Music Therapy - Science topic

Dear Dr. Murad,

These resources may interest you:

Not sure whether there is any specific research on listening to particular songs as a reactive coping strategy for stress, but Granot et al (2021) looked at what resources people used during lockdown to help them cope and discovered that music was one of the main resources people used especially for venting negative emotions, self-connection and enjoyment. The paper is called "“Help! I Need Somebody”: Music as a Global Resource for Obtaining Wellbeing Goals in Times of Crisis" and is a really good piece of research (I think there were around 6000 participants across 11 different countries). It might be a good place to start as they may have cited research that is closer to what you are interested in? Good luck - it sounds really interesting!

Just some thoughts in case anyone else is still thinking about this.. it would be great to hear from anyone else who has observed negative wellbeing effects from music engagement.

I haven't seen much published data but I have heard of music therapy protocols that had to be abandoned early because it was quite clear that the participants were experiencing increased distress from the specific music. The music was created by a certified music therapist, but unfortunately was too direct in terms of the way it attempted to deal with the clinical issue and inadvertently made people feel worse. It was an unforeseen adverse effect, but unfortunately the appetite for reporting on this seems to be quite low.

I have also come across instances where music can trigger negative sensations for people with spinal cord injuries or damaged nerves. They can become physiologically over-sensitised to music and other sounds to the degree that it actually triggers painful sensations. Given that this is a physiological response it would occur regardless of whether the music was delivered by musicians or a music therapist. Typically individuals seem quite aware of the phenomenon themselves and often quickly decline from music intervention studies. This seems to be relatively rare, I have only seen it in clinical contexts, but have not seen systematic clinical evaluations on this. Nonetheless for this reason I always do safety checks now when I'm recruiting for music intervention studies and recommend that people discontinue listening if they feel any increases in discomfort.

I've also collected some data that indicates that people with musical anhedonia (people who do not experience pleasure as a result of music listening) do not appear to benefit to the same degree from music interventions as people who enjoy music. This would undermine the therapeutic benefits of music interventions, and should be considered and potentially controlled for in future research.

I aggree: You will need a full review IRB (depending on your state, however) and you will have to point out the clinical relevance of your research since you a most likely include patients who are not (fully) able to give informed consent.

I have enclosed a music therapy and Alzheimer's review of literature article for your perusal. Chris

Thank you very much for sharing this question

The first aspect is attention modulation . Namely, music attracts our attention and distracts us from stimuli that can lead to negative experiences such as worry, pain, anxiety .

Another aspect is the modulation of emotions . Many studies have shown that music can regulate the activity of brain regions involved in the initiation, creation, cessation, and modulation of emotions.

Cognition modulation - Music is associated with memory processes (including encoding, storing, decoding music information, and events related to musical experiences.

Behavioral modulation - Music therapy also works through behavior. Music evokes and conditions behaviors like movement patterns that involve walking, speech.

Music therapy also affects communication - Music is a means of communication, which further means that music can significantly affect our relationship with other people. Music gives non-communicative people the opportunity to express themselves without words, but it also allows all people to communicate with others through music in an emotional way, making it easier to express emotions.

It depends on your hypothesis, study design and the data is perceived stress scale nominal or numerical data. Also do you need to measure change or difference.

Hogan,S.(2019).Arts Therapies and Gender Issues. International Perspectives on Research. London: Routledge

You can check out this link

the article contains detail information including the link of an AD dataset

Hey guys- putting this out there for anyone still having issues with embedding audio recordings. I've built a tool called Phonic (www.phonic.ai) originally designed to RECORD audio in a survey; however many researchers have convinced me to add audio stimuli as an option in the builder.

Here's a quick demo survey: https://survey.phonic.ai/5ed01ed15391a9506f4d9f80

Phonic has a super generous free-tier for anyone needing this- I'm also here for you if the platform is lacking anything.

This is a four arm clinical trial with factorial design. (Randomization was not mentioned).

There are many types of bias may happen.

