Studies
- Music Aids Development in the Womb
By Dr. Gabriel F. Federico, M.T., Buenos Aires, Argentina - Birth of Musical Protégés?
How Music Heard in the Womb is Remembered by the Child
By Dr. Alexandra Lamont - Babies Prefer Harmonies
By Stephen Staruss - Music "Nurtures" Premature Babies
BBBC News (May 2009) - How Tibetan Bowls Sound Therapy Works
Music Aids Development in the Womb
By Gabriel F. Federico, M.T., Buenos Aires, Argentina
(Translated by Giselle Whitwell)
At the moment of birth babies have already accumulated a host of experiences and memories shared with their mothers (and fathers). Together, they enjoyed both pleasant and unpleasant sensations. If we think about rhythm and its different manifestations in utero, we can find it expressed in several ways. Rhythm exists in the spontaneous movements of the fetus, in intrauterine breathing movements, heart rate, sucking and kicking, in states of alertness and quiet, and partly in reaction to what is heard, for example the mother's heart, breathing variations, and activities.
Fetal Audition
The shape of the human ear is a metaphor for the design and shape of the human embryo. The fetus receives sound information from the outer regions of the mother through its own auditory system. With support from touch, taste, and smell, hearing plays a prominent role in connecting us to the outside world while we are in the womb. Hearing is naturally complex and stimulation varies when the fetus changes positions in the uterus. Both sound vibrations and perceptions change. If liquid is a different conductor of sound than bone medium, will not this also demand changes in intrauterine hearing? In an eight-month-old fetus in the cephalic (head) position, there will be much more sound from bone conduction. Sound vibration will also be affected by the location of the hipbones of the mother. This cavity will augment, by a chain of vibrations, the responses of the small bones of the middle ear of the fetus. At this gestational stage the fetal middle ear is already full size.
Similarly, fetuses that are in the breech position will receive more intense intrauterine sound. This is the result of the proximity of their auditory system to the sounds of the mother's heartbeat, as well as the circulatory sounds of the placenta, among other noises and sounds. In the breech position, the vibratory conduction is more muffled and will need a higher volume so the fetus could equally sense it, as compared to the fetus in the cephalic position.
Prenatal Brain Stimulation
We have to think that the intrauterine environment of the fetus is deeply affecting personality development. It is known that at the moment of birth the newborn baby has nearly all the neurons needed for life. Thus, the womb is the place where the brain develops and begins working. This stimulation takes place with the exchange of experiences between the fetus and the environment in which it is immersed. The development of the brain will be enhanced if we can offer the appropriate stimuli for this to happen. It will depend much on the quality of what the mother will transmit to her baby whether the imprinting will be made in a positive or negative way.
An example of what a mother could transmit to her unborn child follows. One day, I had an appointment with a 10-month-old baby, a constantly crying child. Nothing seemed to help him. The parents tried all means to quiet him down, including the music of Mozart. Herein lay the real meaning of the crying! The mother, at a later appointment, reflecting on her pregnancy, had used the music of Mozart to relax during the last months of her pregnancy. However, during this same period, two months before the baby's birth, her own father had died in a car accident! Consequently, the baby had been nourished with the mother's anguish and associated the music of Mozart with this sad situation.
The mother thought she was "relaxing" but in reality, while she was listening to Mozart, she was crying about the death of her father. Unconsciously she was internalizing her anguish, and not wanting to share it with anybody else. Though without realizing it, she was sharing this experience with her unborn child. As time went by, the mother recovered from her loss but this type of music had left its mark on her baby. This was the reason that whenever he heard Mozart, he cried. I taught the parents how to work with their baby. Slowly he started to quiet down but he continued to be much affected by the music of Mozart as well as being very sensitive to all types of music.
Hearing at Birth
At birth, the sound environment impacts the neurovegetative system. The baby has to make a great effort to adapt to this extra-uterine sound. From birth the bombardment of the sound environment continues to grow. If babies who were prenatally stimulated hear familiar music, they usually turn their heads in the direction where the music is coming from. Such babies can change their facial expressions while listening to these rhythmic sound variations, perhaps even smile and increase their sucking. Their pupils might dilate and eyes begin to stare for 4 to 10 seconds. They will stretch their small fingers and toes, trying to catch the stimulus. Cardiac rate will probably slow down a bit and breathing become more regular.
These babies will not necessarily respond to repetitive sounds, but will probably respond to sounds with melodious variations. They will be able to distinguish the intensity, tone, and pitch of sounds and be more alert and sensitive when this stimulus is present. The abdomen will relax. Their crying will not convey misery but be more like the very small sounds of a kitten. They will recognize voices, especially mother's.
