Music Therapy Facts

What is Music Therapy?

Music therapy is the application of music to aid in the achievement of specific therapeutic goals. Music therapy can also be defined as the planned and creative use of music to attain and maintain health and well being. Music therapy is an established health service similar to occupational therapy and physical therapy. As a holistic treatment approach, music therapy focuses on the well being of the entire person, not just the part which is diseased or in distress.

Why Music Therapy?

Music therapy is a cost-effective therapy that really works! It is effective in meeting the physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and spiritual needs of the people it serves. Music therapy has been proven effective by hundreds of scientific research studies and articles, and by centuries of use in cultures throughout the world. Music therapy has also been shown to have physiological effects on heart-rate, blood pressure, immune system responses, and neurological function.

Human beings are musical creatures. Rhythm is a concept we share with all life and with the complex forces that govern our existence. Biological patterns range from simple rhythms, such as the heart beat, to the complex rhythms of the nervous system. Vibration is also a universal constant, from the vibrations of atoms and molecules that make up all matter, to the cosmic echo of the "big bang" which still exists even today.

For thousands of years, healers across the earth and in every culture have used music as a healing tool. Indigenous peoples of Africa, Asia, North and South America, and Australia have all used music in their medicine practices. A 20,000-year-old hieroglyph in a cave in France proves that music has also been used to heal in ancient European cultures: It is a picture of a shaman holding a medicine rattle. Music is an effective tool to help reduce physical, emotional, and spiritual stress and pain. It can also offer unique insights to the human experience.

Music Therapists work in:

• Hospitals
• Long Term Care Facilities
• Assisted Living Facilities
• Hospice
• Rehabilitation Centers
• Clinics
• Psychiatric Care Facilities
• Schools
• Child Daycare settings
• Adult Daycare settings
• Wellness Centers

Music Therapy helps people with:

• Chronic Illness/Disease
• Terminal Disease
• Developmental Disorders
• Psychiatric Disorders
• Psychological Trauma
• Grief / Loss Issues
• Emotional / Spiritual crisis
• Chronic & Acute Pain
• Anxiety & Depression
• Alzheimers / Dementia
• Neurological Disorders
• Everyday Stress
• Sensory Impairments
• Chemical Dependency
• Labor & Delivery

Music Therapy helps with:

• Stress Management
• Pain Management
• Relaxation
• Meditation / Imagery
• Motor Coordination
• Socialization
• Reality Orientation
• Treatment Tolerance
• Expression of Emotion
• Communication
• Achievement of
• OT & PT goals
• Anxiety Reduction
• Sensory Stimulation
• Cognitive Stimulation
• Recreational Enjoyment
• Reminiscence
• Improving Quality of Life
• Patient/Client Satisfaction

Who Are Music Therapists?

Music Therapists are individuals who receive five years of extensive training and education in the fields of music, psychology, physiology, education, and courses specific to music therapy. During coursework, a music therapist also receives 40-60 hours of clinical training. Upon completion of coursework, a music therapist must receive 1040 hours of clinical training. Music therapists then go on to take a test for board certification upon completion of the internship.

More info at: http://www.musictherapy.org

Some of the material in this document is from the American Association for Music Therapy, The Music Therapy Association of Australia, and Dawn Miller, MME MT-BC.

Music Therapy References (Click Here)

Read The Music of Healing from the National Endowment for the Arts