First, selection bias due to improper/ biased selection : this may happen due to biased selection or faulty selection criteria for groups and can be minimized by Randomization, concealment of allocation.

Secondly Information bias : that is attributed to faulty measurement, false/ biased response from participants and bias from researchers. Practising standard operating procedures, Masking, Blinding, use of standardised/validated questionnaire can help you to minimise this bias.

Third is confounding bias :

Identification of potential confounders and adjustment in multi-variable analysis/ stratified analysis may help to reduce it.

This three are major categories of bias during study design phase.

There are several biases which can happen during data collection (like Hawthorne bias, social desirability bias etc) and data analysis and dissemination phase (like publication bias etc).

Please go through any standard book of biostatistics and epidemiology before starting your work.

These articles may help you

Regards.

Yes, but the relationship to different persons does not sound like a nominal scale.

There should be a group with no intervention, this group I called a group with nothing. I did this many time with mice on the open field and one group just ambulated on the open field but did not get any intervention. Then we could see if the groups with interventions differed from the one group which did not get anything, e.g. was not subject to maze learning and so on. With MANOVA you see eventual interactions between lavender and music for example. You can also use

linear regression analysis where you see how much of stress, music explains or is reduced and how much lavender explains and so on.

Please also take a look at these useful RG links and PDF attachments.

Dear Randell,

You sys review data depend on the research questions you try to answer. Check this out:

The Influence of Music on the Surgical Task Performance

Please also take a look at this link.

I think it can increase the emotions towards a song. If it is a song that you like it will increase the enjoyment and the opposite if you dislike the song. Volume is important because it will let the song take part in your body system, muscles and nerves, and this will effect the subconscious by reaching deeper into your system. You can find interesting articles in these two books: Handbook of Music and Emotion. Theory, Research, Applications. I: P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda. Music, Health and Wellbeing. Hanser, S.

Dear Maria,

Thank you for your interest in the LongSTEP study, and for your inquiry. Generally speaking, when we establish relationships with partner sites, we look for a combination of the following: 1) sites with Level III or IV NICUs with adequate and stable census, 2) "social support" countries/societies with generous parental leave policies that enable at least one parent to be consistently/continuously at bedside throughout NICU hospitalization and at least one parent present at home with the infant during the first 6 months following discharge from NICU, 3) a local research team at the NICU (or in conjunction with a partnering university) that has experience with interventional research and ideally with conducting randomized controlled trials, and that has personnel resources sufficient to dedicate at least one staff person to the role of site investigator (other roles like research assistant for data entry may be required in addition), and 4) availability of at least one music therapist (educated, certified and/or credentialed) who already has advanced training in the use of music therapy with premature infants and their caregivers and can be trained on the LongSTEP protocol (typically with at least a 50% position in the NICU). That being said, we are currently focusing our efforts on improving recruitment at our current partner sites (especially our Norwegian sites), instead of adding new international partners, but we are happy to hold dialogue with sites that feel they have resources aligning to the four points mentioned above, in case there is a need to add sites in the future. The project is not able to fully fund each site, and thus sites must be prepared to contribute resources in kind to make the project feasible to implement.

Your areas of research expertise sound very interesting and complementary for this project, so we can also keep you in mind if opportunities for related side-projects arise.

Like in alcoholism or drug addiction the quantity and frequency of the substance consumed is less important compared to the impact the use causes in someone's functioning in various areas including family, work/school, relationships, legal issues, financial issues, etc. The Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM-V) defines addiction as an issue if it negatively starts impacting a person's functioning in the areas mentioned above. It is a continuum with social use on one end and dependency at the other end. If one does not want to use an instrument related solely to Internet addiction one could always look at the instruments available in substance use disorder literature and modify them to suit your situation. Some common instruments used in substance abuse/dependence are MAST/DAST, SASSI, ASSIST, AUDIT, ASI, etc.)

The individual and public health hazard aspects of infrasound have been extensively researched. The hazards have been specifically linked to frequencies and amplitudes that were explicitly identified. Perhaps such hazards overshadow the healing effects. It is reported that every human being's metabolism uses body-generated infrasound for normal health. So it is quite plausible that future research can identify specific spectral characteristics of infrasound that heal.

