Music Therapy In The 1940's

Music therapy has been a healing ritual long before recorded history. The word music derives from the muses in greek mythology. The muses were leaders of music, medicine, poetry, and the arts, some of which include, Apollo, Socrates, and Aristotle. Historical texts such as the Bible and Homers Odyssey have also referenced the therapeutic value in music therapy. “In the Bible, Sauls melancholy disappeared while David played the harp (hughes, 1984); In Homers Odyssey, the bleeding of Odysseus ceased when he heard a magic song sung to him by Autolycus (gruhn, 1967)” (Silverman 2257). In ancient cultures and traditions, exorcising the healing of diseases and pain through the therapeutic value in music was a magical practice for change.

Following the developing of social sciences, everybody has started to get concerned about the issue if music is good for healthy body and mental recently. This phenomenon makes the music therapy becomes popular. Music therapy is defined as “ the therapeutic use of music as to reduce anxiety, improve cognitive functioning, promote physical rehabilitation, or enhance interpersonal communication that typically involves listening to music, singing, playing musical instruments, or composing music “ in the Merriam-Webster.com. In other words, through the activity of music people can improve physical or psychological disease that achieves cure and health.

There are many different ways that we benefit from music. Music can inspire better self-esteem, and confidence. It’s a great way to set the mood, and a wonderful tool. Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program (Gram, 2005). Music therapy can reach out to anyone, age, race, gender it doesn’t matter. Children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly with mental health needs can benefit from music therapy. As well as, those who have developmental and learning disabilities, those who suffer from Alzheimer's

In this research paper, the effectiveness of music therapy on the cognitive degenerative disorder of dementia will be evaluated. To support the contention that music therapy is effective in treating the symptoms of dementia, research documenting this therapy’s impact on memory, emotions, and behavior will be examined. In order to provide a greater understanding of music therapy and dementia, these terms will be defined. Second, research will be examined to determine music therapy’s impact on the psychological and behavioral issues associated with dementia. Finally, a summary of music therapy’s benefits and an evaluation of its effectiveness in treating individuals afflicted with dementia will be discussed.

Amid the previous thirty years, ideas in the psychological wellness calling have experienced nonstop and emotional changes. A moderately new kind of treatment is musical treatment, which joins music into the recuperating procedure. Music treatment likewise is changing, and its ideas, methodology, and practices need steady reconsideration with a specific end goal to meet new ideas of psychiatric treatment.

Crowe (2004) has explained that in the past, there were two ideas about music for healing. First, the sound of music can effect to human body and internal organs. An important part of the healing process is to repair the problem with song. They believed that illness can be healed by a medicine song. Medicine songs all over the world have a similar melody such as a strong melody to attract listeners, and a slow tempo to make them feel relaxed. Also, the sound combination has a positive effect on patients, which can reduce illness. Second, music is used for general wellness (p.7). Melody and rhythm can make people feel relaxed and balanced in their emotion. These two basic ideas were used with the belief that it can help people of every

Music has always been present in people’s lives in various forms, shaping and remolding the ways that our brains process and function. Because music resonates so deeply with people, it can be used for various types of physical and mental therapy. Alicia Clair, professor of music education and music therapy at the University of Kansas, helps research and unitize music as a method of therapy. She is most widely recognized for her research towards the affect of music on those with Alzheimer’s disease.

The field of music therapy is one of the oldest forms of therapy. It can be applied to almost every ailment mental or physical and can be altered to fit almost any culture. Music therapy is defined as ¨a type of expressive arts therapy that uses music to improve and maintain the physical, psychological, and social well-being of individuals, involves a broad range of activities, such as listening to music, singing, and playing a musical instrument¨. Music has the ability to reach people in a way traditional therapies can’t. Music alters your brain chemistry in that it increases serotonin and dopamine levels which are responsible for positive emotions. Music also stimulates

Music has also been proven effective in assisting the development of a positive self-image and facilitating the technique in which the brain is able to prioritize stress and pain (Williams, Retrieved 2016). Neurologic Music Therapy is a rather holistic health approach, as it emphasizes the entire being, incorporating a number of physical and mental processes (Williams, Retrieved 2016). However, whether or not it can actually supersede other methods of treatment entirely for long-term effects remains

