Sound & Healing Therapy Music for Both the Unborn and Preschool Years
Sound & Healing Therapy Music for Both the Unborn and Preschool Years
A recent testimony messaged to me via Facebook, from a woman I do not know, has stirred me to revisit some critical pieces of my journey as both a musician/psalmist and as a parent. In May 2015, I released my newest book of my journey as a psalmist, Was I Not Listening OR Did Someone Not Tell Me?. Through this woman’s testimony, Holy Spirit reminded me of a specific and important piece that was omitted from the book.
The Testimony:
“Hi Tammy, I wanted to message you to share with you how thankful my husband and I am for your music. We have bought many of your songs and albums, but had initially been given your album “free to be his glory” from a family member. That album has been such a blessing to us for many reasons. Since becoming pregnant in October we often played our son that album, in preparation for his arrival. It has been truly an amazing gift to see and sense his reaction to each song. Many times he has even moved closer to where the music is being projected from. Throughout my pregnancy I have attempted to play other songs/cd’s but have yet to receive a similar response! We are so thankful to have discovered your music for us and our son! Thank you for sharing your beautiful gift!”
I responded with thanksgiving, giving all glory unto my Heavenly Father from Whom it is given, as well as with the following:
“I would like to share that what you have done in playing the music to your child in the womb is exactly how Holy Spirit led me with our own children, who are now 25 and twins, age 22. All three are exceptionally gifted and skilled in music as professional musicians and artists, as well as lights for His Kingdom and glory in not always so light-filled places. I was doing my graduate work in gifted and talented research and music education at the time of their conception. I did all of the research via Holy Spirit leading on behalf of our unborn children. You will be tremendously blessed in how this manifests in your own child’s giftings and calling. Again – thank you so much for sharing!”
The woman replied:
“Thank you for the wonderful response! I’m so glad to hear about your encouragement and I am excited to hear your upcoming project! Yes, you may definitely share my testimony as you feel fit! It is very transparent that Holy Spirit leads and moves through you and your music and if I can help others experience such a wonderful thing through my testimony then yes, please! Also, thank you for sharing your testimony regarding your children and music within the womb! A beautiful story that is also very encouraging for us! I know this decision was led by Holy Spirit and was made apparent by his reaction to the music that was played. I am very much looking forward to seeing the manifestation of this as his grows naturally and spiritually within the Lord! Thank you again!”
James 1:17 (AMP), “Every good gift and every perfect ([a]free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].”
Psalm 138:13 (AMP), “For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Every child is a gift sent from Heaven. Every child is knit together in the womb with specific and uniquely chosen gifts from our Heavenly Father’s heart to manifest through each one here on the Earth. Why wouldn’t we play Holy Spirit led music to them from conception forward? Every child is intimately connected to our Heavenly Father until they encounter an important juncture in the road: where they get to choose whether they want to continue in that intimate relationship through Jesus Christ, who is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life (John 14:6).
A Personal Testimony
When our own three children were in my womb, most of the research on the gifted and talented at that time indicated a connection between music and intelligence. More recent research simply tends to support that infants remember music played while in the womb for up to four months, with increased intelligence being connected to children studying a musical instrument. The following results from an Abstract published in October of 2013 by Elino Partaken, Teija Kujala, Mari Tervaniemi, and Minna Huotilainen at plos.org entitled, Prenatal Music Exposure Induces Long-Term Neural Effects, states the following:
“Our results show that prenatal exposure to music can have long-term plastic effects on the developing brain and enhance neural responsiveness to the sounds used in the prenatal training, an effect previously only demonstrated in animal models [41]. Furthermore, we found that these plastic changes are long lasting, as the effect of prenatal exposure persists for at least four months without any additional stimulation. These findings have several practical implications. First, since the prenatal auditory environment modulates the neural responsiveness of fetuses, it seems plausible that the adverse prenatal sound environment may also have long-lasting detrimental effects [8]. Such environments may be, for example, noisy workplaces and, in case of preterm infants, neonatal intensive care units. Furthermore, as prenatal exposure still affected the ERP responses months after birth, additional fetal exposure to structured sound environments might be beneficial for supporting the auditory processing of, for example, infants at risk for dyslexia in whom basic auditory processing was shown to be impaired (e.g., [42]). Such effects have previously been demonstrated in rat pups, showing benefits of structured sound environments during pregnancy for cortical organization and synaptogenesis [41], and enhancing their spatial learning ability for up to 21 days after birth [43]. However, further studies are needed to shed light on the specific mechanisms of enhanced neural responsiveness induced by the prenatal stimulation, and to determine whether such stimulation could be used to alleviate the deficits in auditory processing.”