Thank you Leandra, I didn't know that.

I suggest you this article, maybe it can help:

Please take a look at these useful RG links.

Dear Olivia Barry,

Please also have a look at these useful links and PDF attachments.

Good luck!

I am one who loves to dance! I took ballet and tap at the age of 16 when my Dad got a coupon for a discount, and I attended ballet conventions in Palm Springs, CA. I also, taught ballet to my students at Girl's Club! As a teacher, I taught dancing to my 3rd grade class for Cinco de Mayo, and Parents and I got together to make the skirts, get the boots for the boys and so forth. I found an article that might be of interest to you, but I am not sure how wide or narrow your scope is for your target interest in dance.

The link is as follows: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g_k2AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Dance+Therapy+in+the+classroom+Scholarly+articles&ots=SZtILHJ3ha&sig=t3J7KWigUmsNmuE3SkvzAAV5vKM#v=onepage&q&f=false

It's entitled,

Expressive Therapies, edited by Cathy A. Malchiodi. She talks about dance therapy and even poetry therapy. I hope it is useful.

Best regards,

Karen

Thank you!

The real problem with this question is that the expression "music tuned to 432 Hz" (or "to 440 Hz") hardly makes sense. First of all, it should give a note name. One probably must understand "music tuned to A3=432 Hz", but it would be better to say so. Then, suppose that A3 indeed is tuned to that frequency. What is the frequency of the other notes? This depends on several factors:

-- What instrument?

-- In what tuning or temperament is one tuning?

-- How long after the tuning does one measure the effect?

-- What kind of music is played?

It must be realized that an orchestra may have tuned to any pitch standard to start with -- say A3=432 Hz -- and neverteless may play at some other pitch standard -- say A3=440 Hz -- after half an hour, if only because of the increase in temperature in the room.

The French Government decided in the mid 19th century that the French standard pitch should be A3=435 Hz. Then the Austrians wrongly believed that this pitch had been measured at too low a temperature (around 15° centigrade) and estimated that pitch would raise by 5 Hz between 15° and 20°: this is the origin of A3=440 Hz.

Most instruments do not tune from A; D often is considered a better choice. But then the frequency of A will depend on the size of the fifth tuned in the particular temperament (or tuning system) considered.

Also, it is well known that choirs singing a capella (without instruments) tend to lower in pitch. The cause is often believed to be that the singers get tired, but it has been shown that the effect of tonality is much more important, because it entails harmonic progressions in one direction. Tonal music tends to lower in pitch, and the effect may be quite more important than the difference between 440 and 432 Hz (32 cents, only about 1.5 comma).

To sum up: this whole affair about playing at 432 Hz is nonsense. It is probable that a lot of music has been played "at 432 Hz" throughout history, and that nobody ever noticed. (Ellis, it the late 19th century, was able to document hundreds of historical pitch standards.)

Hi Chris,

While inner speech is usually comparatively poor in aphasia if comparing inner speech to neurotypical adults, I have found (on my page, "Inner Speech" area) that many individuals with aphasia, particularly non-fluent types of aphasia, do indeed have inner speech intact. In some cases, inner speech is particularly preserved relative to overt speech.

Thank you Simon! I am developing some materials designed to provide easy access and the "communication ramp" required for Aphasia - we are going on 4 years teaching a sub-set of The Aphasia Tones (TM) choir. It has dawned on me this might a very good access point for anyone looking to learn or just enjoy making music 'late in life', with minimal music expertise and/or as part of a rehab plan. [If I can make headway here, I will move on to drum circle style rhythm facilitation; and/or possibly ukelele seeking the easiest and most adaptable entry into music for elders or anyone with disability, etc.] At risk of rambling - but some background: Personally, I learned harmonica because I broke my knee at age 27, PhD fresh in hand (ending my hopes for a run at gentleman's/Masters bike racing). Harmonica was the rehab to heal my broken spirit. If you have any interest in the project, keep in touch, one of my partners in creating the materials is Tomlin Leckie, based in Edinburgh; After lots of screening; I am taking his well-structured basic harp e-learning program just to learn his approach and see what materials would be most useful for our application, he has a psych background and is interested in the rehab application. Another inspirational and educational model for me is David Harp who does "Harmonica and Mindfulness Breathing" workshops, a bit more spiritual and meditative, he has taught millions of people meditation, mindfulness and/or harmonica - but does hold formal training in psych, though he operates more in the human potential movement outside of academia.

