I am going to figure out how to use music in mediation. (Past posts on music and conflict resolution.) Why am I tenaciously hunting down the right music to use with people in disputes?
Take a look at this documentary "The Musical Brain." You will see how music affects us and our brains in so many dynamic and often moving ways. (And you will get to learn what music does to Sting's brain.)
For those of you interested in this topic, here's some research somewhat related to my quest. (All are PDF.)
"The Influence of Group Singing on Trust and Cooperation" (Listening to music increased trust and cooperation.)
"Music Hath Charms . . . And Can Influence Helpfulness" (US students agreed to take over another person’s work more readily, if they listened to “soothing” music.)
"The Effects of Music on Helping Behavior: A Field Study" (Users of a US university gym agreed to distribute leaflets for a sporting charity more readily if they listened to uplifting music during work-out.)
"Synchrony and Cooperation" (Suggests that "cultural practices involving synchrony (e.g., music, dance, and marching)" increases the willingness to cooperate in social dilemma games.)
Note (added June 1, 2009): On a related use, I see that physicians are employing music as medicine. From "Music as medicine: Docs use tunes as treatment" (msnbc.com):
From Massachusetts General to the Mayo Clinic, patients are hearing the first strains of a harmonious movement — the infusion and inclusion of music in the treatment of ailments, from brain disorders to cancer. This goes beyond the psychological smile favorite songs can induce.
Doctors are increasingly studying — and employing — the physiological dance music does with the body's neurons
“We’re in the infancy,” said Dr. Ali Rezai, director of the Center for Neurological Restoration at Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic. During a surgery called deep brain stimulation — performed while patients with Parkinson’s disease are awake — Rezai and his team play classical compositions and measure the brain’s response to those notes. “We know music can calm, influence creativity, can energize. That’s great. But music’s role in recovering from disease is being ever more appreciated.”
Using music to help the ill has been employed for thousands of years, even though modern medicine is just starting to understand how it works, said Dr. Claudius Conrad, a senior surgical resident at Harvard Medical School and, himself, a gifted pianist. He is set to launch the first study of music’s impact on the sleep cycles of acute-care patients.
“Research has already shown that if you play a piece — like Mozart — at a certain slow beat, the listener will adapt their heart beat to the beat of the music.”
Image credit: Image*After.
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