali’s First Ambassador to the West

      December 15, 2020
      Kavalam Narayana Panicker

      Kavalam Narayana Panicker: A Legend of His Times

      June 26, 2021
      Must Reads
      Mangad Natesan

      Remembering Carnatic Musician Mangad Natesan

      May 3, 2024
      P K G Nambiar

      PKG Nambiar(1930-2023): The Man who Redefined the Role of Vidooshaka

      May 10, 2023
      Kanak Rele

      Dr. Kanak Rele (1937-2023): A Revolutionary in Dance 

      February 22, 2023
      Pandit Shivkumar Sharma

      Adieu, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma

      May 10, 2022
      Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube RSS
      • Home
      • About
      Copyright © 2022. India Art Review

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.