Usually, when one considers what they can do to fight off a cold, relieve pain, or alleviate mental illness, the first things that comes to mind may be to take over-the-counter drugs or prescribed medications. However, the cure to these and many other infirmities may be found within your own ipod. Music, in its many forms, can and should be used as a healing instrument. While it may not completely alleviate the need for drugs, it's possible that music therapy could accompany medical drug use in order to lessen the amount of potentially harmful medications often consumed by patients.
In order to understand how music can affect the body and mind, one needs to understand the composition of sound itself. Don Campbell describes it by saying “sound is energy that can be organized into shapes, patterns, figures, and mathematical proportions, as well as into music, speech, and utterances of agony and bliss.” He goes on to say that “sound travels in waves through the air and... is measured in hertz, [which is] the number of cycles per second at which the wave vibrates” (1).
Although we cannot see it, we can often feel the energy of sound. It affects us physically and mentally in both large and small ways, whether causing our bodies to move to the beat, or bringing about hearing itself by causing the bones in our ears to resonate at the same vibrations of the sounds being made.
The activity of singing is therapeutic in and of itself. More specifically, singing in a group can positively affect one's well-being and increase sociability. To quote Feder, “In almost any gathering of people in which it is important to arouse a sense of community, of congeniality, or of spirit, we are likely to find music” (5). The action of sing...
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...s the ability to “improve your concentration”(1). This boost of brain power is credited to the complex, harmonic, and organized symphonies of classical music, which, consequently, stimulates the listener in such a way that their mind begins orchestrating thoughts in a similar fashion.
Overall, music is a great mental, emotional, and physical galvanizer. It can heal people and restore their love of life, and give them a means of expression. Music therapy has the potential to improve modern medicine and it even offers ways to enhance our thinking ability. Perhaps the most obvious reason we should embrace the healing power of music is because we have such an abundant supply. Today, our culture glorifies music, whether it is in our cars, on television, in the elevator, or in our ipods. Music is all around us, and it could be a key to promoting our overall health.
“I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music” (Billy Joel). Although most listeners may not have the same technical experience in music as Billy Joel, it is easy enough to see the effect it has in a person's every day life. Music has the ability to pick us up when we are down, carry you back in time to a cherished memory, and transform silence into a symphony that can move one to tears. Music therapy is simply an application of the life that music creates.
Music has been around since the very beginning of time. The human body flows in a rhythmic syncopation. Music is used to change one’s mood and to inspire those who open their minds. It has the potential to cure diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Humans, of every culture and society, function with a type of rhythmic music. As humans, we are hard wired to respond to music (Mannes). The human brain responds to music in such a way that the brain becomes more open to new rhythms, ideas, and values. Music has the power to take over the human body. This makes it easier to overcome conflict and change the ideals of somebody while using music (The Power of Music).
In 1995, Ballard and Coates reported that “neither the lyrical content nor the music type affected suicidal ideation, anxiety, or self-esteem” (Journal Of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development 1) Music itself has been used as a form of therapy in of residential and adult day care centers it’s been reported that music had been the cause of elevated or depressed moods. This suggests that music is an effective technique in therapeutic interventions and should be incorporated more thoroughly in medical and psychiatric practices. Experimental studies conducted by Prickett in 1988 have documented the effects of music on individuals as they interact with the environment. Participants of the study were reported to have shown increases in their expression of feelings, awareness, and socialization. Furthermore, music may also be able to help individuals cope with pain and anxiety. In other studies the use of music made traditional psychotherapy more effective and led to a drop in the levels of depression for more individuals that using regular therapies
Music therapy involves the clinical use of music interventions in order to alleviate pain, improve cognitive functioning, reduce social anxiety, and encourage overall physical and mental well-being (American Music Therapy Association). Techniques often involve individuals actively participating in music therapy through singing, comp¬¬osing, or listening to music. Evidence based studies have demonstrated that music therapy can elicit both a physiological and psychological response, resulting in cognitive and behavioral benefits that make it an ideal therapeutic tool in handling stress in normal daily activities as well as in the health care setting.
Whether you’re a devoted music enthusiast or you just listen to the radio to pass time, we all listen to music. However, when listening to music, nobody stops to think about what they are doing. Nobody stops to contemplate how the music they are listening to affects them psychologically. We just listen to the music and enjoy ourselves. In fact however, a great deal of research has been done to determine the psychophysiological effects of music. Many studies have been conducted to determine whether music can help people who suffer from psychological and medical disorders, Scholars continually debate whether music can influence behavior, and researchers are attempting to understand what is happening in our brain when we listen to music.
