Music brings alternative healing in world of medicine
Originally published in the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper.
Just like music
A veteran nurse, wide-eyed and wired with caffeine, steps toward a room where elderly patients sit in wheelchairs and at desks. Peering in on this confined space, one witnesses head nods, smiles and the swinging of gentle eyes.
At a nursing home, where there can be feelings of gloom and doom, music therapy, as a clinical practice, has the potential to create tears of joy, dancing, praising and singing. The key, in short, is determining how to provide the service to everyone at the lowest cost and greatest care, all while advancing the science for the future.
According to the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions for therapeutic purposes. Current research supports the idea that the practice, while simple in scope, can vastly improve the physical, social and motivational habits of individuals.
Patients ranging from adults with dementia and Parkinson’s to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot in the head by an assailant in 2011, have successfully used music therapy to improve motor function, speech and memory. As a result, there are various videos online showing individuals who seemingly transform after music bursts inside their ears.
Nonetheless, simply playing Marvin Gaye and Prince’s classics won’t improve a patient’s condition. Music therapy is seen as a treatment, not a cure, so there are supplementary tests and studies that work hand-in-hand to connect the music to real world results.
Music in action
The power of music and its healing effects on the soul, mind and body, are as old as Aristotle, Plato and beyond.
For example, parents are told to read as well as sing to their children to improve language skills and also create bonds of love and wisdom.
Moreover, in World War I and World War II, amateur and professional musicians volunteered in hospitals to soothe veterans who suffered from physical and emotional trauma related to combat. Because of this, in the present, it is not uncommon to see recording artists such as Erykah Badu visit clinics, perform songs, hum a note, or simply provide company.
In either case, there is a difference between evidence-based music therapy and, well, everything else, and that is what can be difficult for individuals outside of the science to distinguish.
Mary Kay Bonner, a music therapist in Indianapolis, has studied the field for over 45 years. In her opinion, evidence-based music therapy has a distinct definition.
“We use the elements of music to intervene with issues,” she said, listing elements such as rhythm, melody and tone. In addition, she noted music therapy’s storied history chronicled by philosophers and thinkers across the globe.
Lullabies sung to an infant, for example, can be just as potent as using live music to assist individuals with autism, cerebral palsy, or people with brain injuries, such as Congresswoman Giffords.
“Giffords was great exposure,” she said, noting the interventions that successfully restored her speech. And because of the increasing popularity of music therapy, professionals like Bonner can utilize a diverse range of skills.
In one instance, she spoke of a time where she played “Silent Night” on the Celtic harp for an autistic child. In minutes, since the child was a savant with astounding capabilities, he replayed the music for her note by note.
In another case, she said there were times when individuals would compose and write their own songs with her to increase participation. “It’s like a personal gift,” Bonner said. “We all realized that art can teach.”
The past, present and future of music therapy
The AMTA cites an unsigned article in Columbian Magazine titled “Music Physically Considered,” authored in 1789, as “the earliest known reference to music therapy.” After, in the early 1800s, two medical dissertations were published by Edwin Atlee and Samuel Matthews in 1804 and 1806 respectively.
Still, it was not until the 1940s where pioneering research done by Willem van de Wall and E. Thayer Gaston, among others, pushed the profession through the academic system. Michigan State University was the first accept the field of study in 1944. The University of Kansas, Chicago Musical College, College of the Pacific, and Alverno College all followed suit.
Later, more national organizations were formed to establish bylaws and standards to make music therapy legitimate as a science, so while there is an undeniable sense of magic to the success stories, it is important to note that the best kinds of music therapy are well-intentioned as well as thoroughly studied.
Likewise, researcher Erin Seibert, in a TED Talk, said music is widely studied because of its connection to the brain and higher functions. “Music is one of the only things in life that processes information on both sides of the brain at once,” she said.
“You have melody, rhythm, words, harmony, timbre, tempo, dynamics and form,” Seibert said. “Now consider some of the deeper levels of how you experience the music. You have memory, emotion, participation and familiarity…there isn’t just one part of the brain called the musical lobe.”
Because of this, the brain, in simple terms, fires in different places once music is heard, which is why an elderly person with memory deficiencies may suddenly recall classic jazz records of her youth after hearing a Miles Davis or John Coltrane album.
As it stands, there has been research on music therapy within the current military population, autistic community, young children and individuals incarcerated. And in all respects, the rise of music therapy is likely connected to people seeking alternative forms of treatment for their ailments.
Jan Schreibman, another music therapist in Indianapolis, has used the flute, ukulele and percussion in visits. She concurred and said “music therapy will be bigger than a niche.”
“Live music is interactive,” Schreibman said, “and the end product facilitates a functional outcome and recovery.”
With that in mind, there are approximately 6,000 credentialed music therapists practicing in the country, according to AMTA, and in instances of despair, just as people turn to songs and hymns for comfort, therapists have inserted themselves as a new source of healing.
At one clinic, after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, one therapist was called to play keyboard and sing songs while a young survivor had dressing changes to remove metal shards from her body.
In another matter, a music therapist faced a family bedside as a child passed away, according STAT, a medical publication.
In the end, for a father with a fading memory, a veteran with PTSD, or a child whose illness is beyond physical repair, a song can conjure some of the deepest sentiments of humanity and existence, and that is what music therapy continues to face, study and understand, one faithful note and marvelous melody at a time.
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