Learning the power of music therapy

THE FORFAR Inner Wheel accustomed apostle Mary Veal to their November meeting.

Mary Veal gave a alluring acumen into her job as a Music Therapist based in Dundee but confined all of Tayside. She is able-bodied accepted in Angus agreeable circles as a aerialist and conductor, in actuality she currently conducts the Angus Choral.

Born into a agreeable household, Mary knew from an aboriginal age that music would play a ample allotment in her life. She accomplished to be a music abecedary acceptance at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow afore teaching at Menzieshill High School and again at Kingspark School.

While teaching, Mary realised the accent of music as a way for accouchement with abstruse advice difficulties to be able to analyze the apple - to be able to accurate themselves and acquaint their animosity to others. So Mary retrained as a Music Therapist in 2006 and currently works for Nordoff - Robbins Music Analysis in Scotland. Her activity for her job shone through aggregate she explained to the ladies and the ameliorative aspect of her plan was cleverly explained by use of a video abstract of her alive with a adolescent babe with no accent who is on the autistic spectrum.

However, Mary works one-to-one with both adults and accouchement with a arrangement of needs generally application improvised music and a huge arrangement of instruments to animate a response. Music analysis is ashore on the acceptance that anybody can acknowledge to music no amount how ill or disabled.

Clinical Music Therapy – a new hope for personality disorders

Awkward and shifty-eyed, Raghav Salooja reluctantly enters the room that has a generous display of percussion instruments, dodges his doctor’s gaze, half sits on a chair and begins to blankly stare at the wooden flooring. Half an hour into some peppy music, the 11-year-old makes a rare eye contact.

Welcome to the world of clinical music therapy where hundreds like Salooja are being cured of personality and other disorders through the sound of music. The therapy works on the premise that every human being responds to music.

“We believe that every human being has an innate ability to respond to music. Every one can clap in an aarti. This ability is never impaired in any kind of illness,” Somesh Purey, a music therapist at The Music Therapy Trust situated in south Delhi, told IANS.

The trust, accredited to have introduced the first clinical music therapy network in India, was set up by Canada-born Britain-based Margaret Lobo in 2005.

A musical talent, Lobo paralysed one of her vocal chords at the age of 20 and was told that she’d never be able to sing again.

“For seven years, I did not make any attempt to sing. Then someone recommended a teacher and I underwent four years of training. And soon, I started singing again.

“After that, singing was not that important. I wanted to use that training to help others. So I set up a charity in the UK,” 70-year-old Margaret told IANS on phone from London.

An amalgamation of psychology, psychiatry, mental health and counselling sealed with music, the therapy helps in conditions like autism, mental disorders, depression, personality issues and life-threatening diseases like HIV and cancer.

In India, music has long been revered as a great healer as some ragas are said to have therapeutic components.

Be it the soothing sound of a flute, the soulful melody of a harmonium or the brazen freshness of a guitar, music manages to calm strained nerves and lift up low-lying spirits in the toughest times.

According to Purey, there are no prescribed rules as to what music works for a particular medical condition.

“The same piece of music can affect people differently. A person’s association and perception of a music defines what works best for him. If you have nice school memories associated with a song, it’s likely to a have a positive effect on you,” he said.

The therapy works in two stages-assessment and re-assessment.

In the first stage, spanning 8-10 sessions, a patient’s response to music is assessed. His emotional, social, cognitive, physical and communication skills are analysed and accordingly a goal is formed for the next stage.

Purey said the first session can go extremely unpredictable. “Sometimes a child just runs away while another will sit and listen.”

The next stage involves either listening to live or pre-recorded music, or creating or recreating music. Each session costs Rs.500.

Hollywood, Bollywood, Western, Classical-it doesn’t matter what is played. What matters is the music’s tempo, volume and texture.

“If someone is depressed and we play Tambura, he will get more depressed. The need is to play some peppy energetic music. Fast beats and loud sound have an uplifting energy. In wars, Nagada (kettle drums played with sticks) used to be played to motivate and alert the mind.

“In spas, slow music with medium tempo is played as the idea is to relax. Every sound works in its own way to reach us,” said Purey, who works with children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and self-esteem issues.

Wind instruments like flute are considered to be more soothing. String instruments have an aesthetic tonal quality while metal sound can energise as well as irritate.

Though the trust also deals with terminally ill people suffering from stage five cancer, Purey admitted that the therapy is not a guarantee to curing disease.

“It’s not instant coffee, it’s not the promise of 100 percent results but it contributes to overall development of the client,” he added.

The trust associates with NGOs working for slum kids, schools, corporates, besides providing a part-time two-year diploma course in clinical music therapy.

Lucanne Magill, a qualified music therapist from the US, is the course tutor.

When asked what are the qualities required in a good therapist, she said: “Compassion, desire and love to work with people, some life experiences that help them to be able to adapt in challenging situations, ability to listen and has to be musically trained.”

Source: IANS

Ayurveda Music Therapy

Music is a universal language. It influences all levels of human existence. It is a medium for communication, which can be both a pleasant and healing experience.

