In Indian tradition, music has always had a very specific status : indeed, for us, everything is alive with “medicine power”. The word “medicine”, in our vocabulary, is used to designate something or somebody acting as a mediator between the visible and the non-visible worlds. It is the spirit in the sound, the intention, which gives life force. The music draws from the earth and the stars and everything that lives around it. It then gives a vibration, easy to feel, that can be filled with the spirit of healing and peace. We are trained many years to understand and transmit the sacred sounds.

One should always bear in mind that, although music therapy can be efficient on all levels of being, it was traditionnally used in conjonction with several other therapeutic approaches.

The Native American people have a holistic, global way of relating to the world and to each other, and a holistci all encompassing vision of the universe. In this world wiew, all things are related, the animals are our relatives, and so it is with rocks, trees and clouds. Everything can be understood in relationship with the whole. For example, music can be a way of expressing the intimate mathematical relationships that support the world. If I learn to beat the pulse of the earth on my drum, I attune my own heart with this fundamental rhythm. This makes me healthy, happy and secure.

Thus, our spirituality and our music therapy are much interconnected, and cannot be separated without causing the essence of therapeutic principles to be lost. Sickness and disease are often caused by being at odds with the world, in disharmony with nature. We can retune, through the sacred sounds that represent an aspect of Creation with which we are at odds, and heal ourselves or others by harmonizing in this way with the fundamental laws of Creation. This comes from our understanding that all is related through vibration. There is a law that speaks about this principle, the law of harmony. This law says that when things are created to a same frequency, or thought form, if one of them is put into motion, the other will also vibrate through harmonic resonance. In the same way, music in harmony with the laws of nature will retune our beings on an all levels. An example of the law of harmony is that the medicine of vibration will make one’s intruments sound better every year. As theyears come and go they vibrate more and more, as the wood aligns itself with the vibration of the instrument.

For Native Americans, music is also very important in education. If you try to teach a child the alphabet with a song, he will learn quickly and will remember it forever. If you teach it without song it will become an arduous and long process whith chances it may be forgotten. In traditional settings we always begin with a song and often this song is also a prayer to open our hearts to the abundance and harmony in the world. All mothers, to assist with a baby’s first days, will use music, singing and crooning to the child, naturally, without attaching any concepts to this activity.

The silence before and after the actual music is as important as the music itself. In the first moment before the sounds flow, the inspiration, like a tender wind, will be felt and we will be able to enter into the meaning the musician is trying to convey. After the last sound has been heard, that precious moment of silence captures all tha has been expressed and gives that global feeling of unity and completion that is necessary for undersatnding, healing and appreciation. I have noticed that people very rarely applaud after the music I play. I encourage my students not to applaud as it destroys that precious moment of global understanding. Silence is an integral part of hearing and listening. If you really listen you will find there is always sound, a high frequency, being vibrated through the air.