Download Music To My Ears By Brennan Wood

Music To My Ears
By Brennan Wood
Music To My Ears by Brennan Wood
“[Playing music] just makes me feel disconnected from the rest of the
world, like I’m in my own little bubble,” Steven Frey is a teenage musician,
opening up about his reaction while playing the guitar. “I just sort of forget what’s
going on around me and I focus on what I’m doing.” (Steven Frey) Why do
people become musicians? Obviously, they love music, but I think it has more to
do with the way music makes them feel. Steven, as a musician, experiences a
calm when he plays that allows him to tune out anything that might be bothering
him. It’s a type of therapy he experiences with his instrument. I love music for
the same reason. Whenever I’m feeling an extreme emotion, good or bad, there’s
always that one song that has put what I’m feeling to a melody, expressing what
I’m feeling better than I ever could. I want to surround myself with music as
much as possible because it has such an effect on my overall mood. Already, I
experience the effects of music as a listener, and I plan on experiencing them as
a performer as well by taking guitar lessons.
For hundreds of years cultures have recognized the effects music has in
the healing process. More recently, within the past fifty years, doctors have also
recognized the therapeutic value of music in the field on medicine. What has
been discovered to legitimize the study and practice of music therapy? Is this
practice actually beneficial? Music may be something more to us than we realize.
Music is not just entertainment for performers and listeners, but something that
affects us in a much deeper way. We need to dive deeper into our knowledge of
music to uncover the benefits it has to offer.
"When we look at the body of evidence that the arts contribute to our
society, it's absolutely astounding. Music Therapists are breaking down the walls
of silence and affliction of autism, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease." (Michael
Greene, AmericanMusicTherapyAssociation.com)
Music therapy isn't something that is going to magically cure a disease.
It’s really used as a tool to boost the healing process, and can make people's
lives slightly more enjoyable during times of pain or discomfort. Music therapy
may be used to encourage emotional expression, promote social interaction, and
relieve symptoms among other purposes. Music therapists may use active or
passive methods with patients, depending on the patients' needs and abilities.
(American Cancer Society.com) Over the years, this therapy has undergone
tests and studies and people are beginning to see the evidence showing its
benefits. When administered correctly by a professional, along with normal
medications and conventional treatment, music therapy has been shown to
reduce pain. (American Cancer Society.com) It has also been used on cancer
patients, who have shown that it relieves chemotherapy-induced nausea and
vomiting. Music therapy has also been found to lower breathing rate, blood
pressure, and heart rate. On a more common level, music can be used as an
excellent stress reliever.
As a teenager, I’m often over taken by completely erratic, uncontrollable
feeling of angst and pressure; like the world may end if I can’t go out tonight.
Stresses that may seem trivial to some, but for whatever reason, to me (a
teenager), they can seem like life or death. When moments like these arise I find
that going to my room and blasting a power-chord filled scream-fest arrangement
does the trick. I can dance and sing, and by the end of the three minutes and
fifty-two seconds, I’ve been cured of the feeling clawing at my soul. On the other
hand, when I’m feeling tired or sick I usually go for a more calming effect with my
music choice. “Brain wave frequencies vary with mental state. Daydreaming and
light meditation take place in the "Alpha" range of frequencies, for example. So if
you listen to music containing beats at a frequency of 10 Hz you will generate
more brainwaves at a 10 Hz frequency and enter a relaxed Alpha mental state.”
(Steven Gillman, Enhanced Healing.com) My methods may not be very
traditional, but that’s why there are professionals.
To most, music therapy may seem like a cutting edge, contemporary style
of medical treatment. In fact, the use of music in the medical field has been
going on for thousands of years. In ancient Greece, philosophers believed that
music could heal the body and soul. Many of us are familiar with the use of
chanting and singing in Native American cultures, as well. Native Americans
have used music in healing rituals for millennia. A lot of people in the past, and
today, experience the calming effects of chanting in yoga practices. During an
Anusara yoga course I took recently, we would start each class with three rounds
of "ohm" and the Anusara invocation. This chant is used in yoga practices to
center your mind and settle your body. These practices are more on the spiritual
side, and at first I didn’t participate because it wasn’t really my thing. After going
to the class for a while I realized it doesn’t even matter if you believe in whatever
it is they’re chanting about, as long as you listen. Trying to keep an open mind, I
was able to take in the calming affects of the chants (more often than not, by
almost falling asleep).
The more formal approach to music therapy began in World War II when
United States Veterans Administration hospitals began to use music to help treat
soldiers suffering from shell shock. (American Cancer Society.com) 1944, at
Michigan State University, is when the first music therapy degree program was
established. At the time, there had been nothing else like it in the whole world.