I have a testimony on this website under Testimonies from a client whose doctor expressed her desire to write prescriptions for music, because “music is the number one way to heal the brain.” My client’s prescription from the doctor for the next phase of her journey: sing, play, dance to music. As a certified Sound & Healing Therapist as well as certified VoiceBio Sound & Healing Therapist, I use VoiceBios to facilitate the specific musical keys indicated for my client’s physical bodies, as well as for emotional, spiritual, and mental needs. (*See further details under Sound & Healing Therapy and VoiceBios on this website.)
Our own three children would have been exposed to music irregardless of my research, as both my husband and I have music performance degrees, and I have a master’s degree in music education. As a music educator, I spent years researching, teaching, and observing the benefits of music for children in both the preschool and elementary school years. I absolutely believe that Holy Spirit leading me to play piano, sing, and to specific composers, i.e., Mozart and Bach, activated, enhanced, and positively impacted our children’s natural intelligence, as well as their spiritual and emotional journeys. Additionally, it activated the motivation, desire, and drive to diligently put in the thousands of practice hours required from a very young age in order to become professional musicians. From the womb, we pursued the path of Suzuki music education for each of them as preschoolers, where they learned to develop their musicianship, i.e. musical ears and proper technical skills, long before they were required to read the notes on the page. The notes on the page were developed after they learned to read in their elementary school years. By the ages of 6 and 9, Holy Spirit told me to teach them to worship Him on their instruments. Our family worship band was born, with Jadan on bass guitar/guitar, Jaran on drums/violin, Jessa vocals/violin, mom on keyboard/vocals, and dad on bass guitar/guitar/keyboard. This awesome journey as a family continued until Holy Spirit told us to release each one to be sent out with their own individual journeys and callings in 2009.
I have since received a number of prophetic words over me regarding the ‘curing of autism and disease,’ the music Holy Spirit plays through me, and teaching apart from the keyboard. There is only one Healer: Jesus Christ. However, our Heavenly Father is infinitely creative, and via Holy Spirit, uses people in unique and creative ways to accomplish His purposes, which are ALWAYS to heal. He alone receives the glory. I also believe the testimony I shared at the beginning of this article, in conjunction with the path we were led to follow with our own three children from the moment of their conception, is intricately connected to the music Holy Spirit plays through me in my spontaneous recordings, as well as to Sound and Healing Therapy. As a family, we know spiritually, Scripturally, educationally, and physically how this has manifested in our own three children, each uniquely, as well as through a variety of testimonies from others, shared on both this website, tammysorenson.com, and at TheArtsExpressed.org. Our oldest has an incredible ear for recording production and engineering, and is a master of tone and timing as a professional drummer. He is a songwriter who records all instrumentation, with the exception of vocals and lead guitar. Our other son is an amazing guitarist, both lead and rhythm, as well as bass guitarist. He is also a songwriter and graphic designer. Both of our sons network in the recording industry, as well as play live as their profession. Our daughter is vocalist with incredible intonation and technical vocal skills, as well as a creatively skilled/degreed professional photographer. This all may sound as though a parent simply boasting about her children. However, as a professional musician married to a professional musician, as a music educator and professional piano instructor, and as a certified Sound & Healing Therapist, not to mention someone who walks in intimate relationship with One who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, to Whom I give all glory and honor, I have both the education, training, and discernment to see and know beyond my parenting lens. I am believing to be connected to someone somewhere somehow who has the capacity to scientifically validate that which has manifested in our own family and to what I have given testimony.
I encourage you to check out my Sound & Healing Therapy CDs for your own children – both the ones already born into your family and those still on the way, especially in light of the most recent prenatal research regarding music, memory, and the mother’s voice (check out VoiceBios on this website for further details or to schedule an appointment). I also encourage you to check out my Sound & Healing Therapy CDs for yourselves. Holy Spirit has a calling on my music to lead people to place of resting in His presence, away from all of the distractions and distress of the culture we live in. Finding and encountering Rest and Peace in the midst of the storms of this life is something we all get to learn, as our physical bodies truly depend on it. Anxiety is at the root of all disease. The earlier in life we learn to find our place of rest in His presence, the healthier we will all be for carrying out our Earthly assignments on behalf of His Kingdom. Why not give our unborn children an atmosphere of Rest and Peace from the onset? We cannot remotely wrap our minds around either the natural or supernatural benefits of that intimate journey. Why not spend the time and take the risk that this simple act of faith will abundantly reap our Heavenly Father’s very best and glorious plans on behalf of our children/families; each comprised of uniquely created and gifted individuals through whom the heartbeat of Heaven is sent to manifest in their assigned callings and appointed times?
Sound Expressions, i.e. Tammy Sorenson, Sound & Healing Therapy CDs, as well as my new book, Was I Not Listening OR Did Someone Not Tell Me? are available under SHOP Products on this website, at tammysorenson.com/music, at TheArtsExpressed.org under SHOP, on Amazon, Kindle, iTunes, CD Baby, and other digital distribution centers.
