Resonating with your Environment

Posted by Jennifer Buchanan in Books & Films, Music Therapy, Therapies on 08 12th, 2009 | View Comments

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Entrainment is when one vibrating object is placed next to another vibrating object and they both move towards becoming the same vibration. It is also known as phase-locking or a sympathetic response. As you can imagine, entrainment can have its benefits as well as some difficulties depending on what is being entrained.

When working with a young 4-year old boy with autism I noticed several things about his environment. There were “things” everywhere including many toys with diverse sounds and colours. The whole house had been modified to become his play and learning ground – from the kitchen to the living room to the bathroom to the basement.

Mom would move very quickly around the house, often darting in different rooms catching up on her daily work routine. Mom spoke in a fast, high-pitched voice and every sentence she would say would go up at the end, sounding almost more like a question than a comment. In addition to fast, she spoke loudly to her 4-year old in an attempt to get his attention as he moved from area to area in the home with little or no apparent acknowledgement of her. She made comments to me about how exhausted she was.

All persons including children with autism vibrate with and against their environment. When working with the 4-year old I asked mom if she would prepare the small room in her house for our session, removing all the toys and distractions. Each session would start with one large drum in the middle of the room being played with a consistent beat. The child would soon move towards the drum and play intermittently. As soon as he would strike the drum mom spoke encouraging him to continue, while clapping in an unrelated tempo to what was being created. The child’s unsolicited playing would decrease.

It was important I discuss entrainment with mom. Together we discussed different timbres (what sounds affect us in certain ways – using high questioning tones with our voice vs. low, solid tones) and tempo (what speed of voice and movements brings about feelings of relaxation? anxiety?). We then discussed the goals she had for her child that included increased communication and increased attention span. We discussed a program that we felt would accomplish these goals but required an opportunity for the “music (all sounds and silences) to speak” and that meant other distractions including speaking voices and supportive clapping could not be used. We also looked at using deeper and slower movements and tones throughout his day to day.

It only took a week of changes for mom to say – I am feeling much more relaxed at home and am listening to music that is soothing for my son and me. I am also noticing that my son is seemingly more relaxed and focused.

In 1959 a doctor named Teirich undertook one of the earliest studies into the therapeutic effects of music and vibration. He built a couch which contained loud speakers and which transferred vibration from J.S. Bach’s D minor Toccata and Fugue straight to the solar plexus. He used his fellow doctors as a subject group. They variously reported immediate warmth in the solar plexus, a feeling of complete relaxation in the stomach and a very pleasant dream-like state. Alfred Tomatis, who has worked extensively with persons with autism, found that the types of music in the frequency range from 500 to 8000 Hz promoted the greatest amount of relaxation.

The effects of music have even been researched on plant growth. Dorothy Retallack played rock to one group of plants and soothing music to another. The group that heard rock turned out to be sickly and small whereas the other group grew large and healthy. What was more surprising is that the group of plants listening to the soothing music grew bending towards the music source.

I don’t think it is surprising to us that frequencies, tempo and timing can affect us. We often dream of a trip to a warm climate where the tempo of the people move slower, where speech is laboured and our pulse relaxes as we sip our first margarita while lying near the slow and melodic lapping of the waves.

I encourage each of us as we set our New Year resolutions to include developing a music environment at home – one that resonates positively for you and those you care most about.