Music Therapy
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator
LPBI
What is Music Therapy
http://www.musictherapy.org/about/listserv/
http://www.musictherapy.org/about/musictherapy/
Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.
Music Therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, clients’ abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their lives. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Research in music therapy supports its effectiveness in many areas such as: overall physical rehabilitation and facilitating movement, increasing people’s motivation to become engaged in their treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for expression of feelings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UlqWw36onD4
Fact Sheets for Music Therapy with Individual Populations:
- Music Therapy & Military Populations – new in 2014
- Music Therapy & Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – new in 2015
- Music Therapy & Alzheimer’s Disease
- Music Therapy for Persons in Correctional & Forensic Settings
- Music Therapy in Response to Crisis & Trauma
- Music Therapy & Medicine
- Music Therapy & Mental Health
- Music Therapy & Music Education
- Music Therapy & Pain Management
- Music Therapy & Special Education
- Music Therapy & Young Children
AMTA Strategic Priorities for Specific Populations:
References and Bibliographies:
- Autism Spectrum Disorders: Music Therapy Research and Evidenced-Based Practice Support
- Habilitation: Music Therapy Research and Evidenced-Based Practice Support
- Special Education: Music Therapy Research and Evidenced-Based Practice Support
- Music Therapy in Mental Health – Evidenced-Based Practice Support
- Williams Syndrome: Recent Research on Music and Sound
- Music Therapy Interventions in Trauma, Depression and Substance Abuse: Selected References and Key Findings
History of Music Therapy
The idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior is as least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The 20th century profession formally began after World War I and World War II when community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, went to Veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars. The patients’ notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals. It was soon evident that the hospital musicians needed some prior training before entering the facility and so the demand grew for a college curriculum. A very brief historical glimpse of this fascinating profession follows, below.
The earliest known reference to music therapy appeared in 1789 in an unsigned article in Columbian Magazine titled “Music Physically Considered.” In the early 1800s, writings on the therapeutic value of music appeared in two medical dissertations, the first published by Edwin Atlee (1804) and the second by Samuel Mathews (1806). Atlee and Mathews were both students of Dr. Benjamin Rush, a physician and psychiatrist who was a strong proponent of using music to treat medical diseases. The 1800s also saw the first recorded music therapy intervention in an institutional setting (Blackwell’s Island in New York) as well as the first recorded systematic experiment in music therapy (Corning’s use of music to alter dream states during psychotherapy).
Early Associations
Interest in music therapy continued to gain support during the early 1900s leading to the formation of several short-lived associations. In 1903, Eva Augusta Vescelius founded the National Society of Musical Therapeutics. In 1926, Isa Maud Ilsen founded the National Association for Music in Hospitals. And in 1941, Harriet Ayer Seymour founded the National Foundation of Music Therapy. Although these organizations contributed the first journals, books, and educational courses on music therapy, they unfortunately were not able to develop an organized clinical profession.
Early Educational Programs and Advocates
In the 1940s, three persons began to emerge as innovators and key players in the development of music therapy as an organized clinical profession. Psychiatrist and music therapist Ira Altshuler, MD promoted music therapy in Michigan for three decades. Willem van de Wall pioneered the use of music therapy in state-funded facilities and wrote the first “how to” music therapy text,Music in Institutions (1936). E. Thayer Gaston, known as the “father of music therapy,” was instrumental in moving the profession forward in terms of an organizational and educational standpoint. The first music therapy college training programs were also created in the 1940s. Michigan State University established the first academic program in music therapy (1944) and other universities followed suit, including the University of Kansas, Chicago Musical College, College of the Pacific, and Alverno College.
National Association for Music Therapy
The National Association for Music Therapy (NAMT) was founded at a meeting in New York City on June 2, 1950. NAMT succeeded where previous music therapy associations previously failed by creating a constitution and bylaws, developing standards for university-level educational and clinical training requirements, making research and clinical training a priority, creating a registry and, later, board-certification requirements, and publishing research and clinical journals.
Music Therapy Around the World and on the Web
Music Therapy ENews
Music Therapy ENews is an announcement-only, electronic newsletter published by the American Music Therapy Association. It is not a discussion listserv. ENews brings timely information on music therapy to its subscribers, focusing on conferences, music therapy education and training opportunities, media alerts, on-line resources, and other information important to the profession of music therapy. Members are welcome to submit announcements and other materials for consideration by emailing the editor at ENews@musictherapy.org. AMTA reserves editorial rights on all submissions. ENews subscription is free.
