From Orpheus to the biblical David, music has been used to battle death, heal the sick, comfort the afflicted, and calm raging waters. Consider, for example, the maddening rhythms that swirled all seven of Salome's veils and made Herod lose his reason, or how the strumming of David quieted the tempestuous and melancholic Saul, whom he would replace as king. The trumpeters at Jericho could level the walls of a city. Even a scientist might ask whether music has power to influence the body's processes. This is a question that has intrigued medical science for centuries.
Medical history is filled with affidavits regarding the therapeutic efficacy of music.
No less an authority than Hippocrates was known to place some faith in the healing powers of Corybantic chants, perhaps for emotional or mental disorders. The Corybantes offered homage to the nature goddess Cybele in wild dances to impassioned music. Her power was attached as much to this music as to herb and root, leaf and flower. The association of music and medicine long outlived the medieval era. It has yet to be substantiated by sufficient scientific observation, but the possibility remains intriguing that rhythm, tonality, and vibration may have at least palliative effects.