Music is My Whole Life - World Federation of Music Therapy

Horesh, T. (2006) “Music is My Whole Life” - The many meanings of music in addicts’ lives. Music Therapy Today
(Online) Vol.VII (2) 291-317. available at http://musictherapyworld.net
1. “falling in love” - the first years of drug use, during which music and
drugs enhance each other , and their joining enables experiences of
wholeness, joy and transcendence.
2. the “dark shadow-guide” – when music plays a part in the downhill
path to depression and intense drug abuse.
3. indifference to music - when the addict looses interest in music.
st
1 stage:“falling in love”.
Nahum:
“ Pink Floyd is something I would listen to only when I
was under the influence of drugs…to be high, to connect better to
the music”
Yonatan:
“ …the first time I took ecstasy, we were listening to
some c.d….. it was so connected to the music. My attention was
half on the “exta”, and without noticing – half on the music and
my imagination…it was half the drug and half the music. I think
that if I was in the same situation, but without the music, it would
be something totally different…I don’t think I would have
enjoyed it as much…all the psychedelic drugs – they need music.
"
Research on the effects of psychedelic drugs on music perception con-
firm Nahum’s and Yonatan’s experiences. Cannabis, for example, can act
as a mild psychedelic drug. Joerg Fachner (2002) has found that cannabis
induces a subjective time expansion, enabling a temporary increased
insight into the “space between the notes”. High frequencies and over-
tones are perceived more consciously. Fachner suggests that perhaps can-
nabis acts as a psycho-acoustic enhancer, enabling a intensified and
broadened experience of the musical time space.
DeRios (2003) wrote about shamanic rituals using music in combination
with hallucinogenic substances – different, but still similar, to our sub-
ject. She suggests that once the biochemical effects of the hallucinogenic
drug alter the user's perception, the music operates as a "jungle gym" for
the person's consciousness during the drug state and provides a series of
pathways and banisters through which the drug user negotiates his way.
So it seems that not only does the music enhance the drug experience, it
Results and Discussion
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