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The Phoenix Project
An Introduction to Music Therapy

Music has been used for many therapeutic and/or emotional conditioning for thousands of years. It can "calm the savage beast", make us cry, laugh, fall in love, boost our energy, prepare us to go into battle - you name it.

One thing that we have learned here at the Phoenix Foundation is that the selection of music for "masking" specific frequency or tone combinations is very important, and the music we think is best probably isn't.

For example, if you're feeling sad, and put on some happy music, it probably will not make you happy, but just sadder. It's important, according to Howard Richman, to begin with music that expresses your current emotional or physical-mental mood.

Howard Richman, M.F.A., is a pianist, composer, music teacher, and sound researcher. He has been blending his advanced music training and intuitive awareness to create healing music since 1982. “As someone who had migraine headaches nearly every day as a child, this natural pain relief is something that I’m very passionate about!”

This is something I had been wondering about, but had found no specific input or recommendations. Richman's recommendations make sense to me and verifies my own intuitive feeling about the subject.

Richman is co-author of a book/CD combination titled "Sound Healing: Ease Chronic Pain", along with Judy Nelson, which be ordered from Amazon.com.

Judy Nelson, M.S., CCC-SLP, MT-BC, is a board-certified music therapist and speech pathologist and founder of the Music Therapy Wellness Center at California State University, where she is an associate clinical professor of music therapy. She also teaches meditation, guided imagery, and stress reduction.

If you're in pain, you would begin with a musical background that plugs into that pain, touches it, expresses it. Then, as the CD progresses, the music gradually becomes "less painful" or less pain-oriented and becomes more relaxing, more healing - carrying you to a higher plateau.

Following is a linked interview conducted with Howard Richman in which he discusses his techniques and opinions about music therapy.

More

The Frequencies of Music