Zone
Ambience: Sound Track to the Massage Experience
Massage therapists have long recognized that music
can have a profound effect in their work. Finding the right music
can be difficult. In therapy we need to both mask discordant sounds
and create an ambient zone that is restful and calming. Music
can fulfill this role, but has the power to do much more. Music
can be a powerful tool for healing.
Most western music is arranged around a melody,
with emotional power created by the tension and release of the
chord structure. Melody engages the mind. If a melody is too forceful,
it will not promote relaxation. Dream Time is arranged around
the harmonic overtones, so that the music is experienced as all-encompassing.
The recording is mixed to emulate a non-local sound source like
the ambience of a stream or the ocean. The resulting music provides
therapists with the ability to create an ambient zone that eases
the patient into a state of transcendent relaxation where the
power of healing touch is more easily assimilated.
Music that merely relaxes the patient, however,
is not necessarily supportive of the therapist. Dream Time is
composed to provide enough rhythm and movement to uplift the therapist
through the phenomenon of rhythmic entrainment where the body-mind
aligns with the pulse of the music as in dancing. This subtle
rhythmic entrainment will assist the therapist in remaining fresh
through even the most demanding schedule.