The Music of Healing
by Karen R. Nelson, National Endowment for the Arts
From the siren's serenade to sweeping national anthems or
rousing gospel hymns, music has long claimed powers of
temptation and salvation. The idea that music can affect healing
and behavior is at least as old as the writings of Aristotle and
Plato.
Music has been embraced by the masses, chained to
commercials pushing chicken or sneakers, and still managed to
maintain its beauty and mystique. Now science -- the great
explainer of many mysteries -- has turned its inquisitive eye to
harnessing music's magic. Modern medicine has taken to heart
what ancient peoples have practiced for centuries.
"Music therapy," according to Mathew Lee, Acting Director of
the Rusk Institute in New York, "has been an invaluable tool
with many of our rehabilitation patients. There is no question
that the relationship of music and medicine will blossom
because of the advent of previously unavailable techniques that
can now show the effects of music."
Music therapy has been advancing as a profession and medical
tool since the post World War I and II eras when community
musicians began playing for thousands of veterans recovering
from physical and emotional trauma. They discovered that
music could help alleviate pain, calm or relax patients and
counteract depression, and encourage movement as part of
physical rehabilitation. The resulting successes led hospitals to
call for the hiring of musicians. When it became apparent that
the musicians needed some prior training, the demand grew for
a college curriculum. In 1944, Michigan State University
established the world's first music therapy degree program.
Shortly afterwards in 1950, the National Association for
Music Therapy was founded to help ensure that practicing
music therapists were qualified to heal.
A music therapist is often part of a team of doctors, social
workers, teachers, parents or psychologists which assesses the
patient's or client's condition and sets the goals for recovery. A
therapist, trained to anticipate how a certain type or application
of music will affect behavior, will devise structured activities
which could include singing, playing instruments, movement,
composition, or listening. Although patients using music therapy
may develop musical skills, the goal is not to train musicians, but
to improve -- through music -- physical, social or emotional
skills; to help people regain their health and speed recovery.
Dr. Oliver Sacks, in Awakenings, said, "I regard music therapy
as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders --
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity to
organize or reorganize cerebral function when it has been
damaged." Sacks also reports that patients with neurological
disorders who cannot talk or move are often able to sing, and
sometimes even dance, to music.
While music therapy may still be edging into public
consciousness, many different populations are already
benefitting from its application. Some schools have taken the
lead in using the arts to improve students' ability to learn. They
have begun to hire therapists or other specialists who use music
to strengthen nonmusical areas such as communication, physical
coordination, teamwork, or even math.
The media spotlight has recently shown on studies which
quantify the value of arts in education. According to the College
Entrance Examination Board, students of the arts continue to
outperform their non-arts peers on the Scholastic Assessment
Test. In 1995, for example, SAT scores for students who
studied the arts more than four years were 59 points higher on
the verbal and 44 points higher on the math potion than students
with no coursework or experience in the arts. Richard W. Riley,
the U.S. Secretary of Education, commented, "The process of
studying and creating art in all of its distinct forms defines those
qualities that are at the heart of education reform in the 1990s --
creativity, perseverance, a sense of standards, and above all, a
striving for excellence."
Music therapy is also commonly found in nursing homes, where
it is often incorporated into the daily schedule of activities. In
the early 1980s, before turning to journalism, I was a budding
music therapist working in a southern Minnesota nursing home.
Perhaps, my most valuable role was as a roving flutist. I played
familiar hymns or old tunes to residents who were bedridden,
severely depressed, or dying of cancer. Although a few of the
nurses thought it was a frivolous venture at best, I found some
of the elderly folks I visited were able to hum or sing along, and
recall the times and family associated with the tune. These brief
moments of recognition were a small yet vivid proof of
connection. While I didn't continue as a music therapist, I still
find the application of music to the science of healing a
fascinating arena.
If the value of music therapy is still being quantified, the stories
of people who have been helped by music offer compelling
testimony. Ida Goldman, a 90-year old woman who spoke at a
Senate hearing, said, "Before I had surgery, they told me I could
never walk again. But when I sat and listened to music, I forgot
all about the pain." (Goldman walked with assistance during the
hearing.) Recent research has pointed to the value of music and
the arts in treating Alzheimer's disease, strokes and related
dementias.
Carei Thomas, a jazz pianist in Minneapolis, woke from minor
surgery in 1993 to near paralysis. Thomas was a victim of
Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare inflammatory disorder of the
nerves near the brain and spinal chord. Right from the
beginning, his recovery was driven by music. Friends played for
him in the hospital, a benefit was held by the arts community;
and perhaps most importantly, Thomas' own desire to return to
music and performing spurred major progress. He is now
walking with canes and playing keyboard using his hands in a
more percussive manner. He has also turned to spoken word
performances.
As new research continues to back the value of music in
therapy and areas including education and reform, the music
therapy profession and its uses continue to expand. Therapists
can be found in hospitals, nursing homes, treatment centers,
psychiatric wards, prisons, group homes and schools. There are
professional music therapy sites growing internationally
including the Association of Professionals and Students of
Music Therapy in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a Music Therapy Centre to
be built in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, and the 8th
World Congress of Music Therapy held last July Hamburg,
Germany. Healthy individuals are turning to drumming and
playing other instruments to relieve stress and improve
concentration. Listening to certain types of music can ease the
delivery of babies or motivate people to exercise. "Simply put,"
said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, "music can heal people."