Meditation music is music performed to aid in the practice of meditation. It can have a specific religious content, but also more recently has been associated with modern composers who use meditation techniques in their process of composition, or who compose such music with no particular religious group as a focus. The concept also includes music performed as an act of meditation.

History

Modern meditation music in the 20th century began when composers such as John Cage, Stuart Dempster, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, La Monte Young and Lawrence Ball began to combine meditation techniques and concepts, and music. Specific works include Tony Scott's Music for Zen Meditation (1964), Karlheinz Stockhausen's Inori (1974), Mantra (1970), Hymnen (1966–67), Stimmung (1968), and Aus den sieben Tagen (1968), Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time (1941), and Ben Johnston, whose Visions and Spells (a realization of Vigil (1976)), requires a meditation period prior to performance. R. Murray Schafer's concepts of clairaudience (clean hearing) as well as the ones found in his The Tuning of the World (1977) are meditative.^[1]

Stockhausen describes Aus den sieben Tagen as "intuitive music" and in the piece "Es" from this cycle the performers are instructed to play only when not thinking or in a state of nonthinking (Von Gunden asserts that this is contradictory and should be "think about your playing"). John Cage was influenced by Zen and pieces such as Imaginary Landscape No. 4 for twelve radios are "meditations that measure the passing of time".^[2]

Relational Effects

Music can provide many psychological benefits including stress reduction, improved memory, and general improvement to cognitive performance.^[3] Research shows that the activity of listening to music can aid in detaching a person from their surroundings and help focus on their own thoughts and actions.^[4] When applied specifically to a meditative setting, music can aid in mindfulness, visualization, and contemplation. According to the NHS, these qualities can increase personal awareness and help identify signs of stress and anxiety.^[5] Practicing mindfulness can help a person be more observant of their present thoughts and actions.^[6] Research shows that meditation music can improve confidence during the practice of meditation.^[7]

In a July 2018 study, volunteers between ages 60-80 who were listening to healing music and meditating for 1-2 hours a day and eating a sugar-free healthy diet exhibited sharper memory and cognitive skills with happy and cheerful behavioral patterns compared to those who were not.^[8]

Meditation music can help improve focus while doing mechanical tasks. A June 2019 study that observed neurosurgeons performing microsurgical training bypasses with and without meditation music showed a slight improvement in the total time utilized by novice surgeons. While the total time utilized by experienced surgeons remained unchanged, the thread length used in the training bypasses was significantly different for both surgeons.^[9]

Meditation music can have positive effects on people recovering from drug addiction. In general, spiritual meditation may promote addiction recovery as well as improve the psychological and mental health outcomes of drug addiction; this includes reducing depression, anxiety and stress symptoms.^[10] In a January 2020 study, it was concluded that meditation music conducted by Young-Dong Kim can be useful therapy to prevent the reinstatement of methamphetamine addiction during abstinence in rats.^[11]

Christian meditation music

Some Christian faiths, particularly the Catholic Church, reject meditation practice from outside their traditions, particularly new-age music.^{[12][13][14][15]}) However, the Olivier Messiaen piece referenced above is explicitly Christian, and Messiaen himself was a practicing Catholic and a church organist.^{[clarification needed]}

Classical meditation music

Listening to classical music is used as a form of meditation. Classical music when played has an effect on our body and our mind. Studies have shown that there are benefits we gain when listening. It has been shown to improve mood, help destress and make us calm down. More beneficial effects from it include lowering blood pressure, improve, memory, improving sleep, and reducing anxiety. Listening to classical music helps open up your mind. You become calm and have the ability to concentrate better. ^[16]

Researchers found that when listening to classical meditation music signs of dopamine in the body significantly increased. Dopamine increase will help prevent someone from being stressed because it brings pleasure. It’s controls how we react, think, and feel. Dopamine is very important to have when retaining new information because the happier we feel, the easier it is to understand and be present to things happening around us. ^[17]

Classical meditation music can come from different backgrounds but all of them have similar sounds and the same benefits. Some of the most commonly used ones are Beethoven, Ravel, Shostakovich, Hayden, Ravel, and Mozart.

Mozart is commonly used in America for meditation music. There is a term called the Mozart Effect. This term is about how students listen to Mozart’s music before class or have tests in order to help them retain information easier, and focus. Studies have shown when students practice the Mozart Effect their test scores and grades improved. Not only did it help students improve mentally but their behavior did too. Students showed improvements in listening and raising their hands more often.

According to Symphony Central Coast, studies and research show IQ improvements to those who listened to classical music meditation. Scientists believe that when listening opens up a part of your brain in ways it hasn’t before. Researchers also found that listening to classical music meditation improves on more abstract thinking.

Studies show that children who listen to classical meditation music early on end up listening to a larger range of music selections. According to PRS Magazine, listening to classical music meditation guides children into developing better listening skills. That they become open and don’t have preconceptions against any music. They tend to listen to most genres with little judgment.

See also

• Aesthetics of music
• Avant-garde music
• Introspection

References

Cited sources

• Anon. (2003). "Vatican Book Is Offering Reflections On 'New Age'". The New York Times (4 February).
• Arie, Sophie (2003). "Beware New Age, Vatican Tells Flock". The Guardian (Thursday 30 January).
• Krumboltz, John D., and Anne Chan (2005). "Professional Issues in Vocational Psychology". In Handbook of Vocational Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice, third edition, edited by W. Bruce Walsh and Mark L. Savickas, 345–68. Contemporary Topics in Vocational Psychology. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 978-0-8058-4517-4.
• Pontifical Council for Culture, and Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (2003). "Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water Of Life: A Christian Reflection on the 'New Age'". Vatican website (accessed 2 January 2014).
• Von Gunden, Heidi (1983). The Music of Pauline Oliveros. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-1600-8.

Further reading

• Johnson, Tom (1976). "Meditate on Sound", Village Voice (May 24).