Of the many things that can be said about cancer, one thing is undeniable,
it is enormously stressful.  There is emotional and physical stress, as well
as stress that compromises the immune system.  This stress directly affects
the ability of a person to handle their daily life while in treatment, and
may have a great deal to do with the ability of a person to survive and
thrive despite the cancer.  In the volume of studies that have been done on
cancer, a high percentage have looked at this stress factor.

This pilot study was designed to test the effects of solo harp music on
stress. Would solo harp music, if used consistently during treatment, make a
difference?  How would we measure this?

The specific measure used in this case was quantitative EEG.   Since the
brain is the central control for most things that occur in the body, it was
felt that this would be an appropriate measurement.

A normative database was used to compare subject’s brain functioning before
and after listening to the music for ten consecutive days. In another pilot
study I had looked at a particular brainwave frequency that is associated
with relaxation. The design of that study was to see whether this relaxing
frequency increased, decreased or stayed the same.

This study was designed to be slightly more sophisticated in that we were
comparing the subject’s brain wave frequencies with those of a normal
population.  This way we could see not only if there was any change but
whether that change was significant when comparing it to a normal
population.  Basically, how did our subjects fare when compared to the
average population’s brains?  These were brains that did not have to deal
with cancer, treatment or the effects of either. They were the norm – how
would we stack up against the norm?

The results were in a direction that was totally unexpected.  I had supposed
that certain frequencies related to stress or relaxation would change.  Solo
harp music is very relaxing and enjoyable.  This would be a reasonable
expectation.

What I didn’t expect was that fundamental brain functioning would change. In
each of the subjects the pre qEEG report indicated specific areas of
deviation from the norm or decreased functioning. As we supposed, the stress
had made its mark on each person involved in the study.  The brain showed
decreased ability in every day life.

However, after listening to the music for ten days, ALL subjects’ brains
tended to normalize. In other words, listening to solo harp music had a
direct positive effect on the subject’s neurological functioning, not simply
increasing or decreasing stress responses.

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