What Music Therapy is

Music therapy is the skillful use of music and musical elements by an accredited music therapist to promote, maintain, and restore mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Music has nonverbal, creative, structural, and emotional qualities. These are used in the therapeutic relationship to facilitate contact, interaction, self-awareness, learning, self-expression, communication, and personal development.

How Music is Used Therapeutically

The following examples illustrate some of the procedures used in music therapy. Although these are only a sampling of the methods used by music therapists; they provide a general idea of how music therapy can work.

Singing is used to help people with speech impairments improve their articulation, rhythm, and breath control. In a group setting individuals develop a greater awareness of others by singing together. Songs help elderly people to remember significant events in their lives which they may then share with others. Lyrics are used to help people with their mental disabilities sequence a task.

Playing instruments can improve gross and fine motor coordination in individuals with motor impairments. Playing in instrumental ensembles helps a person with behavioural problems to learn how to control disruptive impulses by working within a group structure. Learning a piece of music and performing it develops musical skills and helps a person build self-reliance, self-esteem and self-discipline.

Rhythmic movement is used to facilitate and improve an individual's range of motion, joint mobility / agility / strength, balance, co-ordination, gait consistency, respiration patterns, and muscular relaxation. The rhythmic component of music helps to increase motivation, interest, and enjoyment, and acts as a nonverbal persuasion to involve individuals socially.

Improvising offers a creative, nonverbal means of expressing feelings. It helps the therapist to establish a bond of trust with a person and serves as a useful assessment technique. Through vocal, instrumental, and movement improvisation a person interacts with another and explores feelings which are difficult to express verbally. Improvising offers an opportunity to make choices and deal with structure in a creative way.

Composing is used to develop cooperative learning and to facilitate the sharing of feelings, ideas, and experiences. For hospitalized children, writing songs is a means of expressing and understanding fears. For people with a terminal illness, it is a vehicle for examining feelings about meaning in life and death, while creating a legacy to leave behind for loved ones. The healing song, written for and with the client, can facilitate a dramatic moment of self-awareness and/or catharsis.

Listening to music has many therapeutic applications. It helps develop cognitive skills such as attention and memory. It facilitates the process of coming to terms with difficult issues by providing a creative environment for self-expression. Music evokes memories and associations. Actively listening to music in a relaxed and receptive state stimulates thoughts, images, and feelings which can be further examined and discussed, either with the therapist alone, or within a supportive group setting. Additionally, listening to music provides a stimulating way to explore and understand our own and other cultures.