Basics

Feel good – noticeably good

For many people music is an emotional highlight and can help in many phases of life. Music can improve the quality of life, strengthen self-confidence, intensify inner experience, create sublime feelings, increase social relationships, conscious living, and awaken pure joy of life — who wouldn’t want that?

From our own experience we know that music and making music gives us an ideal access point to all these things, independent of age, origin or physical inhibitions. Allton offers instruments and furniture and constantly advances their development for their various applications.

Dealing with music creates a connection to our inner power that can strengthen anyone. We show possibilities, promote and show the many ways of application, At trainings, sound conventions, presentations, lectures and more.

Music and vibro-acoustics

1. The effects of music

Music can change moods and feelings – when listening attentively and when actively making music.

Music can reduce fear and activate the brain region for joy. There is no dedicated centre in the brain for music like, e.g. the speech centre. Instead music can reach all parts of the brain, e.g. via the limbic system.

This way music helps us to access to our own emotions. Music is not only perceived by ear. Low frequencies can also be perceived by the skin. This way music becomes a multi-sensory experience.

2. Listening and feeling

Music is perceived in three different ways:

Listening to pleasant music dilates the blood vessels and improves blood circulation. It has a calming effect, it regulates heart and brain frequency, reduces harmful stress hormone levels such as cortisol and increases vitality.

In music therapy with vibro-acoustics, the sound waves of the music are used to create vibrations, which can then be physically felt. The following effects, among others, have been proven: muscle relaxation, reduction of internal tension, reduction of perioperative stress. This multisensory effect of the KlangWoge has been shown in the measurements of recovery ability. Within only 5 minutes, the heartbeat decreased by up to 20 beats per minute, and via the so-called HRV (heart rate variability) it could be seen how the relaxation part of the nervous system (the so-called parasympathetic nervous system) became more prominent compared to activation. The basis for VAT (Vibroacoustic Therapy, used in the 80’s by the Norwegian therapist Olav Skille) is the fact that the human body consists of more than 73% water and sound flows through water more efficiently than air. Therefore, sound frequency vibration is a highly efficient means of whole body stimulation at a low cellular level.

Our skin has more than 200 million touch receptors that sense the vibration and sound waves in the frequency range from 15 to 500 Hz. Therefore, we not only hear with our ears, but our sense of touch also participates in the hearing experience. This multisensory perception is much stronger and more pleasant than what we are used to from normal audio devices.

3. Vibro-acoustic instruments

If an instrument is to have a vibroacoustic effect, a resonance chamber is not necessary.

In vibro-acoustic therapy (VAT), the vibration of the generated sounds is primarily used for the perception by the body. This is done through physical contact with the instrument.

The purpose of a resonance chamber of an instrument is the acoustic amplification of tones, i.e. to make the instrument sound louder. The energy of the vibrating string, for example, is converted into volume (in stronger air vibrations). If more body vibration is required, it is more effective to omit the resonating body. This has been used for decades, e.g. in our sound cradle. That way the volume is only about half as loud as with a resonating body.

Here is an illustration of the individual phases of vibration transmission in an acoustic stringed instrument:

The string is excited (plucked, struck, bowed) and vibrates from point of contact (bridge) to point of contact of the string (this distance is called the scale length).

The vibration is transmitted via the bridge to the top of the resonance chamber and the top begins to resonate, thereby amplifying the air vibration. The instrument sounds louder. For example: With our therapeutic tamburachord ZM78C the volume when playing (depending on whether you play softly or loudly) lies between 30-50 dB (0.4-2 sone). If you want it to sound louder, you can put the instrument on a table or cardboard box or on a drum. Then the volume is between 40-60 dB (2-4 sone). The volume will then be about twice as loud.

What is sound massage?

During the sound massage, the vibration of a musical instrument is transferred to the human body and can be felt as vibration. For this purpose a contact between instrument and body needs to be established, e.g. by touching or placing the instrument on the body.

In contrast to the classical massage, where skin and muscles are pressed and stretched by hand, this is done by the musical instrument. The finest vibrations are transferred to the body — similar to the waves that a stone creates when it is thrown into water.

Since our body consists of approx. 70% water, every cell of the body is addressed by these vibrations. This results in a deep massage that has a positive influence on the body in many ways.

What instruments are being used?

The best known are singing bowls of different sizes, which are placed on the clothed body and then played. In principle this can also be done with other instruments. Body monochords or body tanpura are stringed instruments that have been specially developed for this purpose. In the case of sound furniture, one can lie down on the instrument or also sit or lay down in the instrument, i.e. in the resonance chamber.

What are the effects of sound massage?

The vibration frequency of the instrument is absorbed by the body through the skin and forwarded inwards. The transmission is strongest via the bones (bone conduction), i.e. where there is little tissue between skin and bone, and least via fatty tissue. The transmission of the oscillation frequency passes through deeper skin layers and muscle tissue to organs inside the body. The feeling of the music is mostly perceived as a pleasant and soothing sensation in the body. This way tension and blockages can be released and self-healing processes can be supported. The soothing sound also leads to a state of inner peace and deep relaxation.