Re: Looping Therapy

[Matthias Grob <matthias@grob.org>]

Madoud (is that what you want us to call you?) said:
>Give a break...well I think the question has merit.  I am a 
>psychotherapist
>in private practice and the whole field of music therapy is fascinating..
>sure there is a lot of cosmic foo-foo but the ability of the brain to 
>entrain
>with rhythm and repetition  and tone is  is seriously studied.
>...

Very interesting. I find it fundamental that you teach more about 
this application of music because turn some lonely loopers mania into 
a usefull contribution for health and education.

When I started looping in '85, I lived with a photographer and he 
soon invited me to a dream trip with a sequence of slides with 
clouds. A therapist joined us on this flight too and called me for a 
group therapy where amongst other processes he guided dream trips 
(Traumreisen), meditations into symbolic stories of the kind: " you 
go into a forest.... you suffer in a field of scratching plants.... 
you come to a lake and feel it is your true home..." (sounds 
ridiculous here, but cleans the mind when done right).
Such process becomes a lot more effective with music that fluently 
follows these phases.

I also once supported a Yoga class. It helped helped while it was 
live. The recording did not serve again, because the music has to 
follow the sequence and speed of the exercizes, not reverse (just 
like I want to tap my loop tempo, not follow a preset :-).

I think I learned a lot from those processes for free improvs, where 
the public is not guided to such a trip (no words) but nevertheless 
ends up going on one and maybe even in a more true way than by 
following verbal instructions (material symbols as oposit to musical 
archetypes).
But to do this right, the musicians have to study those archetypes 
and maybe use them in a conscient sequence? It that what they teach 
to music therapists?

Loop music is especially apropriate for such work for several reasons:
- Repetition has a special effect on the brain (can you please say a 
bit more about this Madoud?)
- It allowes a single person to create a broad fluent sound. If I 
have to comuncate with other musicians, its hard to comunicate enough 
with the terapist or painter or whatever the other medium is.
- Its the most economic way to play without preprogramming (since a 
preprogrammed sequence hardly fits exactly the needs). You can play 
for hours without getting tired and the equipment can be one 
instrument with a small rack, connected to a CD player amplifier 
(since you dont need much volume).

>I am interested in producing CDs individualized  for some clients. 
>anyone else exploring this area?

The same year I came to the same proposual: Personal music. I visited 
sick friends, talked to them, then played and left them the tape.

There is no general healing music just like there is no general remedy.
I tried to play in a hospital to help everybody in there. But the 
patients are suffering totally distinct disequilibrium and the staff 
has to work in the same sound. Only a pretty meaningless music fits 
for everyone.
I dont believe in desease oriented music like "cancer-music" either.
Maybe there is a sound for each organ, each meridian, each chakra, 
but I did not hear firm proposuals so far.
To find the correct sound for a patient is very delicate, intuitive 
and a responsability - I did not have time, information and courage 
to follow the idea.
So I was glad to read the posts of Stephan and Madoud, thank you.


          ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org