Musical modes and the medical dimension: The Arabic sources (c.900-c.1600)

Journal/Book: Metaphor: A musical dimension. 1991; Sydney. Currency. 147-159.

Abstract: The keen belief in the overwhelming power of music follows the development of ideas connecting music with medical effects and properties. Subsequently, cosmological speculation is linked to the concrete application of modes (both rhythmic and melodic) in healing, leading to the principal question: should the musician possess medical qualifications, or, inversely, the physician be versed in musical science? Examination of the sources leads to the conclusion that music therapy is the province of a musician who acts as an auxiliary to the physician, although it is conceded that physicians may also be musicians. (author)

Keyword(s): modality > arab theory > relation to medicine > 900-1600; medicine > . relation to arab modes > 900-1600; rhythm and meter > arab music > rhythmic modes > relation to medicine > 900-1600; arab music > theory > . modal > relation to medicine > 900-1600

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