Hello Christopher,

This is a Master's level thesis:

Del Dosso, R. L. (2016). Family Art Assessment And Advocating For Children.

http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1290&context=etd 

I expect you will be aware of the relevant references:

Kwiatkowska, H. Y. (1975). Family art therapy: Experiments with a new technique. In E. Ulman & P. Dachinger (Eds.), Art therapy in theory and practice (pp. 113-125). New York, NY: Schocken Books.

Kwiatkowska, H. Y. (1978). Family therapy and evaluation through art. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.

. . . in this thesis:

Betts D. J. (2005) A Systematic Analysis of Art Therapy Assessment and Rating Instrument Literature  

Very best wishes,

Mary

Hi Benedek,

I would be very careful with a narrow notion of "measuring" - especcially if you have a small number of comparable  interventions  The very core of intervention research is to leave controlled lab conditions and to understand effects in real-life conditions. Therefore, you will get complex interactions that defy any attempt to controll or measure with any precision - often, you can miss the point completely. On the other hand, you can understand very much abot the mechanisms of your intervention (ant therefroe about their practical potential and shortcomings) by gathering and analysing  a broad spectrum of related data (interviews with single participants, focus group interviews, also some mearurements). I like using "constellation aanalysis" as a tool to map out the notions different people connect to an issue/an intervention , but ohter methods might work just as well, as long as they help you understand, rather than measure, the effects.

good luck with your interventions,

Richard

The knowledge of acoustics and mathematics is important for a musician.

Allow to know and explain a series of phenomena associated with the perception of the sound/music, musical performance and musical composition.

Depending on the type of musical composition, the mathematical knowledge can be associated to pure inspirations.

Can you clarify the question? What is the problem? What are the guidelines?

A friend of mine say a 60 Min. show that featured the multiple generational  occurrence of Alzheimer in Malawi.  I was amazed at their findings.  So may theory of fast food and the one with emissions from cars may be shot given the remoteness of the are and the long term historical occurrences.  Several people in several families from several generations had Alzheimer.  There may be a genetic predisposition proven with the longitudinal study which was featured.   

Hi, Sounds like a fun course!  You may want to contact my friend David Thomas to learn more about his research and resources but here is a fun TED Talk Boulder that he gave a few years ago:

TedxBoulder - David Thomas - What Makes a Place Fun

It isn't a very specific overlap related to health but I do think it links playing with the built environment in a few new ways.

Dear Louise,

For you to think of the type of early intervention to give to your client, you need to understand the nature of his/her health problem. this will give you direction of what he/she need. For every health condition, the type of intervention needed differ based on the nature of the problem, his/her social economic status(SES) and severity of the condition. Some may requires food (that contain high balance diet or supplementary foods), to others health talk/awareness/sensitization is ok, provision of drugs, skills empowerment may also be ok to others.

You therefore need to understand your client very well interms  of his need, health condition, SES status, his environment among others before you start  coming up with an intervention that will solve or minimize his/her problems 

My main activity is to push the "Humane treatments are Patient's right!" movement. Meanwhile, cut down medical cost.

Under this goal, now, I am organizing my training programs and will market them to health-conscious general publics as well as medical professionals. I also preparing my certificate programs in order to spread the whole body healing system.