If we must take into account all these manifestations of sound, we will naturally organize the first extra-uterine month of life in a special way. This first month of life is characterized by adaptation, not only by the new mother but by her baby. They continue to bond, know, and understand each other in a different way than before. We have to sympathize that babies must adapt to the new environment of the hospital. After this environment a new one will be presented, the family home. Home is, of course, where baby and mother made their original adjustment to each other, but now this is complicated by expanded physical sensations and the potential for interactions with others. These new adaptations are eased if babies have the opportunity to spend ample time with the mother alone.
In this new period at home we can observe the advantages of the previous prenatal stimulation. Music will help to organize this developmental stage also. If we play as background music what was played during the pregnancy, while the baby is resting (but not sleeping), these melodies will recall intrauterine listening, giving a feeling of security and trust. It is suggested not to sing the same song while feeding and bathing, lest the different feelings be confused. It is possible that one night if babies hear the same song they will be unable to interpret if this means they will be fed or bathed!
The Birth of My Son Nicholas
As with any new life, Nicolas brought lots of happiness to all his family members especially to his parents and brother Matías. His delivery was very beautiful and fast, with only three pushes. He was placed between us in the hospital room. During his birth I was with Natalia, my wife, holding her and speaking to her tummy to help her. I believe that the presence of the father during delivery is very important. Babies are conceived by two people and these same two people need to be there to receive them during their birth. We did not make use of an epidural, which helped Natalia to have a faster recovery.
In the delivery room we were hearing music and doing relaxation exercises. Right at the moment of birth I was helping Natalia, giving her strength. When the baby's little head appeared, he immediately opened his eyes. What was amazing is that he did not cry, he made some soft sounds and moved his little arms, all without crying. The first image he saw was that of his mother and father together. Obviously, we started talking and singing to him. Fortunately, our desire was respected to be the only ones speaking during labor and delivery.
As it happened, during the birth of Nicolas there were three other births taking place simultaneously, and for this reason we were left with only a nurse to weigh, clean and measure the baby, while Natalia expelled the placenta. This was an unforgettable experience. I felt a very close contact in the exchanges with my baby through our eyes and in the way he responded to my voice, as I sang to him all the time.
Nicolas was stimulated with music during his gestation and we were able to have many different prenatal experiences. We could appreciate the results even before our baby was one month old. One of the prenatal experiences we designed was the use of a pair of small, fine quality loud speakers that were placed on Natalia's tummy. We played different kinds of music on a varied day/evening schedule. For example, I used Bach's music every morning while waking up, used different selections when Natalia was going to sleep, and still other pieces for our prenatal stimulation exercises.
Our baby responded from the very first moment of life to all the music we had used, but particularly to the music heard during the relaxation exercises; these pieces soothed him the most. I think this is so because it brings back memories of this time when we always sang this music together. Also, it was the music I used during the labor and was the first heard immediately after birth. When we played Bach, the music for awakening, we found that Nicolas would be very alert, would open his eyes and look for the source where the sounds were coming from. We saw a very special effect with the music played when Natalia was getting ready to sleep. This music had a pleasant relaxing effect on Nicolas; I believe it is because Natalia's body was so relaxed when she was falling asleep. When the baby is uncomfortable now we play this music which helps him relax and he goes to sleep easily. An important thing we realized is how the music facilitated the family's adaptation and preparation for the arrival of Nicolas.
After the first month of life the music for getting him to sleep was no longer needed, neither was the music to regulate the hours for breastfeeding or to keep him alert. Today, seven months after having stimulated our son in this way, we enjoy his presence very much. From the first month after birth, Nicolas has slept between ten to twelve hours, which has permitted us to get our rest and therefore enjoy family life much more. He continues growing without any problems and is fed in the most natural way at the breast of his mother.
Bibliography
Federico, Gabriel (May, 1999). Musicoterapia y embarazo. II Jornadas de conceptualización de la practica clínica musicoterapéutica.
Federico, Gabriel (1999). Music therapy & pregnancy: Prenatal stimulation. Paper presented to the 26th Canadian Conference of Music Therapy, Vancouver (May).
Fridman, Ruth (1996). ¿Hay inteligencia antes de nacer? Revista Brasileira de Musicoterapia, Number 1.