Since then, over seventy universities and colleges have created degree
programs that are approved by the American Music Therapy Association. Music
therapists must have at least a baccalaureate degree, 1200 hours of clinical
training, and one or more internships before they can be certified. (American
Cancer Society.com) "The Education of a Music Therapist is unique among
college degree programs because it not only allows a thorough study of music,
but encourages examination of one's self as well as others."(American Music
Therapy Association.com) Music therapy is a diverse field of study, and it
requires a lot of education in several difference fields, similar to other psychiatric
fields. Psychology, music, behavioral and social sciences, disabilities, and
biology are just some of the courses taken in the undergraduate curriculum.
"Music therapy is much more complicated than playing records in nursing homes.
Therapists are trained in psychology, group interaction, and the special needs of
the elderly." (Sen. Harry Reid, AmericanMusicTherapyAssociation.com)
A lot of what students need to learn is the practical application of music
therapy techniques. These techniques and procedures are learned through
required fieldwork. This fieldwork can often be completed in on-campus clinics
and/or within the community of the school. This is where students learn how to
understand and assess the needs of patients and develop their treatment plans.
Once they have finished an American Music Therapy Association approved
internship, they must pass an exam administered by the Certification Board for
Music Therapist, Inc. before they can begin their practice. (American Music
Therapy Association.com)
There are thousands of professional music therapists working in health
care settings around American today. Some of their treatments are even
covered by health insurance. The therapists carefully organize music therapy
sessions. They can be done individually, or in a group, depending on the
patients' needs. The patients' musical tastes also play a large role in determining
how their therapy will be administered.
A music therapist has to be very observant and thoughtful when they're
with their patients. When planning their sessions, they must take into account
the physical health, emotion well-being, social functioning, communication
abilities, and cognitive skills that the patient has. Music therapist Jessica
Edwards plans her sessions based on the specific needs of each individual
patient, "I ask them what songs they like," she said. "What songs have
significance?"(Edwards, Examiner-Enterprise.com) With this information they can
decide which technique will be most effective for the patient. Some of the things
they might do in a therapy session are song writing, lyric analysis, receptive
music listening, music improvisation, music performance, and learning through
music. (American Music Therapy Association.com) "This is not press and play,"
Edwards says, "This is to stimulate life review and discussion. It can help people
recall (good memories)." (Edwards, Examiner-Enterprise.com)
Music therapists can be found in a multitude of environments; there's a
fairly wide range of locations from a psychiatric hospital to private clinics.
Facilities like community mental health centers, drug and alcohol programs,
senior centers, correctional facilities, halfway houses, and schools can all call on
the services provided by music therapists. Many patients are more open to this
kind of treatment than others because it doesn’t seem medical at all. "I'm the
good cop, but I'm still a cop. I'm more important than they think.” (Edwards,
Examiner-Enterprise.com)
There's an incredible, and somewhat surprising amount of people who
could possibly benefit from music therapy treatment. “I've heard that Stephen
King writes with loud rock music playing, so the benefits of music may be
according to your own tastes or brain-organization.” (Gillman, Enhanced
Healing.com) Age has no effect on whether or not the treatment works, but
many elderly people receive music therapy as a way to stimulate their brain
functions. It's commonly used with elderly persons that have mental health
needs, and developmental and learning disabilities. Listening to music, and
causing them to think and analyze it, helps to keep them sharp and overall
heighten the persons’ quality of life. “Music creates neural pathways in your brain
that stimulate creativity. Studies show that music trains the brain for higher forms
of thinking.” (Steve Gillman, Enhanced Healing.com) Music therapy has been
used on patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease as well as other age related
conditions. “When dementia struck hard and violently broke through Dad’s spirit,
music therapist Alessandro Ricciarelli entered his life. Armed with six strings
attached to a wooden guitar, Alessandro surpassed the capabilities of the most
sophisticated medical technology.” (Florence Cohen, “The Knot at the End of the
Rope”)
For people who may not be experiencing these problems yet, music has
been used to help people with substance abuse problems, brain injuries, physical
disabilities, and acute and chronic pain, including mothers in labor. (American
Music Therapy Association) Many scientific studies have taken place to prove
the effects of music therapy on adult and child patients. Clinical trails have
continuously been finding that the therapy treatment has reduced short-term pain
and been beneficial to the patient. There have been mixed results showing that
the therapy has even resulted in a decreased need for pain medication.
