My last CD, 'Peace', is heard in various settings including hospices, aromatherapy sessions, and restaurants in different countries. The calming effect it often produces, I am told, provides comfort and security in an ever-changing world. I have also been asked to play live with small groups and individuals: I am eager for this to continue.

The 'Hope' CD has opened my eyes to a way of 'walking' alongside people, in music, as they journey through pain in their lives. I have been moved greatly by the kindness and generosity of all those who support my music aims. Music and recording professionals have worked extremely hard to link their personal gifts with mine to create this CD. Their offers to charge modest fees has made it possible for me to offer 'Hope' at a low price.

Some sorts of music can be very effective in enhancing the work of primary and complementary health therapists. This article describes why this might be so, and gives case studies to help those who might find resources such as my CD's and live music of assistance in their work.

Human beings are made from several constituent parts. As in music when those constituent parts (notes) work in harmony, the effect is pleasing and greater than the sum of the parts. When the parts (notes) work independently and are therefore often in discord, the effect is dis-ease — the combined effect of the parts is less than the sum of the parts individually.

Harmony in a human being releases creativity, contentment and healing. The patient feels affirmed and of value. They have a purpose and fit into the world — they can therefore relax, and this allows healing to flow more effectively. The increased creativity can be through the arts, or through a raised level of intuitive thought in any area.

The healing power of music has been known for centuries. In Old Testament times, King Saul used to call upon David to play his harp to lessen feelings of spiritual oppression. The Performing Right Society recently commissioned a survey, The Power of Music, which gathered together evidence to show how music has helped, often dramatically, in the healing process. In 2000 the BBC Music Magazine reported the so-called 'Mozart Effect' which showed how exposure to pieces of Mozartâs music enhanced brain function. Music Therapists have since used particular kinds of music to enhance the healing process — e.g. Sulis Music found that their contemplative music enhanced the immune system of cancer patients as well as making them feel less stressed. Music is now used widely in hospitals.

We all need healing in our body, mind and spirit. The body often needs calming or relaxation, as well as physical healing. The mind needs release from either the unhelpful effects of past events, or from unhelpful patterns of thought. Visualisation can enhance therapy to the mind. In this mode, the addition of a musical input can be invaluable. The human spirit needs to know comfort, safety and peace. This is often found as God's provision — in other words we cannot easily generate it ourselves. All three areas of the human being — body, mind and spirit really need to be attended to at once — it is often a temporary measure when only one of two of these parts are addressed at a time. My experience is that a mixture of 'suitable' music, the listener's willingness to accept change, and God's unique touch provides the most effective therapy.

The link between brain function and creativity/ease is well-described in 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards. The two sides of the brain have very different functions. The left side is in charge of verbal, analytical, sequential and temporal activities. For example, an injury to the left side of the brain gives rise to a greater chance of the loss of speech capability. The right side controls the intuitive, free, imaginative, and non-sequential thoughts. There is little sense of time, and the brain works holistically — seeing whole things in one intuitive leap.

The two halves of the brain are connected, but one side may become dominant. In most of the world, the left side of the brain is championed. The right side of the body is linked to the left side of the brain, and we assume that the right hand is 'best' for shaking hands, the bridegroom stands on the right, the place of honour is on the right etc. The left side is associated with control, the good, the just, and the moral. The right is to do with anarchy (eg the willingness to stand up in a meeting and take the opposite viewpoint to everyone else), and feelings being out of concious control.

An exercise in releasing the right side of the brain is when we attempt to copy a picture which is presented to us upside-down. This disables the right-side logical perspective (which for example has guidelines of the gaps between different parts of the face in a portrait), and turning one's copy attempt up the right way again often shows up unrealised creative drawing ability. The introduction of 'right-side' music whilst this attempt at copying goes on can further release creative activity.

When we 'live' in right-mode, the following effects can be noted:

• The passage of time becomes difficult to assess
• We can't listen or don't want to listen to nearby chatter — we may hear talk just as 'sounds'
• We feel alert but relaxed
• We feel confident, interested, absorbed, clear of mind
• Our creativity is pleasurable — we experience bliss, not just happiness
• As our left hemisphere rests, we become less burdened by that 'chatter' which often goes on in our heads

WE EXPERIENCE RELEASE / FREEDOM / PEACE

I have produced/composed and played two CDs which are proving to be of use in various forms of complementary therapy, and in playing to patients in hospices.

The 'Peace' CD was recorded in its entirety in the week following the resolution of a difficult spiritual issue. It involves improvisations based on simple harmonic structures, and reflects the peace and freedom felt when the issue had been resolved. Its main effect seems to be as a 'calming' agent — a catalyst towards inner peace. These feelings are reflected internationally and across age/culture barriers. For example a young listener in Beijing who was finding her work situation unbearable, listened to the CD non-stop for a long period and found release from the emotions which seemed to control her. An Arab in the Middle East described the CD as 'good music therapy'. Other listeners have also provided positive feedback. Such comment has arrived from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Germany, UAE (at least 10 copies are in different states of UAE), Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Azerbaiejan, Dubai (played in three restaurants there) , Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

The CD is being sold in high street record shops, hospices, a Christian retreat centre, has been used in an Armenian church service, and many aromatherapists works to the accompaniment of the CD which is then sold to patients as a result. Its effect therefore seems to be a wide one.

