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The Importance Of Music Therapy

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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).” In ancient cultures and traditions, exorcising the healing of diseases and pain through the therapeutic value in music was a magical practice for change. It was during early eighteenth century, that the first observation study was done to assess the aftermath of music on the body. But not until the twentieth century did music therapy formally debut. During World War I, Soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder used music as a medium for coping. Military hospitals began employing musicians to comfort and entertain soldiers through various musical art forms. Nurses and doctors began to notice how music was affecting these soldiers and their post traumatic stress disorder. Musicians were aware and went on to further their education to better treat these soldiers. By the 1930s, psychiatric hospitals began managing the moods of their inpatients through music appreciation and other music education

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