I also invite researchers to join the scientific study the whole body healing system. As an industrial engineer background, an entrepreneur and a licensed acupuncturist, I see so many researchers put their talents in and so many grants invested in the medical field, but the severely sick patients' number keeps going up and the age of the patients is going down quickly. There should be something wrong. I try to encourage researchers after finding our why should process to how to solve the problems. Otherwise, without finding out solutions, it wastes the grant. It's due to all of the problems exist 

Otherwise, without finding out solutions, it wastes the grant and the research talents' life. It's due to all of the problems exist always. To get the solution to solve the real world pain in needed and find out the problems and describe them is only partially reaching the goal. Without finding out the solutions, the research lost its meaning at an entrepreneur's practical view for an investment.

Meanwhile, I share my clinical experiences to ask researchers to compare the Chinese medicine treatment result and cost efficiency. Meanwhile, keep patients' quality of life.

Actually, many nowadays majority of the no clue diseases already well treated and documented in the ancient Chinese medicine books that are not well known by many Chinese medical schools' professors and/or practitioners that include China's. It's due to the cultural revolution, makes a lot better kinds of stuff lost. I was lucky to get trained in the ancient traditional Chinese medicine field. I also integrated the knowledge with NLP, hypnosis, dream builder, life consultant skills, magnet therapy, cosmic energy healing to create innovative therapies to cut down the medical cost.

As treated severe sick patients realize that they do not need to suffering so much if get treated right, seeing increased severely sick patients and accompany my Mom's last journey in her life. A tube in her mouth, she could not talk, drugs made her weak and organ failure soon. These will not happen under Chinese medical treatment. I cannot keep silent anymore! I do my best to let people keep their health. 

There are number of books as follow:

1. Risalat al-Ikhwan al safa (in Arabic)

2. Kanz al tuhaf (in Persian)

Good luck,

Your normal data will need to come from your own control group.  Fluorodopa PET scans have previously been used to compared striatal levodopa uptake in normal controls with that of subjects with idiopathic PD and manganese exposure induced parkinsonism so you can look at papers related to this work for some guidance on study design.  Your sample size will likely be small and so unless your effect is relatively large and variance small you will be unlikely to find a significant quantifiable difference between groups.   Please be sure to do a power analysis and determine necessary sample size before you start these studies. 

I think the effect that it has is that we can recognise the harmonic pattern and thus recognise the speaker. Someone who has heard my voice a few times will, upon hearing it again, pick up on the specific harmonic content and associate it with the memory of the previous times, even if I were speaking at different loudness or in a different mood.

Consider also that the emotive respones to major and minor chords may be learned responses, specific to certain cultures.

Whether or not certain historical figures had similar harmonic patterns, I'm not so sure, but they certainly used other aspects of speech to ellicit emotional responses in their audience, like prosody, as mentioned above. They also may have utilised up and coming broadcast technologies to allow their messages to be sent with higher fidelity than before, as radio and microphone technologies certainly improved in the 1930s.

A recent literature review: Music therapy: Bettering lives one note at a time.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6624-5_3

By Ferrer, Alejandra J.

Charyton, Christine (Ed), (2015). Creativity and innovation among science and art: A discussion of the two cultures. , (pp. 53-69). New York, NY, US: Springer-Verlag Publishing, xvii, 239 pp.

The present chapter discusses the field of music therapy and the benefits that individuals of all ages and levels of functioning obtain from participating in music therapy sessions. A literature review pertaining to music therapy with the clinical populations of oncology, mental health, gerontology, medical/surgical, and developmentally disabled was presented. Music therapy is an effective adjunct therapeutic modality that can support clients in achieving goals of a cognitive, physical, emotional, and social nature. Music therapy professionals are highly skilled clinicians trained in the areas of general music, psychology, and therapeutic principles. Their broad education supports them in designing unique and creative music-based interventions. While music therapists view the profession as a dynamic, therapeutic process consisting of interactions among the music, therapist, and client, it is impossible to deny the intrinsic qualities of music and its benefits upon the human spirit. The present chapter ends with a discussion regarding the use of music in our personal lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)

Art therapy after stroke: Evidence and a need for further research.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2012.03.006

By Reynolds, Frances

The Arts in Psychotherapy, Vol 39(4), Sep 2012, 239-244.

