What is Music Therapy?
The foundations of music therapy are used to help people who are suffering from any sort of mental diseases or physical setbacks. Music therapy can be channeled through the creation of music, listening to specific songs, or even just learning about music in general. Music therapists first have to address the problem(s) that each of their patients are dealing with in order to assess the strengths and needs of each of their patients. As time progresses, the patients involvement with music is then transferred to certain aspects of their lives in order to strengthen them.
History of Music Therapy |
The idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior is 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 veteran hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering from both physical and emotional trauma due to 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.
Traditional Examples of Music Therapy
- Listening to a song after a heartbreak
- Celebrities performing at hospitals or schools
- Playing an instrument to relieve daily stress
- Producing beats to block out the outside noise
- Dissecting a specific song to further understand its meaning and how it's relatable
- A piano player in the lobby of a hospital
- Celebrities performing at hospitals or schools
- Playing an instrument to relieve daily stress
- Producing beats to block out the outside noise
- Dissecting a specific song to further understand its meaning and how it's relatable
- A piano player in the lobby of a hospital