23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

moderate tempo suited to a relaxed heart-beat, and
mantains this throughout Now and then stimuli may be
inserted, by means of a single drum, and often by rattles
whose sound is more ambiguous.
Frances Densmore (1954), finds that in North American
Indian rituals of such nature the rattles and drums
mantain a steady rhythm whilst the melodic line is
irregular, characterised by a shift of both accent and
duration, Densmore stresses that this is an unusual
phenomenon for a Western musician and concludes
that it is the maintenance of a steady beat which permits
melodic freedom.*
* RECORDED EXAMPLE = 2
We should add here that in both Ecstatic and hypnotic
healing rituals, the patient enters into an Altered State of
Consciousness (Due either to an Ecstatic or Hypnotic
trance), and by way of this undergoes the experience of
936
beyond-reality situations (according to traditional
perceptions)and intra-personal experience in terms of
accepted therapeutic dogma in the Western World).
We shall now discuss in further detail the Physiological
and Psychological aspects of Healing Rituals.
In our examination of traditional healing rituals, we
encounter two opposing rhythmical processes: one of
which steadily intensifies by means of a systematic
acceleration of tempo and an increase in dynamics, with
the participants responding with energetic movements
as dictated by the musical development; and the
second, which preserves a constant rhythmic beat,
generally with no change of tempo or dynamics, and in
which the participant remains in a state of quiet
receptiveness In both cases, stimulus and reaction can
lead to a state of trance, typified by an Altered State of
Consciousness.