Gardner, S. L., Garland, K., Merenstein, S. L. & Merenstein, G. B.(1993). The neonate and the environment: Impact on development. In Merenstein, G. B. & Gardner, S. L. (Eds.), Handbook of neonatal intensive care, (chap. 27). St. Louis: Mosby.
Hib, Jose (1988). Embriología médica. Buenos Aires: El Ateneo.
Ludington-Hoe, S. & Golant, S.(1993). How to have a smarter baby. New York: Rawson Associates.
Martinez, Jorge, C. (1993). El bebe prematuro y sus padres. Buenos Aires: Lidium.
Martinez, Jorge C. (1996). Avances y redescubrimientos en la asistencia del recién nacido. Buenos Aires: Cesarini.
Matras, Jean-Jacques (1988). El sonido. Buenos Aires: Hispamerica.
Noble, Elizabeth (1992). Primal connections. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Tomatis, Alfred. (1987). El oído y el lenguaje. Buenos Aires: Orbis España.
Birth of Musical Protégés? - How Music Heard in the Womb is Remembered by the Child
By Dr. Alexandra Lamont
A study carried out at the University of Leicester, to be shown on BBC's Child Of Our Time today (Wednesday July 11, BBC1, 9pm) reveals for the first time that babies remember sounds they heard in the womb and recognise them well into later life.
The study, by Dr Alexandra Lamont from the Music Research Group at the University's School of Psychology, demonstrates how one-year-old babies recognise music they were exposed to up to three months before birth.
The discovery explodes the theory that babies can only remember things for a month or two and suggests that memory could last a great deal longer than that.
This provides important new evidence for the influence of nurture in early child development, said Dr Lamont, who is a lecturer in psychology.
She said: We know that the foetus in the womb is able to hear fully only 20 weeks after conception. Now we have discovered that babies can remember and prefer music that they heard before they were born over 12 months later.
The Child Of Our Time study involved a small group of mothers playing a single piece of music to their babies for the last three months before birth.
Dr Lamont said the music was chosen by the mother so all babies heard different pieces of music while still in the womb. These included classical (opera, Mozart and Vivaldi), world (Spirits of Nature), reggae (UB40, Ken Boothe) and pop (Five).
Over 12 months later, eleven of the babies were tested and showed a significant preference for these pieces of music compared with very similar pieces of music they had not heard before.
After the babies were a year old, they heard the pre-natal music and other music that was matched for style, key, pace and loudness. For example, a baby who was exposed to UB40's Many Rivers to Cross before birth heard this piece with another slow reggae track, Freddie McGregor's Stop Lovin' You.
The babies' preference is shown by the amount of time they spend looking towards the source of the music. Their attention is attracted by flashing disco lights, and the music then plays from a loudspeaker next to the light. When they stop looking in a particular direction, the music stops. The babies quickly learn the association between their looks and the amount of music they get to hear.
None of these babies had been exposed to the pre-natal music in the intervening period (i.e. from birth to first birthday). Dr Lamont says: This means that the preference found here is based on very long term memory rather than on a memory which is constantly reactivated by later exposure.
A control group of 11 babies tested with the same pieces of music show no preference for a particular piece this means there is nothing about the music itself which is responsible for the preferences found in the pre-natal group.
Dr Lamont said: This small-scale study suggests that deliberate and extended pre-natal exposure to music sets up a very long-term memory trace for a particular piece of music, and that this is recognised and preferred over 12 months later.
The style of the music is not important - the babies recognise UB40 just as much as they do Mozart. But the pace of the music seems to be influential - the babies with faster music like Five's If Ya Gettin' Down or the start of Vivaldi's Four Seasons show stronger preferences than the babies with slower music like Mozart's Adagio for Wind.
This relates to other findings by Dr Lamont that babies have developed clear preferences for faster and more exciting music by the age of 12 months.
For more information, please contact:
Dr Alexandra Lamont
Tel: +44 (0)116 223 1012,
Email: aml11@leicester.ac.uk, Fax: +44 (0)116 252 2067, http://www.le.ac.uk/psychology/aml11/aml11.html,
Mobile: 0773 043 1773
Babies Prefer Harmonies
By Stephen Strauss
Science Reporter
Canadian and U S. psychologists have come to the aid of those who believe that the human ear, not to mention the human soul, is biologically attuned to appreciate harmonious music.
Furthermore, their two new studies lend credence to those who argue that the 20th century's atonal music has failed to grab a wide audience not just because it is new, but because the brain perceives it as unnatural.