This review presents available evidence regarding the benefits of art therapy and therapeutic arts interventions for stroke survivors. Whilst available evidence is very limited, it suggests that art therapy may address many of the diverse cognitive, emotional and functional needs of people disabled by stroke. Attention, spatial processing, sequencing and planning seem to improve among those who persist with art therapy. Use of the stroke-affected limb may increase. Several studies report improvements in social interaction, and emotional expression. Most published reports offer single case examples, which are idiographic and illuminating. Nonetheless, the brevity of these reports, the reliance on therapist's own accounts, and uncertainties surrounding case selection make generalization of the findings uncertain. There is a pressing need for multi-method research studies. These could use quantitative standardized scales to explore changes in stroke survivors’ physical and emotional functioning, and qualitative enquiry to gain the insights of stroke survivors concerning the art therapy process. Such research designs might help to establish a better recognized role for art therapy within multidisciplinary stroke rehabilitation programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Dynamic sonification as a free music improvisation tool for physically disabled adults.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1943862111401032

By Lem, Alan; Paine, Garth

Music and Medicine, Vol 3(3), Jul 2011, 182-188.

This paper reports on the development and initial evaluation of a video-based, dynamic, sonification device used with 5 physically disabled adults, recent clients of Creative Music Therapy (CMT). Of particular interest was the extent to which the dynamic properties of the technology could assist the participants to engage in a dynamic musical interaction at the level of autonomy available to physically able people. Each participant took part in 8, half-hour sessions utilizing free interactive improvisation. During the study, several sonic algorithms were trialed and adjusted according to each participant’s movements and preferences. Informing the sonification design was the concept of dynamic orchestration developed by Paine, and real-time sound synthesis. Results indicated that video-based dynamic sonification systems may be used effectively as free improvisation tools with people who have mild physical disabilities, but that modifications may have to be made for people whose movements are more severely restricted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)

From imperfect to I am perfect: Reclaiming the disabled body through making body adornments in art therapy.

By Yi, Chun-Shan

Moon, Catherine Hyland (Ed), (2010). Materials and media in art therapy: Critical understandings of diverse artistic vocabularies. , (pp. 103-117). New York, NY, US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, xxxi, 303 pp.

The two projects described in this chapter focus on the creation of body adornments as a means of identity exploration, self-expression, and empowerment for people with physical disabilities. In the first project, I explored disability identity through the creation of a series of body adornments for my hands and feet, and photographic self-portraits wearing these adornments. These works led me to investigate the embedded social, cultural, and media influences that have prompted the gazes of strangers. In the second project, I extended the use of body adornments to the clinical realm, to my work with clients with "missing limbs or digits" (deficiencies). Both projects show the transformation from seeing oneself as a person with imperfections, to recognizing one's identity as a "perfect" disabled person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)

Have you contacted the American Art Therapy Association?  You can access research via the Journal of the American Art therapy Association.

I am a licensed clinical art therapist (MA, ATR-BC, LPC-AT/S).  Hospitals bring in artists with no training to work with people but it is best practice to use clinically trained professionals. 

Hi dear

By Jim Morelli, MPH

Music. It does a body good. Physical therapy may help keep Parkinson's disease patients limber, but now researchers have found that music therapy may help them move faster -- and make them happier.

This is the first time that music therapy's effect on Parkinson's has been objectively studied, the Italian researchers say, and their results appear in the latest issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive, incurable nervous system disease that is characterized by difficulties walking, moving, and by uncontrollable tremors. It's caused by a decrease in brain cells that create dopamine, a chemical that is important for regulating body movement. Often, improving patients' ability to move and walk can help improve their well-being.

Thirty-two Parkinson's patients with mild to moderate disability participated in the study. They were divided into two equal groups -- one group went through three months of weekly physical therapy sessions; the other had weekly music therapy sessions. The latter consisted of listening to music, creating it on instruments, and moving to it rhythmically.

