REFLECTIONS ON SOME ROMANIAN FOLK RITES FROM MUSIC THERAPY'S PERSPECTIVE

The study aims to investigate several rites of Romanian folk culture in terms of the therapeutic role of music and identifies elements from music therapy sphere. Contemporary Music Therapy is trying to restore the original meaning of music, relying on its emotional potential and on the effect that music has upon the depths of biological, psychological and spiritual structures of human being. As a manifestation of universal order, balance and harmony music has the potential to restore these qualities to any part of the universe that is disorganized, unbalanced and disharmonious due to illness. Its structural components (sound, vibration) can affect and potentially heal all living things. All popular cultures have created and developed spirituality based on animistic conception of nature that all objects are alive and act one on another and on human being causing harmony or imbalance. In the context of Romanian folk culture the musical expression meets various functions including that of therapeutic agent. In our view the fact that Romanian folk music cannot be separated from its functions contributed to its perpetuation and preservation until today, although in forms that were altered by the passing of time.