The Music Therapy ListServ
The Music Therapy ListServ is a discussion forum where people can discuss the use of music to restore, maintain, and improve mental and physical health.
To join the ListServ, send an E-mail, including your first and last name, to the list owners: Alexandra Mesquita-Baer(alex.baer@comcast.net) or Lynne Hockenbury (LynneHock@aol.com) For AMTA members, please include your membership number to speed up the process.
It is a free service and you can cancel your subscription at any time. To cancel, send an email to listproc@ukans.edu without a subject or signature. In the body of your message, type:
UnsubMUSTHP-L
This ListServ is run independently of AMTA.
Music Therapy Around the World
AMTA’s International Relations Committee
The purpose of the AMTA International Relations Committee is to promote networking between music therapists around the world and to facilitate awareness of international issues among AMTA members both within the United States and abroad. Information below is provided to share information on national music therapy organizations throughout the world. If you are familiar with websites of national organizations which are not included here, feel free to send their contact us and suggest they be included.
Worldwide Music Therapy Organizations
International Music Therapy Associations
Sharing Organizations
- ListServ for Music Therapy Students interested in international issues. To subscribe, go to:mtstudentworld@yahoogroups.com
- National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations
The Transformative Power of Working with People Who Are Facing Death
Our work as music therapists never stops giving us powerful experiences and lessons. This seems to be magnified when spending one’s days with people who are facing death. With this experience, music therapists are sensitized to the extreme emotions surrounding death, and can empathize with these patients and their families.
I had the privilege of working with an older man, who I’ll refer to as Mr. Smith, and who dearly touched my heart. Countless patients of mine have touched me, but Mr. Smith will remain in my memory as vividly as I saw him in the very hours we spent together.
At the end of life, there is a certain amount of one’s will that determines when one dies. I have seen people hold on to their lives with extreme pain and labored breathing, for weeks, just to reconcile a broken relationship with a loved one. That being said, there is simply no substitute for the beautiful and seamless opportunity that music therapy provides for people to complete their lives with dignity.
Music allowed Mr. Smith to die peacefully. The two songs that he specifically requested conveyed the messages he needed to share before departing from this world. Music therapy provided him the crucial opportunity or medium to express what he felt.
Since Mr. Smith was in a great deal of pain at the end of his life, we never engaged in very formal lyric analysis; however, Mr. Smith naturally expressed his analysis of these songs in small, intermittent statements during our sessions.
The first song he requested was Send In The Clowns, by Stephen Sondheim. This song, to Mr. Smith, highlighted the gross irony that, in stark contrast to the beauty and potential happiness in this world, there is often great emotional and physical pain in our final hours. The grand exit and culmination of our lives is often marked “not with a bang, but a whimper,” as T.S. Elliot so poignantly writes. It is a cold reality; a cruel joke that often leaves us bitter. Send in the Clowns validated and beautifully conveyed feelings for Mr. Smith when he could not. He said “I used to be able to sing and dance, and now-” he paused and closed his eyes, wincing from a shooting pain- “well, I’m here in this place.” “This place” was where people came to die. Mr. Smith knew that, because, in addition to being fully alert and oriented, he had a sister who had passed away there just two years before.
The second song he requested was “Try to Remember,” from the Broadway musical The Fantastiks. This is a beautiful song that he particularly wanted his family to hear. There are several lines in this song that Mr. Smith highlighted by mouthing the words to his wife:
“Deep in December it’s nice to remember the fire of September that made us mellow.”
I’ve wondered what Mr. Smith’s room would’ve been like without music therapy. Mr. & Mrs. Smith had four children- one who’d been estranged- all of whom were quite anxious. No one’s anxiety exceeded that of his wife, however. I was able to witness the facilitation of tears, hugs, and precious family interactions by our music therapy sessions together.
I’ve also wondered how my life would be without the experience and privilege of working with Mr. Smith. It is impossible to know for sure, but I can say that I am better able to keep an eye on the big picture of my life after working with him.
My time with Mr. Smith instilled in me a powerfully transformative thought. The music of our lives remains long after our bodies pass away; the love contained therein is eternal and will last beyond our pain.
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