Music Therapy: Annotated Bibliography

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

The facility was large and professional. It was very clean and had hand sanitizers mounted next to almost every door. Before and after every session we were required to use these hand sanitizers. The facility was a bit difficult to navigate as it was made from many additional pieces together. None of the hospital was very inviting, it mostly appeared to be what it was, a hospital. The colors were subdued and neutral and the entire place smelled very sterile.

Jodi Picoult, New York Times best-selling author of Sing You Home once said, "Music therapy, to me, is music performance without the ego. It’s not about entertainment as much as it 's about empathizing. If you can use music to slip past the pain and gather insight into the workings of someone else’s mind, you can begin to fix a problem." Music therapy is precisely that: an assuaging therapy meant to heal patients who need empathy, love, and tranquility. Patients in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), residents of nursing homes, or non-verbal people on the autism spectrum all can use music therapy to their advantage. Music therapy is truly beautiful to many patients, who are not the only people benefitting from this type of therapy. Therapists and family members are wholly affected by music therapy as they watch their patients or loved ones develop through the love of music. Although music therapy is not for all patients, it has wonderful perquisites for many disorders and injuries.

When we hear the word Music Therapy what is our first impression ? Does that even exist ? Does it even work ? Should I try it out ? Music is a core function in our brain, Music taps into our memories, and Music has a profound effect on our body and psyche. Music Therapy does work, and it does exist, and it has been proven that is work, and we should try out. Music Therapy is powerful and it truly works.

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

My profound interest in musical therapy lead me to reaching the history of music therapy and discovering to how it works. According to the American Musical Therapy Association website the earliest known reference to music therapy appeared in 1789. Interest in music therapy continued to gain support during the early 1900s this lead to many short lived associations, but in the 1940s, three men began to think as innovators in the development of music therapy as an organized clinical profession. Today musical therapy is used all around the globe on various types of psychosomatic disorders such as PTSD, schizophrenia, among many others. The American Association for Music Therapy (AAMT) was established in 1971, and still goes song today advocating for the longevity of music

The first thing that must be explained is what music therapy is. “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.”(American Music Therapy Association) The American Music Therapy Association is a group that helps patients by incorporating music into their daily lives to

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

The majority of the reviewed studies used a certified music therapist in the study, either by conducting or observing the music therapy intervention. In total, a certified music therapist was used in six studies (Clare, 2014; Sung, 2012; Ridder, 2013; Chu, 2014; Raglio, 2015; Cooke, 2010). Clare (2014) required a certified music therapist to observe participants during the hired musician?s live presentation and record wellbeing scores. Cooke (2010) also utilized the certified music therapy in a similar manner. A musical group of two performed live at every session, and a certified music therapist introduced the session and was responsible for observing participants during the therapy. The remaining studies assigned a musical therapist to deliver the selected music therapy approach (Sung, 2012; Ridder, 2013, Chu, 2014; Raglio, 2015). A systemic review found eleven out of 20 studies utilized a certified music therapist (Ueda, Suzukamo, Sata & Izumi,

Music therapy uses music the help with emotional, cognitive, and social issues in people’s life’s. They used music to help provide a way of communication for their patient. The therapist work with their client to solve their problems in a musical way. They also ask their client to listen to calming and relaxing music to help with their anxiety and stress. Music therapy has also been shown to alleviate symptoms of depression, mood relate concerns, schizophrenia,

Thinking back to when I started my degree, my definition of music therapy was so simple. When people asked me what music therapy was and why I wanted to do it, I would respond with something like “Oh it’s like using music to help people and I want to help people and I think it’s cool that I can help people with music.” Looking back, I understand why I got some funny looks. I know that I knew that there was more to music therapy than what I was telling people, but I really struggled to put words to this amazing career path. Two years later, I believe I have come up with a useful elevator pitch I can now use to answer that question: Music therapy is a process which combines a therapeutic relationship with elements of music and notions of positive change. It can be used in any situation with any willing clientele to work towards positive outcomes in many aspects of life.

Music therapy has the ability to impact on all humans in unfathomable ways. This is because music has the potential to influence our cultural, emotional, spiritual and social lives. Over the years, many people have lost their lives as a result of mental issues. During the time, music was not viewed as an important factor in alleviating the conditions. Currently, mental issues such as stress and depression have been highly prevalent and have resulted in the reduction of social functioning of the affected (Maratos, 2008). In addition, there has been acceleration in mortality rates. As a result, people are leading unproductive lives.

The way music therapy makes a difference is through sensory stimulation. Sensory stimulation is helpful in music therapy because it creates responses due to the familiarity, predictability, and feelings of security associated with it. It is proven that even patients that resist or show no sign of getting any better from different treatment methods can use music therapy to help them start to recover from their pain. For a patient to receive music therapy properly they must acquire a music therapy program. The music therapy program is based on individual assessment and a collection of data for the development of the history of the patient and client-centered treatment plans. Once the patient and therapist establish objectives and goals for the patient the music therapist can use instrumental and vocal music activities to create changes that are non-musical. Through the use of music strategies the therapist can provide opportunities for reducing anxiety and stress, management of pain with using pharmaceutical drugs, positively changing the mood and emotional state of the patient, active participation from the patient in treatment, and to decrease the length of the stay for the patient. Throughout the course of the therapy for the patient the therapist will evaluate the patient, make any changes in the treatment, and document how the patient is feeling throughout the

Music therapy is a new intervention that uses "music and musical activities for the purposes of altering behavior and enhancing the everyday existence of people with various types of emotional disturbance". People have been using forms of music therapy since the earliest recorded history. Egyptian priests spoke incantations that supposedly influenced women`s fertility. Hebrews and Greeks treated physical and mental illness with the playing of music. Zenocrates, Sarpander, and Arien, all of whom were Greeks, were the first to use music therapy as a regular practice. They employed harp music to ease the outbursts of people with mental illnesses (Shapiro, 1969).