Music therapy session featuring plant music
On September 9, 2024, a special music therapy session featuring plant music was held at the Boldog Gellért Hospital, led by music therapist Zsuzsanna Szűcs-Ittzés (the Boldog Gellért Hospital), art therapist Éva Iván (the Boldog Gellért Hospital), and visual researcher Beáta Pántya (ESSRG).
With the plant music device, we can connect with plants in a unique way. While plants may seem still at first glance, constant changes are taking place in their internal world as they respond to their environment. These physiological processes involve changes in electrical charges that transmit information between plant cells, similar to how it happens in the human body. The sensors of the plant music device transform these bioelectric impulses into melodies, rhythms, and tones. Depending on the plant's activity, we can hear through melodies how it reacts and communicates with the outside world, and how its energy levels change.
At the session, the ten participants first observed the music created by the houseplants gathered on the table. They listened to the different plants and noticed what individual characters could be identified from the sounds, and how they differed from each other. After that, the group began to improvise music based on the melodies produced by the plants, using various instruments (drums, shakers, kalimba, triangles, bells, marimba) and vocal sounds. The participants also experimented with how different sounds and rhythms influence the tone and rhythm of the music produced by the plants.
At the end of the session, everyone had the chance to share their own experiences. Several individuals expressed that the plant music had a calming and pleasant effect as if it flowed through them from the inside. Many encountered this for the first time, which was a novel and significant experience for them. They found it interesting to observe the differences between the plants. Additional ideas emerged, and they expressed a desire to experiment further with the tool. During the closing discussion, the therapeutic possibilities of integrated activities were addressed. These novel and unusual events can bring forth ideas, solutions, or skills that are within us but under the surface. It is worth recognizing and employing these skills and ideas in our lives, as they can bring us closer to solving our problems.