“Music has a power to elicit every emotion, and every mood, and every state of mind there is. I think this is why it exists in every culture. It may speak to people with dementia in a way that is deeper than language, and this can be especially important if language is no longer available.” – Oliver Sacks

Music is a restorative and emotional language that connects people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences through igniting collective healing. This project showcases artists who actively harness music to “heal.”

Esperanza Spalding

Pauline Oliveros

Hildegard of Bingen

Esperanza Spalding

Pauline Oliveros

Hildegard of Bingen

Nearly all cultures and groups practice a form of music, and music has been part of human history even since the Neanderthals. [There is evidence that Neanderthals made music with the discovery of a flute-like instrument].

You might even recognize anecdotally that listening to music has a profound impact on your mood. Music stimulates the brain’s cognitive function and can have a positive impact on mood, health and managing disease. There is a whole field of music therapy, where therapists use music (listening, improvising, song writing, performance) in order to help symptoms related to anxiety, depression, dementia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and other conditions.

This project will focus on artists and composers who directly use music to heal.

One example is the Songwrights Apothecary Lab, which directly engages with the healing power of music.

Healing also involves listening to your surroundings, and through Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations and Deep Listening, listeners can engage in healing and meditative sonic awareness.

Also, I will feature Hildegard of Bingen, a multi-hyphenate of a German Benedictine abbess and polymath, composer, doctor of the church, poet, mystic, visionary, medical writer and practitioner in the Middle Ages. She had a holistic approach to healing, and is an early example of how music, spirituality, and medicine can intersect.

I hope you enjoy!