...When it comes to music therapy, it is important to understand its origins and how has been effective. “Music can be described as an embodied flow in time of our sense of being. When listening to music, we have available the possibility of experiencing ourselves as both familiar and changed,” (Sutton & De Backer, 2009, p. 76). “Music can affect a person’s thoughts, feelings and behavior and has been shown to assist with managing stress, expressing emotion and improving communication,” (Arora, 2013). In order to understand how music therapy works, one must understand what music therapy is. Music therapy is “the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals-helps people with understanding and developing...
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...The idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior is as least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The 20th century profession formally began after World War I and World War II when community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, went to Veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars. The patients' notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals. It was soon evident that the hospital musicians needed some prior training before entering the facility and so the demand grew for a college curriculum. A very brief historical glimpse of this fascinating profession follows, below. Earliest references The earliest known reference to music therapy appeared in 1789 in an unsigned article in Columbian Magazine titled "Music Physically Considered." In the early 1800s, writings on the therapeutic value of music appeared in two medical dissertations, the first published by Edwin Atlee (1804) and the second by Samuel Mathews (1806). Atlee and Mathews were both students of Dr. Benjamin Rush, a physician and psychiatrist who was a strong proponent of using music to treat medical diseases. The 1800s also saw the first recorded music therapy intervention in an institutional setting (Blackwell’s Island in New York) as well as the first recorded systematic experiment...
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...History of Music Therapy The idea of utilizing music as a form of healing influence had been around since before the times of Aristotle and Plato, but the profession of music therapy formally began during the period of World War I and World War II when musicians of all kinds from amateurs who played in the local community as well as professionals who would travel all around the world came together to go to veteran hospitals, especially those in the United States, to play for the injured soldiers from the wars suffering from both physical and emotional trauma. With time, physicians began to take note of the positive effects the music had on the patients and soon, hospitals began to hire musicians full-time and the need for colleges to begin...
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...Marcus Altman Music Therapy 5/3/2017 MUS 161 VH Listening to Music Music therapy is a method that has been around as long as music itself. Music therapy is a type of treatment used in Naturopathy Medicine, the use of interventions to accomplish individual goals within a therapeutic relationship by a professional who has completed and approved music therapy program (American Music Therapy Association, 2014). Music therapy consists of a process where music therapists harness the many components of music in order to help clients improve their everyday physical and mental health. There are a few specific areas that music therapists help their clients with. These include cognitive functions, emotional development, motor skills, social skills,...
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...thing that is noted is the lack of eye contact. Music therapy works to help this in numerous ways. When the therapist starts at the child’s level, according to the British Colombian Music therapy association, they can base what needs to be done and how to do it off of where the child is and after many sessions, where they are now (M-7). According to a report in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, “Eye contact – this refers to an event where child looks at therapist while playing, manipulating” (E-7). A way that in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders is using music therapy instead of play therapy as it increases turn taking and eye contact more than when play therapy is used (E-4). Eye Contact was even proved to be held longer during this study when the child was participating in music therapy activities than when they were in regular play activities(E-1). When a mother was quoted on the British Columbian Music Therapy website, she stated that the “skills and abilities acquired in the music therapy setting generalize widely across situations. VII. Turn Taking The music therapist has to reach the child to be able to interact with them and help them. When the child feels free and unthreatened, the British Colombian Music Therapy association says that they get more out of the session. When they are not being told don’t this, don’t do that, and NO for everything they do to express themselves. Music therapy gives them that way to express themselves without...
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...Music has been very useful to humanity for many years. “Ancient Greek philosophers believed that music could heal both the body and the soul” (Music 2). Music therapy is not a much known profession but it has actually been around since World War II, when soldiers suffering from “shell shock” received music as a treatment. Many hospitals then began to hire musicians because music brought positive changes to the soldiers. Music therapy originated in 1940 when the very first music therapy degree program in the world was established by Michigan State University. In 1950 the United States formed the very first professional association of music therapists. By 1998 that association became known as the American Music Therapy Association. Music therapy...
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...Music Therapy: The New Approach for Psychiatric Patient Introduction Music therapy is the use of music interventions to achieve individualized goals of healing the body, mind, and spirit. It involves skilled music therapists, who act as mediators to interact with patients, assesses their physical, emotional, and mental needs, and offer them with the necessary healing through music. Music therapy integrates various musical elements and certain therapeutic protocols to achieve certain objectives (Bruscia, 2000). Many people obtain some kind of healing whenever they have emotional, cognitive, or social issues through music. People living with disabilities or certain illnesses have often found music to offer a soothing environment that facilitates the healing process. Music uses creative, emotional and a non-verbal language to enable users to gain self-awareness and self-expression. In many cases, people have found music to be more powerful than plain words, as it offers a unique channel of communication and expression. Essentially, people suffering from autism and Alzheimer’s disease, and those having developmental disabilities can always become beneficiaries of music therapy. This paper will give a brief history of music therapy, and its role as an alternative treatment for autism and Alzheimer’s disease. Thereafter, the paper will give a brief discussion on the politic of making music therapy a real treatment. History of music therapy Music therapy traces...
