Today is the final lesson in this series on the components of healing music. The component I’ve chosen is similar to yesterday’s lesson on Major and Minor but goes back in time hundreds if not thousands of years!
In the 800-700’s BC, the music played in ancient Greece was not played in major and minor scales, Greece, Rome and other cities and civilizations used scales that sound very different to our ears. In those times, every physician knew about the healing powers of music and rhythms and instruments and often times a prescription for healing, also had a musical prescription as part of it!
There are seven basic Greek modes that are easy to hear or play if you have a piano:
Aeolian is A-A
Locrian is B-B
Ionian is C-C
Dorian is D-D
Phrygian is E-E
Lydian is F-F
Mixolydian is G-G
Each mode was thought to have specific healing powers and if a person was depressed, for example, the physician might suggest that the listen to a lute for an hour or so in the evening, playing in the Dorian mode.
Many modern English composers such as Vaughn-Williams, Elgar, Holst and Delius have written beautiful pieces that have a distinctly modal flavor and are exceptionally healing and calming to me. I’ll add a YouTube video of one of my favorites now!
If you are a musician you will recognize the characteristic “lowered 7th” that immediately give the piece it’s modal flavor, i.e. the Dorian mode in this case.
Another tool used by many “New Age” composers is the whole tone scale with is composed using all whole steps. You can hear this on the piano by playing C-D-E-F#-G#-A#-C. If you play this ascending through several octaves, with the damper pedal down, you will get a good idea of the “feel” and “mood” that a whole-tone scales sets.
Another scale used in much folk music and in healing music as well is the Pentatonic Scale. This can be found on the piano by simply play the five different black keys: C# D#F#G#A# and using them in any order to make a melody and/or harmony as well. Both of these scales do not have a strong sense of a tonic or “home” key and thus allow the listener to just bathe in the sounds with no expectation of a final cadence.
If you have any questions about this particular component of healing music, please leave me a comment or question and I’ll certainly do my best to answer it for you! I do hope you’ve enjoyed this series and will tell others about it as well as leave me lots of comments!
Also, please tell me what else you would like to know about healing music and what it can do for your own health, wellness, and healing!
I’d like to create a “set” or concert of music that is healing exploring the modes on my flute, voice, and tamboura. The ability to have reference material for the audience, research, anecdotes, etc., seems important for me as well. Any ideas on directing my research to certain books, articles, etc. Incidentally I am a Western and an Asian musician musing Indian ragas, pentatonic, the works, you name it.
Sounds like a great idea, David! It’s always great to have musical examples of the things I teach and write about! Let me know!