Modern science and medicine are now rediscovering the healing powers of music. And music therapy -- the specialized use of music in treating persons with special needs in mental and physical health, rehabilitation and special education -- is gaining ground. In the West it is now an accepted form of treatment even within orthodox medical practice.

Music is an age-old part of Ayurveda, the holistic science which promotes a happy and healthy lifestyle. From time immemorial, music has been a part of Indian culture. In the Vedas too, music has an important place. The 'Samveda' is full of music. The doshas like Vata, Pitta and Kapha can be controlled effectively by Music Therapy. Great composers of Indian classical music have attempted music therapy down the years. Legend has it that classical music maestro Thyagaraja brought a dead person back to life with his composition.

It is believed that music stimulates the pituitary gland, whose secretions affect the nervous system and the flow of blood. It is believed that for healing with music, it is necessary to vibrate the cells of the body, for it is through these vibrations that the diseased person's consciousness can be changed effectively to promote health. The right kind of music helps one relax and refresh. Even during the course of working, light music improves efficiency. Listening to music helps control negative aspects of our personalities like worry, bias and anger. In addition, it can help cure headache, abdominal pain and tension. Music therapy is one of the most effective ways of controlling emotions, blood pressure and restoring the functioning of the liver.

The Raga Research Centre in Chennai,India. is currently making a comprehensive study of Indian ragas and evaluating their therapeutic potential with the help of musicians, doctors and psychiatrists. It is believed that classical Indian ragas can benefit a whole host of conditions ranging from insomnia, high and low blood pressure to schizophrenia and epilepsy.

It is believed that there are other ragas that can help fight ageing and pain, too.

Music is capable of improving happiness, peace, health and concentration. It is however important to know the method and duration for which Music Therapy is to be administered. This knowledge can be obtained through regular experiments and experience. The first step towards this is the correct diagnosis of the disease and then the selection of the precise raga that will be helpful. Procedure, discipline and a systematic method will help achieve this goal.

Music in Mind.....soothing and nuturing the soul...

Music therapy is used with individuals of all ages and with a variety of conditions, including: psychiatric disorders, medical problems, physical handicaps, sensory impairments, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, communication disorders, interpersonal problems, and aging. It is also used to: improve learning, build self-esteem, reduce stress, support physical exercise, and facilitate a host of other health-related activities.

Music has been shown to affect portions of the brain. Part of this therapy is the ability of music to affect emotions and social interactions. Research by Nayak et al showed that music therapy is associated with a decrease in depression, improved mood, and a reduction in state anxiet. Both descriptive and experimental studies have documented effects of music on quality of life, involvement with the environment, expression of feelings, awareness and responsiveness, positive associations, and socialization .

Additionally, Nayak et al. found that music therapy had a positive effect on social and behavioral outcomes and showed some encouraging trends with respect to mood.Although positive changes have been associated with music therapy, some considerations must be taken into account. While scientists have determined that a variety of physiological and psychological changes occur when listening to music, broad conclusions cannot yet be made concerning the relationship and the direction of the relationship between music and emotion. Additionally, there may be mediating factors which affect the success of music therapy.


More recent research suggests that music can increase patient’s motivation and positive emotions. Current research also suggests that when music therapy is used in conjunction with traditional therapy it improves success rates significantly. It is hypothesized that music therapy helps stroke victims recover faster and with more success by increasing the patient’s positive emotions and motivation, allowing them to be more successful and driven to participate in traditional therapies.

"Music and song embrace can sustain us throughout our journey in life, present in our celebrations, marking passages and milestones, strengthening us with courage when we are fearful and despairing. Music helps to answer questions of who we are, what we stand for and value, comforting us individually and bringing us together collectively.

Music helps us to wordlessly understand ourselves and others, to console when there are no words and to create ways to communicate when through disability or other barriers, language alone is not possible. And although you may be “at a loss for words”, not know what to say or when “words just can’t express” your true feelings, music is always there to communicate the inexpressible and to free the mind from the boundaries of speech and ordinary thought to expand to an alternate place of emotion, rhythm and imagery. Words may desert us, but music is always present – like a heartbeat, linking us to our world and providing a pathway back “home” ."

Music therapy is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health. In some instances, the client's needs are addressed directly through music; in others they are addressed through the relationships that develop between the client and therapist.


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.


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 discipline 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.

The first music therapy degree program in the world, founded at Michigan State University in 1944, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1994. The American Music Therapy Association was founded in 1998 as a union of the National Association for Music Therapy and the American Association for Music therapy.


Research has shown the ability of music therapy to increase positive social interactions, positive emotions, and motivation in stroke patients. Wheeler et al. found that group music therapy sessions increased the ease at which stroke patients responded to social interaction and increased positive attitude reports from patient families, while individual sessions helped to motivate patients for treatment. Another study examined the effect of music therapy on mood of stroke patients and found similar results that showed decreased anxiety, fatigue, and hostile mood states.

The future of music therapy is promising because state of the art music therapy research in physical rehabilitation, Alzheimer's disease, and psychoneuroimmunology is documenting the effectiveness of music therapy in terms that are important in the context of a biological medical model.