Music and mind in unison

CHENNAI: When Saroop Oommen, musician and Manager-Arts at the Unwind Centre began talking about how drugs affect the human limbic system, giving us a sense of high, the handful of parents who had gathered to listen to his recent talk at YWCA, Poonamallee High Road, looked at each other with uncertainty. But their young college girls in the first few rows perked up and put their phones away. “The brain records pleasuring activities,” said Saroop. “We need to look for places where we can experience a natural high and music does the same thing.” Saroop was interacting with the students as part of the first-of-its-series ‘Meet the musician’ initiative by YWCA. In his talk, he extensively spoke about the power of music and what it can do for one. To illustrate that music indeed does have a power of its own, he made the students close their eyes as he strummed a few chords on his guitar. He made them understand that as he altered the nature of notes he was playing, the mental images that the students had were also changing. “This power of music is what makes music therapy for plants so successful. In Andhra, it was found that sugarcane fields that underwent music therapy showed a 27 per cent increase in output,” he explained. According to him, cities, in future, will be rated by the cultural value they possess and Chennai is well on its way of reaching cultural heights. “When we used to conduct concerts a couple of years ago, we would have 200 people showing up. Now we get only around 70,” he began. “There are so many other things happening here at the same time, people have a serious choice to make.” Saroop also conducted various singing exercises that helped the girls understand the nuances of harmonies, rhythm, timing and lyrical value. He did not conclude before he remembered to say, “You can all now take responsibility (because you attended this talk) for the fact that artistes can change things. If you understand that, use the power of art.” The youth wing of YWCA is planning more such meet-the-experts events and next month, they’ll have an expert chef demonstrating the preparation of Easter goodies.