Music is everywhere we go; we listen to it in the car, while doing work, and there are even people who pay to listen or watch an artist perform live. Yes, life goes on without music, but music has such an impact on our lives. Life is a rollercoaster of emotions and we have music to fit our emotions to be just as we feel. Music has a great deal of importance of many people. It can have a meaning that they cannot explain to others and are able to connect with the song. By doing so experts are able to help patients overcome many sicknesses with the help of music. Music therapy is capable of being an advantage for many individual patients, it can encourage responses from patients that other methods of therapy cannot get from them. Also, it improves the patients in distinctive ways other than for an illness.
I’m writing my paper on Music Therapy, and how music affects the mind and body, to treat various illnesses. Music therapy is the prescribed use of music under the direction of specially trained therapists to influence changes in negative conditions and behavior. It accomplishes this by maintaining and restoring mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health .One type of theory is the idea that music, movement, and speech are inseparable. Music evokes unconscious thoughts and feelings, which in turn expand self-awareness. Music therapy is a powerful and non-invasive form of sensory stimulation which provokes responses due to the familiarity, predictability, and feelings of security associated with it. In some medical settings such as mental health services, it has been used to decrease patient’s perception of pain, anxiety and depression. ICU patients listening to music showed a significant decrease in blood pressure. It has been shown to calm the patient and to relax their mind and body. Music eases the burden on the arteries and nerves through relaxation. Du...
With so many different cultures, races, religions, personalities, etc., it’s surprising how many fundamental things humans share. Music intertwines us all with its diversity and the effect it has on us. Whether you’re looking to rock out in a dance party, get a good workout in, sleep soundly, study hard, recover from a depressive state, or get the thrill of a super scary horror movie, music is there. Although listening to music is thought to be solely a source of entertainment, it can be used to improve almost all aspects of our everyday life.
After a hard day at work and a difficult commute home, many people just want to settle down on their soft sofas and turn on a CD. As the music fills the room, they instantly begin to relax. Stress melts away as they are taken in by the beauty of the music. Sound familiar? Probably, since all of us at one time or another have used music as a medium for relaxation. But scientifically speaking, how exactly does music help us relax? That in itself is a question worth exploring, and scientists are really not sure how music relieves stress. However, they do know that our bodies will naturally attempt to synchronize with external sounds and rhythms. Using this as a guide, experts in relaxation music suggest that we feed our auditory senses with music between the tempos of 60 to 90 beats per minute, as this is the ideal heart rate for relaxation. However, music that is enjoyable to you is as i...
Music Therapy is the use of music to treat a range of conditions either physical or mental (Questia, 2017). It can be used to help a range of conditions such as: autism, mental health (for example anxiety and depression), learning disabilities and neuro disabilities (British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT), 2017). This could be proven useful due to its variety of conditions it can help with, it is a very different idea to help people and music in general is very enjoyable and uplifting. It can also be useful for it is a way people can express themselves, there are many cases in which people do not know how to communicate with others or do not like talking about their conditions or how they feel and communication is very important. However,
In order to understand why the use of music therapy is growing, one must know what exactly music therapy is. Music Therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. Music therapy also provides avenues for communicati...
Music has incredible effects on the brain and body! Ever since the beginning of time, music has been around. It can influence the way a person thinks and behaves, and also social interactions. Teens are more susceptible to this (Revatto 1). Music can be used in therapy by helping people with depression, and can even be a more natural way to heal the body (“How Music...” 1). In some cases, songs and melodies can help or make diseases worse. Music is a powerful thing and can affect your brain and many other things in your body in numerous ways.
In today's day and age, music may also act as a therapeutic outlet for some people.
...day that music is powerful medicine. It has a great affect on tearing down the walls of silence and affliction of Alzheimer’s, depression, injuries, healing. And did you know that kids, who study the arts, do an average of forty points higher in math and science? Music education is superior to even computer instruction in enhancing early childhood mental capacity and special intelligence. Music therapists prove every single day that music is powerful medicine. (Richards Institute of Education and Research) Music is Magic.
Weinberger, Norman M. “Music and the Brain.” Scientific American Special Edition 16.3 (2006): 36-43. Health Source- Consumer Edition. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.