Music is used to Michael Thaut of Colorado State University said, “Music is hard-wired into the brain. We’re only now realizing how important it is to us”(Wendel). In his studies, he found scientists thought music had little or nothing to do with important matters of the brain or your body. In recent years, he has seen views change, but many physicians are still questioning whether music can really be an alternative to medicine. Now, “Doctors believe music therapy… not only makes people feel better, but also makes them heal faster”(SOURCE). Psychologists have found great improvements with patients they are treating with music therapy. It makes the patient feel better and heal faster. Doctors are also seeing, “We’re only beginning to understand the value of music,” according to Deforia Lane, a music therapist at University Hospital in Cleveland. Finally music is used to comfort people at hard times in their lives. After September 11th, 2001, musicians of all kinds took part in performances on television and other settings. The reliance on music helped the nation deal with the tragedy. Even opera singer Denyce Graves said, “It’s soothing, comforting and reminds us that there’s still beauty in the world.” Music speaks to us what cannot be expressed in our day to day lives. Many music therapy patients see music as a magical healing tool while others just listen to music, but no matter what we are doing with

Have you ever been in a certain situation, and you just did not know what to do? And it felt as if music solved your problem or helped you out? Well, you probably had your own music therapy session. This topic is relevant because people use music on a daily basis to help with frustration, depression, etc. and it just might be an alternative for illnesses and the addiction recovery process. I am a credible resource because I have done extensive research on this topic. I believe music therapy helps with drug addiction, illness, and depression and can replace medicine that people take for illnesses and also be better than the process people go through with addiction recovery. I am now going to give you the background on music therapy and hopefully persuade some of you that music therapy actually does help and can replace medicine for the greater good.

From experience I know what an effect music has on mental health. I would always listen to music when I was feeling depressed and it would bring my mood up. I was very surprised when I found out music therapy was an actual thing and I wanted to find out more. I would like to dive more into the history of it, so I looked up music therapy.

Centuries ago many wise men with bright grey beards and many hours in the day to sit and ponder the cosmos, Greek philosophers’, Believed in using music to help maintain homeostasis with any of their patients. Plato, Pythagoras, and Aristotle were firm believers. Pythagoras was said to have believed that,” Both the body and the soul could be influenced by music through the implementation of law and order. While Plato said “Music is always changing and re-harmonizing, just like humans as a whole and the human body, rebalancing, this is why music has a therapeutic value.” If a person was presented with an anxiety attack they were prescribed flute ballots, the smooth sound of the flute was calming enough. Patients with depression were sent to study the sounds of “dulcimer music” (a guitar like

Needle pricks, medicine, exhaustion, sickness, pain, feeling different ‒ these are just a few of the things that people with mental disabilities and serious diseases have to go through on a daily basis. But what if there was a different kind of treatment that could comfort them or reduce their pain even a little bit? Fortunately, for the people facing these issues, there is. Music therapy is a relatively new approach that doctors, teachers, and many others are taking to help heal and improve the quality of life for their patients and students. It’s starting to become more common around the United States and is expected to become even more popular in the future. Books like Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart support the idea of music therapy by demonstrating how music can be used to soothe and improve the moods of individuals regardless of what they may be going through. Music therapy is an effective way to speed up the healing process and improve the emotional state of a wide range of people facing different obstacles in life.

The use of music for therapy has been seen to exist for almost as long as the start of therapy itself. At around 400 B.C., Hippocrates, a Greek physician known for his tremendous contributions to modern medicine, was shown to be the first human to use music as a way to therapeutically treat mental patients. Since then, records of other civilizations such as the Egyptians, Arabians, and even the Native Americans show signs of the use of music in medicine. This form of therapy was said to help align the soul and the body together. However, it was not until the 18th century that researchers have studied how music affects the nerves themselves (Gouk, 2004). The first signs of music therapy used in the modern world were predominantly in the United Kingdom after World War I (Degmecic, 2005). Musicians played to war veterans suffering from both mental and physical trauma to help alleviate their pain. As these veterans were seen having positive responses to the music played, doctors hired more musicians to help play at veteran hospitals. Seeing the positive feedback and recovery of the veterans prompted the use of music therapy to become an actual academic curriculum taught in college courses. Currently, the leading organization that focuses primarily on music therapy is the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) which was formed in 1998. Their team of music therapists has helped countless of patients improve both their physical and emotional help with the use of music.