The Canadian research, conducted by Glenn Schellenberg of the University of Windsor and Sandra Trehub of the University of Toronto and published in this month's issue of Psychological Science, studied 90 infants, some as young as six months old. The question was how do children respond to the pure tone changes.
The Greek philosopher Pythagoras first described these natural harmonies as being fundamentally pleasing more than 2,500 years ago.
An octave, the notes of the scale, and certain harmonics such as the so-called "golden 5th," where the "so" and "do" notes are sounded together, are examples of these consonant sounds.
The consonant tones, sounds generally associated with the words "in tune" and prevalent in Western music ranging as far afield as Beethoven and Motown, were able to readily attract the attention of the infants being held on the parents' laps.
At the same time, the children hardly responded to the more dissonant combinations -- for example, C and F sharp played together. These out-of-tune sounding notes are often used by atonal composers such as Schoenberg and Berg, not to mention rap groups such as Public Enemy.
The same response to consonants has been noted by the two Canadians in studies of adults and young people.
In a companion study published on Sept. 5 in the British journal Nature, Harvard University psychologists Jerome Kagan and Marcel Zentner studied the response of 32 infants, some as young as four months old. The Harvard researchers found that the children seemed calmer and more content when harmonious sounds were played.
The out-of-tune sounds produced not just looks of disgust, but the infants would look away, cry, fret and not even look at the speaker, Prof. Kagan told the Reuters News Agency.
The meaning of the findings remains controversial. The Canadians believe that the simplest explanation for their work is that the musical scales that are found in societies around the world are not cultural artifacts but natural apparitions. The infants' responses are "entirely consistent with dominance of musical scales with simple frequency ratios throughout history and across cultures," they write.
The golden note combinations and octaves are everywhere. "I haven't found a musical system which doesn't have a perfect fifth," Prof. Trehub said in an interview. Even something as notoriously dissonant as a bagpipe has perfect fifth tones droning underneath its sounds.
In some music systems, notably that of Javanese music, the perfect fifth is a little less perfect than other places, but Prof. Schellenberg believes that it is close enough for the ear to perceive it as harmonious.
The evolutionary benefit of hearing and liking harmonious notes is unclear. Prof. Schellenberg points out they are tones that underlie human speech and thus paying special attention to them may act as a kind of primer to infants understanding speech.
Prof. Trehub points out that how a song is sung can dramatically influence what it sounds like. "I have heard a lot of mothers singing lullabies around the world, and let me assure you, you wouldn't want to learn about pitch levels by the way a mother sings to her child." she said.
Perhaps the most contentious issue is what the new findings say about the relationship of atonal to tonal music. Schoenberg contended that when people became familiar with it, his atonal music would eventually become as popular as tonal music.
The Canadians say their findings does not mean one musical form is biologically better than another. Consonance does start out with some distinct advantages.
"I would say that [atonal music] is not inherently pleasing and that you would really have to work to get to appreciate it," Prof. Trehub said.
However, that is just what people who like atonal music do, she added.
Music 'nurtures' premature babies
Music may help block pain
Hospitals that play music to premature babies help them grow and thrive, mounting evidence suggests.
The benefits are said to be calmer infants and parents as well as faster weight gain and shorter hospital stays.
A Canadian team reviewed nine studies and found music reduced pain and encouraged better oral feeding.
Music also appeared to have beneficial effects on physiological measures like heart and respiratory rate, Archives of Disease in Childhood reports.
Increasing numbers of neonatal units are using music on their wards.
Although more research is still needed in this area, the study shows that there may be simple and cost-effective ways to provide health benefits to preterm births
Professor of Obstetrics Andrew Shennan
Six of the studies the University of Alberta team looked at music played to babies during painful procedures such as circumcisions and heel prick tests.
One looked at the effect of music on feeding rates and the remaining two looked at the effect of music on physiology and behaviours.
Most of the trials the researchers looked at used lullabies with or without added sounds, such as heartbeats or womb noises, and one used live music - a specially composed wordless lullaby sung by a female voice and accompanied by a harp.
Other hospitals have been playing music by some of the great composers, like Mozart.
Therapeutic
The study authors, Dr Manoj Kumar and colleagues, said: "There is preliminary evidence to suggest that music may have beneficial effects in terms of physiological parameters, behavioural states and pain reduction during painful medical procedures.
"While there is preliminary evidence for some therapeutic benefits of music for specific indications, these benefits need to be confirmed in well-designed, high quality trials."
Professor of Obstetrics Andrew Shennan, from the baby charity Tommy's, said: "Preterm births have recently increased over the past years and remain a huge problem in the UK, sometimes resulting in many long-term health problems for the child in later life, including cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, chronic lung disease, learning and behavioural difficulties.
