Music is so effective at relieving pain that patients should be allowed to listen to it before, during and after surgery, researchers have recommended. A study published in The Lancet found that pain levels fell when patients were played their favourite songs, even under general anaesthetic. “Music is a non-invasive, safe, cheap intervention that should be available to everyone undergoing surgery,” said lead author Dr Catherine Meads from Brunel University. Patients, she suggested, should be encouraged to choose any kind of music they like to “maximise the benefit to their well-being”. (After a hip operation earlier this year, her own pain was soothed by listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album.)
For her study, Dr. Meads reviewed trials involving 7,000 surgical patients and found that on a scale of one to ten, pain levels fell by two points if they tuned into their own choice of music. They were also less anxious and needed less pain relief after their op. In a follow-up study later this year at the Royal London Hospital, 40 women undergoing hysteroscopies or caesareans will listen to their playlists via pillows fitted with built-in loudspeakers.
The wonderful thing about human beings is the diversity of their tastes. Music is a good example. My preference is for calming, reflective, romantic music that carries you away into another place. Others need more energy and volume. Whatever the music, I would like to think that originality and imagination in the composition reduces anxiety and pain to the greatest degree. Some modern music, personally speaking, would enhance both pain and anxiety.
I’m not surprised that Dark Side of the Moon proved such an effective pain relief. I’d highly recommend it for any situation (except for perhaps a party where something more lively is needed.) It’s incredibly soothing and technically very clever.
Having said that, I would contend that the music in the top 40 charts isn’t soothing at all. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing- not everything is meant to be easy listening. But what most people want with their music, especially the middle age and elderly, is music that is both relaxing and tuneful. The music of today is neither, particularly the rap and R&B that dominates. The use of electronic sounds takes away a lot of emotion and mood from music, making it sound soulless and empty. I love electronic sounds effects, but when the song entirely consists of a 4/4 electronic drum beat, synthesisers and an auto tuned voice, something has gone terribly wrong.
I’m so glad you have said that! I feel that much of modern music has hit the buffers at the terminus. It is unimaginitive, repetitive and unattractive, and I am talking about “serious” orchestral and chamber music as well as popular music. Some fellow claimed a while back that every possible tune that could be devised had been devised. This was absolute twaddle.
I happen to find that melodies come into my head very readily. At one point I had over 170 melodies (just 4 or 8 bars) in my tune bank, and went through them all critically , zapping those that hinted at being derivative. Some composers are wonderful; with others there is a lack of creativity and imagination. Audiences have to sit for 10-15 minutes through these pieces at concerts, and the tepid applause tells you all you need to know.