Music in PCW

Music as a key ingredient in PCW

Music has been the single most powerful tool in PCW, I’ve always been a massive music fan, but never fully appreciated how music is not just for entertainment, but also for emotional wellbeing. For over two decades I have used music to accelerate useful change using PCW and music remains central to emotional health. One of the single biggest investments from Nick Kemp Training in running live and online workshops is in getting the best musical equiptment to produce the very best work. These investments have massively paid off as I use all this material in one to one sessions as well as group work.

The Human Alchemy work and Hypnosis

Back in 2001, I started to incorporate music into my work with clients, creating the Human Alchemy series of audio products. These were initially on CD, and now can be purchased as audio files as that is how people consume music these days. Creating these CDs taught me a massive amount about the power of rhythm and the effect it has on emotional wellbeing.

The first product was “The Adventures of Well Being now” and was deeply hypnotic and very different to any other product out there. I used a combination of live playing and music loops to create a backdrop to a series of hypnotic inductions including two stories for therapeutic change. Two other spoken word products followed “Letters to your unconscious” and “About Time” On request I also released two instrumental music products “Music for Hypnosis” and “Music for an Imaginary Workshop.”

These audio products were great sellers and distributed by Crown House Publishing, creating invaluable income that was then used to fund the expansion of the PCW model. I continue to create instrumental music for my own workshops and live appearances and am fortunate to have a great producer who helps with final mastering.

I’ve had a lot of inspiration from working with other musicians to create really excellent music for emotional balance. Here’s a piece of music that I have used with great effect in live events and 1 – 1 work. A lot of the PCW trance work uses voice as well as instrumentation and this track from my acoustic ensemble of musicians has been heard all over the globe in live events.

Creating royalty free music and building a home studio

One of the issues in releasing hypnosis products and PCW products is the question of using royalty free music. I started to write and create my own music as I couldn’t find anything that was suitable for my own work. What I found was either horrible new age music that had no real rhythm or music that really was just dreadful. Fortunately technology has come along in leaps and bounds and I built my own home studio to record my own products.

One of the most invaluable tools in the studio is the Austrian Audio OC818 mic that is fantastic for recording voice. Great musical equipment gives the opportunity to create products that really stand out. I have also run workshops on creating products where I have had groups use my home studio to create their own unique material.

Music for live events and products

I have always used music to great effect in live PCW events and once again this medium has proved to be invaluable in teaching the PCW model. Many of the exercises are around the use of rhythm and different types of music will produce different emotional states. I would also often video an entire workshop and then create a short movie clip at the end using a musical soundtrack which became “a feedback loop” for all the attendees. This was a ton of work but really well received and crucially reinforced all the teaching during the event. I also used my own music for promotional products and promotional ads like the one below

I have also hired my longstanding vocal teacher Agi to work with my students on live events as the use of voice and rhythm are essential in communication. I’m amazed that the auditory medium is so rarely referenced in personal change work in favour of often too much unhelpful analysis.

Voice for accelerated change – vocal tuition

In recent years I have had vocal tuition on a weekly basis and this has taught me an extraordinary amount about how voice works. How we talk to ourselves creates how we feel in ourselves. Initially these lessons were a true baptism of fire as I began to appreciate how to use voice to best effect. I continue to learn how to expand my vocal range and how to use those insights to help others.

How we “talk to ourselves” is equally as important as to how we talk to others. The linguistic content is only one aspect of this, the rhythm, tone and expression can be gamechangers in communication.

The voice tempo exercise in the PCW tool kit is a perfect example of the power of altering rhythm to great effect to reduce anxiety related conditions.

The Future of Music in PCW

My plan is to increasingly explore how best to use music in personal change and therapy. I was recently asked and agreed to be a non executive director of a music therapy charity and my instinct is that there is a lot more to explore. Music can inspire, provoke and produce extraordinary results for clients.