(AmericanCancerSociety.com) Less clinical forms of music therapy have also
proved to beneficial for focusing brainwaves, causing the brain to be more
efficient in certain tasks .” It is well established that sound and rhythm can
create mental and emotional environments. As early as the 1920s,
researchers were making connections between music, enhanced mental
alertness, concentration and imagination.” (Jamie Lynn, Enhanced
Healing.com)
A common misconception about music therapy is that the person receiving
the care has to have some musical ability. This is completely false. Any
‘Joe’ off the street could possible wreak the benefits of the treatment, myself
being an example when I was able to avoid the torment of adolescence for that
sweet, but short period of time. Some benefits that have passed under the radar
of medical studies are the effects that music has on performers and musicians.
When I asked a couple musician friends of mine how music made them felt the
response was unanimous. “Music makes me feel good, and I think everybody
likes that. If music made me feel like shit, or made me feel like I'm an asshole, or
completely worthless, I wouldn't listen to it, and I wouldn't write or perform it.”
(Jimmy Chandler) In this case, Jimmy may not be experiencing the benefits of
music during chemo therapy, but he is certainly being affected in a positive way
by the music he plays. He can testify to the release music offers, “There have
been many times where I'm upset or excited or totally pissed off, and I just grab a
guitar and strum it out.” (Chandler) A lot of people would never even consider
performing in front of 5 people, let alone thousands, but whenever I go to a
concert I see these musicians on stage playing their hearts out, and not one of
them has ever looked scared or upset. When I see musicians playing their
instruments, or dancing around the stage with a mic, I envy them. In that
moment, they look completely care free and blissful. They’re playing their music,
and it’s giving them a high that no drug ever could. Obviously, if they didn’t like
it, they wouldn’t play show after show after show. I’m sure there aren’t clinical
studies involving rock stars quite yet, but the effect music has on the performer is
undeniable. Seeing this in person has had a large effect on my love of music,
and why I want to pursue my interest further.
It’s not uncommon to hear people raving about their favorite band, or “this
one song that’s really good that you should really listen to”. Some people even
go as far as to credit music to changing their lives. It’s crazy to believe that one
song could affect anyone so drastically, but it happens. “I hear people talk about
how a certain CD helped people through a breakup, or a close family member
dying, or kept someone from killing themselves, and I always think that it’s
amazing that music can have such an impact like that on a person's life.”
(Chandler) I’m not quite sure what it is about music that gives it this super power
of healing, I just know there’s something, and I want to discover what that
something is by re-experiencing music with the knowledge I have of now what it
can really do.
We listen to music because we like it. We like it because it sounds good.
That’s a lot of what I hear when people around me talk about the music they
listen to. Music is all around us, and has been for hundreds of years. It’s a vital
part of culture that has created mediums of expression for so many people. We
love to listen to music and see concerts because it’s without a doubt entertaining.
Yet, what many of us don’t realize is that our attraction to music may be
something under the surface. Perhaps as listeners we’re going through a type of
therapy without even knowing. The music we listen to is shaping our moods and
anxiety, possibly even helping our ailments. This is what is amazing to me about
music, and the music therapy field. How can something so common have such
significance in our lives? Music therapy is a growing and evolving field, and as a
listener, I want to take advantage of it. But I don’t just want to recognize what the
music is doing; I want to experience the music from both sides, by sitting in the
musician’s chair. I want to sit down with a guitar, and make a difference; at least
for myself. “…being able to heal an emotional wound like that for people through
music is worth so much more than any physical compensation. No amount of
money could make you feel as good as knowing that you've saved a person's
life.”(Chandler)
Bibliography
Chandler, Jimmy. Online interview. 16 Dec. 2008.
"Frequently Asked Questions About Music Therapy." AMTA Website. 1999. American
Music Therapy Association. 10 Dec. 2008
<http://www.musictherapy.org/faqs.html>.
Frey, Steven. Personal interview. 10 Oct. 2008.
Gillman, Steve. "Music for Self Improvement." Enhanced Healing. 21 Jan. 2009
<www.enhancedhealing.com>.
Lynn, Jaime. "Meditation Music." Enhanced Healing. 21 Jan. 2009
<www.enhancedhealing.com>.
"Music Therapy." American Cancer Society. 26 Mar. 2007. American Cancer Society. 10
Dec. 2008
<http://www.cancer.org/docroot/eto/content/eto_5_3x_music_therapy.asp>.
Nagle, Mallery. "Music therapist comforts patients." News. News ExaminerEnterprise.com. 28 Nov. 2008 <http://www.examinerenterprise.com/articles/2007/02/12/news/state/news784.txt>
Scott, Elizabeth. "Music and Your Body: How Music Affects Us and Why Music
Therapy Promotes Health." About.com:Stress Management. 1 Nov. 2007. About.com. 12
Dec. 2008 <http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/a/music_therapy.htm>.