(*'s are some things I left out)
Hello, how are you? ******************************************************************************
********************I have a thought that might help in the field of music therapy. Here it is, I will try to keep it short. I learned that chemicals in the brain cause emotions. But it is more then that. I also learned that the chemicals have electromagnetic frequencies, and different frequencies produce different emotions. I am not sure how it works, but that is in a nutshell, for that anyways. Now by some kind of vibratory effect, different colors produce different emotions. There is also color therapy, which has been around since ancient times and also a type of therapy still used today. I believe very strongly that there is a great connection between color and sound (music) effecting our emotions. So with that much in mind, this is what I did. I went to Handel's Water Music Suite No. Let me tell you why I did that before I go on.
Handel wrote that music for a very specific purpose. King George III or II, the King of England at the time when Handel was alive, was having a very hard time. He practically was ruling the world at the time and felt his responsibility very keenly. He was stress, couldn’t remember things, kept making mistakes and was troubled in his sleep. He was reading a book that his nephew James was translating, (King James Bible) He was reading in the book of Samuel I think is was and read about King Saul. Saul was ruling a very large kingdom too, and was having much of the same problems King George was experiencing. Saul tried every thing, even sorcery, but to no avail. Then one of his "cabinet” said that there was a young boy who had the ability to calm people and help them feel better by playing his harp. So Saul sent for this boy (later king David) and David played the harp and it helped Saul. After reading this George ask if there was a “Hebrew harp healer" around. Handel met with George and George ask him if he could do the same, and Handel said yes, and then the Water Music Suite came to be. Now, knowing that Handel's Water Music was written to help with relaxation, calmness, concentration, memory and whatever else the king needed, I thought "now the most important and most played notes (most of the time) are the tonic and the dominate in the key.
Let me analyze,
Handel’s Water Music
Suite No. 1 in F Major HWV 348
The frequency of F natural (the tonic) equals the frequency of the color violet (in a different octave). According to my data, violet is associated with inspiration and creativity. Benefits may be, calm nerves and reduced excitement.
Suite No. 2 in D Major HWV 349
The frequency of D and green/aqua are the same. Green is associated with peace, renewal, hope, balance, harmony, self-control, growth and life. Benefits may be stress reduction, rest, calmness, sense of balance and harmony, normalcy, and relaxation.
Suite No. 3 HWV 350
G major – Red. Associated with courage, strength, vitality, vigor, ambition, alertness, pioneering spirit, willpower and aggressiveness. Benefits may be, overcome negative thoughts, a sense of power, self-confidence, settledness, and a feeling of security and safety.
The correlation between the purpose of the water music and the relative colors to the tonic note of the suites are the same. However music has more impact or “power” then just a single note. Music has melody, harmony, and rhythm. I think there needs to be some exploration in music as far as, the melody, the rhythm and harmony to find out just how it effect emotions so powerfully with my theory. I strongly believe that knowing more about what I have suggested in this letter can greatly help in the music therapy and maybe bring us to new horizons of discovery. I also strongly believe that with a deeper and better and fuller understanding of how music affects people, composers can also be brought into the music therapy sphere.
Thank you for your time,
***********
P.S. If you have questions please reply. I am not to good with words, so I hope that the message I wanted you to receive is what the letter states.
I am currently a music therapy intern. We don't specifically go into the correlation of colors to music in the curriculu. But we do have a class called Psychology of Music that deeply goes into similar topics. We learn all about how acoustics, listening, music structure, etc... affect the brain. I am no expert in this area myself but there are many therapists that get their NMT which is neurologic music therapy credential and they learn in greater depths about the brain and music. In music therapy, we are constantly aware of how music is affecting our clients emotionally. Many times, the goals include improve flat or negative affect with music.
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