Origin

Long before Music became a conscious tool for artistic or devotional expression and communication, it was applied subconsciously by humans only therapeutically, to mitigate emotional and physical pain. Thus one can make a case for Music Therapy (MT) being as old as when we discovered Music.  Recorded history documents that MT was practiced in several civilizations including India, Egypt, China and Greece.  In the last few decades, it has developed into a formal academic area in many universities and documented thousands of important observations.  But MT’s personalized approach like listening to certain genres of music or playing certain instruments is effective among niche populations.  For instance, Western Classical may provide more relief to for those who can relate to it while unintentionally, yet unfortunately excluding the vast majority of those who cannot do so. 

Though the highest quality of musical excellence can transcend cultural or regional boundaries, from a clinical standpoint, it is imperative to objectively study the mechanics behind sound vibrations in a culture-region-agnostic manner to get scientifically repeatable and reliable results that can benefit billions across the planet.  The rationale behind Musopathy is that the probability of a cure for large populations is directly proportional to the precision of the methods at the nano level, combined with its potential to be adaptable to individual responses. 

Aspects to address in MT 

1. Music meant for entertainment or religious purposes are too complex and often multi-layered (several voices/instruments).  Even in a 5 or 10 minute sample of such music, it is absolutely impossible to assess the specific role of each of these multiple components.
2. Similarly, even 5 minute sample are too long because for music to be entertaining, it has to have a dynamic force – with contrasting speeds, tempos, textures, octave ranges, volume changes etc.  But from a clinical standpoint, it would again be impossible to pinpoint which aspect contributed to what favourable health outcome.  It is obviously exponentially impossible to state the percentage of impact each of these components. 
3. Ascribing favourable outcomes to Music of a particular composer (Ex: Mozart for increased cognitive abilities) is unreliable because most studies have only focused on populations which would be ‘tuned into’ the system the composer belongs to (in this instance Western Classical).  It may not be uniformly effective to populations that may not be able to associate with the music system.  The same goes for Clinical Studies focused on certain Ragas of Indian music, which can be rendered in several different ways by different artist or even by the same artist on different occasions. 
4. While the observations may not be incorrect per se, several raise more questions than answers.  For instance, research using even apparently simple tunes of Hymns fail to isolate and assess the impact of at least 4-5 variables that are at play there: (a) Lyrics (b) Tune (c) The Tone and Timbre of the person reciting it (d) Tempo and (e) Volume in which it is recited. Unless these are isolated, varied and studied, the results can be partial at best. 

APPROACH & POTENTIAL

Musopathists aim to conduct research to offer insights into the constituent parts of music common to most systems which forms the crux of the Receptive Musopathy, (and only involves listening to music) as well as on Participative aspects (where they take part in TBT and MANET exercises). Neither of these require knowledge of music or even fondness for it from participants.  

• Complementary:  It can be a complementary health solution for psychological issues including Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Anger Management (and minimize the side effects of Allopathy medications).
• Physiological Issues: It can also address physiological problems including Respiratory disorders, Pain, Muscle Strain, Voice Strain, Sleep disorders. 
• Viable Alternative: It could alleviate the symptoms of neuro-psychiatric disorders including Parkinson’s and Autism where most pharmacological interventions have by and large not succeeded till date. 
• Enhanced Wellness:  Musopathy TBT can be a Lifestyle Management tool to foster increased energy, stamina, focus, clarity, calmness and enhanced wellness.
• Preventive: It has the potential to help in the prevention of illnesses such as cognitive degeneration.

There are at least two important pre-requisites for this vision to reach optimal levels:

1. Collaborations between highly renowned and perceptive musicians with an analytical mindset and the best medical scholars with a keen awareness of musical complexities involved from reputed institutions.
2. Adequate funding to cover sophisticated studies in various parts of the world. 

It stands to reason that most people who may already have a sense of Music appreciation of any genre would find Music Therapy more palliative than those who cannot relate much to Music of any type, where Musopathy could prove to be game changers.