"The preliminary evidence that music played to preterm babies may have positive effects for behaviour and pain is very interesting and should be taken into consideration.
"Although more research is still needed in this area, the study shows that there may be simple and cost-effective ways to provide health benefits to preterm births."
Being born prematurely - before 37 weeks - is responsible for 75% of neonatal deaths in the first month of life, and the majority of intensive care admissions.
There are a number of risk factors which may lead to premature birth including maternal smoking, infections in the womb, twin or triplet pregnancies.
BBC News (May 2009)
How Tibetan Bowls Sound Therapy Works
Healing with the Power of Sound is one of the oldest and most natural forms of healing known to man.
The most basic element of the human being is the cell. The simplest way of communicating with the cells is through vibration. External vibrations cause a sympathetic resonance in the cells. When tapping a singing bowl, the sound transmitted through the body which consists of more than 70% of water causes the cell to resonate. The sound waves spread, as the concentric waves from a stone dropped in a pond, into larger and larger circles through blood, flesh, organs and even bones, relaxing them and at the same harmonizing and energizing them. This way the more than 100 trillion cells that are the building blocks of the human body are receiving a gentle cell massage, and sound can also release energy blockages through out the mind, body, and spirit.
Any sound affects the nervous system which in turn affects every cell in the body. The bowl vibrations are soothing enough to calm the nervous system yet powerful enough to travel deep into the body and penetrate the bones. Vibrations can travel into places you could never touch with your hands, and make possible a healing that would be very difficult to recreate otherwise.
It is a combination between the sound of the bowl through the ear, over the eardrum and into the brain, and the vibration of the bowl through the flesh that causes the harmonizing, de-stressing effect of the bowls.
When inner harmony is disturbed we loose our equilibrium. Every day stress makes us prone to illness and impairs our quality of life. Through sound massage such tensions and blockages in mind, body, and soul can be gently loosened.
Tibetan Bowls Sound Therapy History
Sound therapy has long been used in the Far East, particularly in Nepal, India, and Tibet. The basis of the therapy is the effect that sound has on the body. According to Indian mythology, man was created from sound, and therefore IS sound. The practice of sound therapy was developed over five thousand years ago using what today is called the Tibetan Singing Bowls. "Their origins are shrouded in mystery, but the antique bowls used today have a deep resonance, when struck properly." Their vibrations are compared to a pebble dropped in the water. The singing bowls with their rich overtones are placed at various points on the body or held near the body. They are then struck in a particular sequence. A skilled practitioner is able to bring about deep relaxation in a short time by the method and force with which he strikes the bowl. Under such deep relaxation the body is able to absorb the benefits of the sound and physical variations that radiate out from the bowl.
Since the antique bowls are the only ones that provide the rich overtones for sound massage therapy it was soon realized that the supply would soon be exhausted. With the Communist take-over of Tibet the techniques for making the bowl in the traditional way had been lost. For several years Peter Hess, a German Engineer and Sound Therapist that lived in India and Nepal investigating the Bowls, experimented with metal bowls of similar weight and design as the antique ones, with little success. On a trip to Nepal he discovered a 94 year old man who had been an apprentice to his father and remembered the formula for the twelve different metals used in making the bowls and the technique for their laborious manufacture. With the assistance of other artisans Peter Hess and the elderly craftsman were able to create the purity of sound found in the antique bowls. With this small cottage industry established in Nepal he went on to develop his sound massage programs throughout Europe.
Tibetan Bowl Sound Massage
Tibetan Bowl Sound Massage is profoundly relaxing. During the session, twelve metal Tibetan Sound Bowls are placed on the person’s body. The practitioner then tabs on the bowls following specific rhythm. As the bowls vibrate, they send waves of vibration throughout person’s body harmonizing cells. Beautiful sound produced by the Tibetan Bowls also have relaxing hypnotic effect on the brain, slowing brain waves and inducing deep meditative state.
7 benefits of Tibetan Bowl Sound Massage
* Stress Reduction through deep relaxation and endorphin release
* Liberates emotional and physical blockages
* Profound effect on acupuncture meridians
* Activates self-healing mechanisms within the body
* Promotes deeper sleep
* Relief from headache, fatigue, insomnia, digestive disorders, joint or muscle aches, menstrual disorders, emotional imbalances
* Harmonizes every cell from our body, creating an energetic flow
* Chakra balancing and Aura harmonizing