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...Music therapy can bring in an alternative method of medicine and science. Medicine has evolved dramatically over the past thousand years thank to the help of new technology. With the help of new technology as well however, alternative medicine is grasping the spotlight. “Alternative medicine is defined as the medical and therapeutic techniques, practices, and beliefs that have not been proven effective by the scientific method.” (galegroup, alternative medicine) This is where controversy comes into play, not a scientific method, and unorthodox. “This alternative medicine can save counties, and taxpayers billions of money due to the fact that they won’t have to pay for new drugs.” (Blasser, alternative medicine). When people seek spiritual treatment, or mental treatment, they tend to take it for granted, and don’t get an expert medical opinion, and can harm patients if they utilize treatment. This alternate medicine focuses on your physical and mental problems....
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...said, "I would teach children music, physics and philosophy: but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning." Frequency, note progression in a scale, rhythms and beats, vibrations, composition, timing, expression, harmonies, tone, orchestration and melody all trigger different learning experiences within the brain. Clinical music therapy can be used as a vital tool, for improving the quality of life in individual's suffering from deficiencies in cognitive, motor, emotional and social behaviors. Music affects many parts of the brain. The auditory cortex disseminates volume, pitch, speed, melody and rhythm. Lyric memory and sounds, along with imagery associated with sounds, and...
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...Prior to reading this case study I was very confident in wanting to continue on to do Nordoff-Robbins music therapy, however, after reading this and the process of GIM I am very intrigued. It’s definitely not an approach that I was familiar with before this class, perhaps due to it not being what people traditionally think of when music therapy comes to mind, but I am so glad I’ve learned more about it and got to experience an exercise of it done in class. Like Catherine I also grew up in a musical household with the same idea and pressure to perform when you were all together and I think that had made me the musician I am today. She makes a good point when saying that “your song” changes at different stages in your life, I mean you are always changing yourself. I think that the experience of singing songs that relate to what is going on in your life at that moment can be very therapeutic, at least for me it definitely is. Whether you’ve written it or it is a cover, there is something reassuring knowing that you can express your present self to others. I love the idea of working in such a large facility because like Catherine mentioned, she got the chance to work in nearly every department, you would get experience in so many fields. What a huge music therapy team, 8 in total....
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...For my very first site observation, I visited the music therapy clinic on the sixth floor of Robert Glidden Hall. I got to observe Elyse Suhay MT-BC, holding a session with an 11-year old boy who has autism. It was amazing being able to see an intervention in real time. I learned a lot from this first observation. I picked this session to observe because I know I want to work with children after I graduate. I feel like this was a great site to do my first observation, because we were in a separate room from the client; so it didn’t make me nervous, or feel intimidated. The only thing I wish was different was the fact that the child knew we were observing from the next room over. A couple times during the session the child would run to the glass, and try to look through because the child knew we were on the other side. I feel like that was one of the major distractions to the child....
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...Music is more than hearing a favorite song on the radio or a popular artist on stage performing in front of thousands of people. Although that maybe a great way to start someone’s day, music is bigger than celebrities are. In today’s society, music is changing people’s lives. Music is now more capable of changing someone rather than just riding to tunes on the way to the grocery store. Music has served as medicine to help those who are incompetent, struggling with disabilities, the elderly, and children. Music is therapy. In a recent study, “The modem use of music therapy in hospitals developed during the 1950s in Europe and the United States. Many physicians began to use a multidisciplinary approach to medicine and, recognizing the soothing effect of music, provided music therapy to patients who were...
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...Music Therapy Essay Eliza B. Johnson Box Elder High School Abstract This essay outlines my current understanding of music therapy and different ways that music affects the brain, including research from Oliver Sacks, Jodi Picoult, and Laurence O’Donnell. It also includes my personal experiences relating to music therapy, including experience with special needs populations that I have worked with, experience with instrumental/ensemble work, and any other qualifications I may have that make me an adequate prospect for the music therapy program at Utah State University. It covers my motivations and driving factors for being interested in the career and major of music therapy. Music Therapy Essay Music therapy:...
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...Music therapy has been known to help change lives. Just listening to music and focusing on the beat, lyrics, or melody can help calm oneself or even help lift their spirit. Music therapy alleviates stress, anxiety, disorders, and illnesses because music is a core function of the brain. Music therapy alleviates stress and anxiety because it helps regulate people’s bodily systems. For example, a nonclinical trial was used that included 40 children from ages 7-12 years old with leukemia undergoing lumbar punctures. Anxiety scores were measured before and after the procedure. The results were successful showing lower pain scores and lower heart and respiratory rates in the music group. Also, anxiety scores were lower in the music group before and...
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...ENG122 5/27/15 Music Therapy through Ages Constant irrational fears plaque the mind like the shadows of the night. An automatic switch is turned on in the most inappropriate of moments. Crawling in the overbearing darkness, on hands and knees, panicking, an off button cannot be found. The acknowledgment of what is happening is not enough cause to stop it. A faded melody plays in the background. Slowly, it grows louder and the shadows slowly begin to dissipate. The focus changes gently, taking it’s time to calm the mind. The beat gets louder and eventually all is well again like nothing ever happened. Anxiety disorders are a strong unwelcome force, but with music therapy can be calmed and treated no matter how old you are or what situation you might be in. Anxiety disorders are a form of stress. There are different types of anxiety disorders and symptoms differ from person to person. Of course, there are some basic signs someone with anxiety exhibits, but what they could be anxious about changes depending on the person. A person with anxiety shows signs of nervousness, rapid breathing, sweating, or trembling. While their internal symptoms may include, but are not limited to, powerlessness, sense of panic from false dangers, feeling fatigued, and having trouble concentrating on anything but what they are worried about. A common anxiety disorder called General Anxiety Disorder, or GAD, causes excessive and persistent worry, where the worry “is usually out of proportion to...
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