I have used this form of improvisation 'live' in sessions with a single listener, or with small groups, and the effect has often been of providing calm — often accompanied by the speaking out of pictures which have come into peopleâs minds as the music was being played. Uncannily their pictures are frequently closely related to the thoughts in my mind as I play the music, or relate directly to events of issues in the listenerâs lives (or sometimes mine). These pictures are invariably supporting and comforting, bringing some sort of peace to the listener (as well as me).

The 'Hope' CD is a musical journey through the emotions leading from loss to freedom.The listener can start listening to the emotion on the CD which they share now and move forward or back as they need. The music has deliberately been kept simple in structure and harmonic form, and in the number of instruments used. This creates 'space' for the listener to enter and work through their own experience of the emotion played. Music can often help us to accept and move through our emotions, in a way which is which is beyond the reach of words. This supports the belief that where words fail, it is often the music that speaks. The 'Mozart effect can be remarkably effective.

However, like homeopathic remedies, the music needs to contain a small amount of the painful emotion in order to be effective — composition of this sort of music is no academic exercise. For this to be possible the composer needs to have experienced the emotions personally, and to have the ability to release them into music, even if personal release into words has been hard to find. If the players of the music have also acknowledged these emotions in their lives, then the resulting recording can be very powerful as a healing agent. This CD has again been sent to many countries of very different cultures.

We have all known some sort of loss in our lives and need a glimmer of hope to carry on. Many emotional hurdles face us before we find release from whatever holds on to us. This release allows us to discover freedom in our whole being. This release comes from accepting difficult emotions which we often hide away on the journey from Loss to Freedom:

For those who would like to move towards freedom, having acknowledged their pain,

Henri Nouwen ('The Inner Voice of Love') says

'There is great pain and suffering in the world. But the pain hardest to bear is your own.' Nouwen says that being open about our struggles allows us to see clearly the struggles that others have to bear, 'and you will be able to reveal to them their own ways to joy, peace, and freedom.'

After reading this, I decided to share, in music, my experiences of how the road through apparently destructive emotions can in fact be a path to 'greater trust, stronger hope and deeper love'.

LOSS — What you have personally lost? a loved one, a job, your health or even your confidence? It takes many forms and its effects can be devastating and wide-ranging.

ANGER — a powerful emotion that can evoke great fear.

ANGUISH — a conflict of emotions, a feeling of confusion and despair.

GUILT — deep regrets, self-blame, how things could have been — IF ONLY — a seemingly helpless place to be

ALONE — a blanket of darkness, a feeling that you can't go on — LIFE IS HOPELESS!

SEARCHING — a spark, a glimmer of hope, 'can I carry on, I think I can?'

You are searching for HOPE, a place of safety, a refuge, somewhere to shelter, a place to be restored to some sort of sanity.

TEARS — When it gets too much to bear, you cannot hold on to this grief and sadness another moment. You sense release.

RAINBOW — The tears have been shed, the sun breaks through, a rainbow appears, its joyful colours reminding us that that there is light, and end to the long dark tunnel.

FREEDOM — A sense of achievement, gratitude, peace and contentment — a feeling that you believed could never return. It has, and you can look back and now move on in faith.

The 'Peace' and 'Hope' CDs are available via the pete-the-music website.

These CDs have been used by complementary therapists to accompany their own therapy, by counsellors in the area of Loss, by church and secular organisations who value a calming atmosphere, and as live one-to-one or small group input in places needing release and freedom, such as hospices. Other uses could be envisaged.

Effects which I have noted over the last year include the following — you will notice the range of people affected — across cultures, ages, gender etc.

One lady listened to live improvised music one-to-one with me (on many occasions), and after each piece would speak out a picture which came to her mind as I played. These pictures all had some important wisdom about situations which required peace or encouragement — either for me, for her or for other known people.

The young Chinese lady who was released from stress has been mentioned already.

An older lady listened to 5 minutes of improvisation after sharing a very taxing long-term problem with me. She immediately smiled widely and gave a very reassuring and relaxing visualisation of herself, and was clearly released from her problem.

A 16-year-old boy, who could often not sleep after revising for his exams, listened to the 'Peace' CD and slept peacefully regularly.

A lady who was partially deaf, but could hear music perfectly, burst into tears as I improvised in her presence — then she told me that it had brought up the memory of a difficult part of her life some years before, and that it had released her from the weight of that forgotten event.

A 16-year-old boy and (separately) a man in his early 40's, both of whom favour loud brash music, reacted very positively to tracks from the 'Hope' CD — even though these were quiet and meditative.

Patients at a hospice reacted to improvisations by asking me lots of questions as to how it 'worked'.