Meditation music is music performed to aid in the practice of

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

. 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 John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

, Stuart Dempster, Pauline Oliveros,

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...

and Lawrence Ball began to combine meditation techniques and concepts, and music. Specific works include

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

's '' Inori'' (1974), ''

Mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

'' (1970), '' Hymnen'' (1966–67), '' Stimmung'' (1968), and ''

Aus den sieben Tagen ''Aus den sieben Tagen'' (From the Seven Days) is a collection of 15 text compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen, composed in May 1968, in reaction to a personal crisis, and characterized as " Intuitive music"—music produced primarily from the ...

'' (1968), 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. 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".

Relational effects

Music can provide many psychological benefits including stress reduction, improved memory, and general improvement to

cognitive Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

performance. Research shows that the activity of listening to music can aid individuals in detaching from their surroundings and help them focus on their own thoughts and actions. When applied specifically to a meditative setting, music can aid in

mindfulness Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through exercises, of sustaining metacognitive awareness towards the contents of one's own mind and bodily sensations in the present moment. The term ''mindfulness'' derives from the Pali ...

, visualization, and

contemplation In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the Divinity, divine which Transcendence (religion), transcends the intellect, often in accordance with religious practices such as meditation or contemplative pr ...

. According to the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

, these qualities can increase personal awareness and help identify signs of stress and anxiety. Practicing mindfulness can help individuals be more observant of their present thoughts and actions. Research shows that meditation music can improve confidence during the practice of meditation. In a July 2018 study, volunteers between the ages of 60 and 80 who were listening to healing music, meditating for one to two 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. Meditation music can help improve focus while performing mechanical tasks. A June 2019 study that observed

neurosurgeons Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, ...

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. Meditation music can have positive effects on people recovering from

drug addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...

. In general, spiritual meditation may promote addiction recovery and improve psychological and mental health outcomes by reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. 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 Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...

addiction during abstinence in rats.

Christian meditation music

Some Christian faiths, particularly the Catholic Church, reject meditation practice from outside their traditions, particularly new-age music. On the other hand, '' Quartet for the End of Time'' (1941) by

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

, a practicing Catholic and church

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

, is an explicitly Christian piece of meditation music.

Zen meditation music

Specific works include

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was a British film director and producer. He made his theatrical film debut with ''The Hunger (1983 film), The Hunger'' (1983) and went on to direct highly successful action and t ...

's '' Music for Zen Meditation''.

References

Cited sources

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