What can I do with Wavepaths?
Control of musical intensity and therapeutic function
In addition to creating unique music from within each of the four emotionalities outlined in the last section, Wavepaths allows you to choose the intensity of the music created. This can be done whilst planning a session, by selecting low, medium or high intensity waves.
You can also manually control intensity during the session by using the intensity slider to select from 13 different intensity levels, allowing for more precise control. (see video below)
The ability to control the intensity of the music created within a particular emotional atmosphere allows you to choose which of two therapeutic functions, soothing or deepening, is engaged by the system.
An example of Vitality going from low intensity to high intensity and back down.
(Note: drastic changes in intensity for demonstration purposes only)
Soothing function
This function is primarily concerned with providing a soothing, calming and reassuring climate.
Soothing music is not emotionally or physiologically activating, instead it reduces the intensity of the respective subjective experience. Soothing music does not strongly demand attention, and instead allows the listener to explore various internal states relatively freely. Soothing music is free of, or very low in tension.
Musically, soothing music is often low in pace (measured in beats per minute), and has a simple form (low compositional complexity).
Deepening function
This function is primarily concerned with intensifying subjective experiences, and with bringing feelings, psychological processes and memories more strongly into awareness, and for them to be more deeply experienced and expressed.
Deepening music is emotionally or physiologically activating, demands more of the listener’s attention, and guides the attention towards a narrower range of internal states. Deepening music is medium to high in tension.
Musically, Deepening music is often medium to high in pace (bpm) and has a medium to high complexity in form (high compositional complexity).
Bridging function
This function is primarily concerned with promoting movement and change of emotionality.
Rather than staying within one core emotional atmosphere that is soothed, deepened and/or released, this music is characterised by dynamically moving from one subjective experience to another. In other words, where soothe can be viewed as ”from here, to less here”, and deepen as “from here, to more here”, bridges can be viewed as “from here to there”.
Bridging music helps to gently direct the experience of your client into different directions. Bridging music can be of any level of depth and tension (i.e. they can be both low, medium and strongly emotionally or physiologically activating).
Musically, bridging music can be low, medium or high in pace (bpm) and typically has a medium to high complexity in form (medium to high compositional complexity).
Holding function
This function is primarily concerned with sustaining a subjective experience for the client.
This music is characterised by an absence of change, and helps to promote a continuous processing of the present experience of the client, and to prevent the experience to be ended too abruptly or soon.
The holding funcion can be applied to any any level of depth and tension (i.e. with music that can be both low, medium and strongly emotionally or physiologically activating), and can be of any imaginable pace (bpm) or compositional complexity.
Control of musical tone colour or acousticness
The Wavepaths system allows you control over the musical tone colour or “timbre” of the session composed by the system, through using the musical preference selector within the session planner page.
Here you can select between Acoustic, Electronic or Mixed settings.
- Acoustic will prioritise instruments such as wind, brass and strings, tuned percussion, as well as human voice within the composition.
- Electronic will prioritise electronic instruments such as synthesisers.
- Mixed acoustic/electronic includes both of the above, as well as acoustic instruments that have been processed electronically.
Seamlessly adapt the music in real time, at the level of individual instrumentation
The real time compositional power of the Wavepaths system provides you with a high degree of control; switching emotional atmospheres or changing musical intensity happens seamlessly and within 60 seconds of your instruction. This ensures adaptability to the dynamics of the patient’s experience without disruption.
Control down to the level of instrumentation is also possible, so you can change single instruments within a multi-artist composition in real time.
An example changing instruments and sounds during a session.
(Note: quick instrument/sound changes for demonstration purposes only)
Wavepaths also allows you to:
- Stream remotely to unlimited devices
- Start the session remotely, via the functionality for pre-planned on demand use
- Cache sessions to be played in offline mode
- Use pre-designed templates that are configurable based on medicine, dosage and route of administration
- Access to an integration page for each completed session, with prompts and a music playback option
Learn more about Wavepaths
Take our person centred music course (community platform knowledge hub)