The researchers noted that physical therapy improved stiffness -- but did not have a significant effect on overall daily performance. Music therapy did. Patients reported improved ability to do such tasks as cut food and get dressed, and said they were less likely to fall or experience the sudden freezing-up of muscles that occurs with Parkinson's. Also patients with Parkinson's sometimes have trouble initiating movement, and music therapy improved this problem -- possibly because of its rhythmical quality, the authors suggest.

But the patients' emotional response to the music could also have affected their ability to move, they say, by activating a particular pathway in the brain that is thought to help regulate some movements. But either way, the patients were happier when listening to music, and it increased their motivation.

Enrico Fazzini, MD, a neurologist at New York University Medical Center, says the effectiveness of music therapy is linked to what Parkinson's disease takes away from patients: their ability to move automatically -- for example, their ability to ride a bike without thinking about it. "[With Parkinson's] people have to bring walking [or biking] into their consciousness. ... They have to bring into consciousness what was previously unconscious. Anything that helps them do that will help them to move."

Music can do that, Fazzini says -- sometimes dramatically. "A lot of times Parkinson's patients can dance beautifully when they can't walk. I have people who can barely take a step, but they can dance. Because they bring the unconscious into the conscious."

In other words, they know where to put their feet because the music is giving them a cue: the beat. By the same token, he says, some Parkinson's patients walk better in soft sand than on firmer ground because they use the feeling of sinking as a prompt to raise their feet.

Fazzini, who also runs a Parkinson's web site, says many Parkinson's patients have to do without music therapy to help them with activities like walking, because of the need to take music with them. "A lot of times these people are older, and you want them to [be able to] hear what's going on," -- such as the approach of a car, he says.

Lucy Irizarry, a social worker for the National Parkinson's Foundation in Miami, Fla., is a big fan of music therapy. Twice a week she oversees 30 patients in a day care setting. She's convinced of the importance of music in their lives.

"It helps the patients use their voice," she says. "It also helps them socially and emotionally. The songs are the old ones. ... It stimulates them." And, she adds, it helps them to remember.

Maximiliano,

''Why the humans created the music?''  WE did'nt, only add some more. Many animal species have created musics much before our primate ancestors.  Why did biological evolution created it?  It makes senses that some early animals had to detect other moving animals through the sound they emit while moving and walking.  These type of sound contains a lot of rythms associated with moving animal bodies. The purpose of the detection is also to infer the type of movement, the type of animal doing it, the position and direction of trajectory, etc.  HOw this could be best achieved?  Through interpretation of the sound vibrations in the ears through the motor systems equipped for enacting such movement in the animal.  So I assume that the origin of music is this interpretation of sound through the self-enaction of the motor system.  At some point in evolution it became possible for some species to go futher and to actually produce sound using the motor system in ways that were pleasing for the animals and could be used for many social functions such as mate selection through musical selection or coordination of motions into a kind of swimming dance as for sea mammals, etc, etc.  

Music is a universal cultural elements of homo sapiens and music has many common elements with human languages.  Babies responded first to the musical part of the language sound and it is likely that humans became humans through a form of collective singing dancing. There are many empirical evidences for this hypothesis.  

Hello Kostas

This is interesting - a concept that I had never thought of. This paper advocates music, but to reduce bullying rather than to help the victim. Unfortunately, I was not able to access the full text:

Ziv, N., & Dolev, E. (2013). The effect of background music on bullying: A pilot study. Children & Schools. 35(2):83-90

This is a review of the paper:

One of the references may be of help?

Koshland, L., Wilson, J., & Wittaker, B. (2004). PEACE through dance/movement: Evaluating a violence prevention program. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 26(2), 69-90.

It will be interesting to read the responses of others

Very best wishes

Mary

Dear Madhur,

Music therapy is effective for a number of disorders. The following resources might interest you:

I came across this brief article with references:

"Music is the language of the soul. Where words end, music begins. Now, a review article suggests that where modern medicine ends, music begins.

The review evaluated 30 trials that included almost 2,000 cancer patients who received music therapy in concert with traditional treatment. Overall, music had a beneficial effect on the patients’ anxiety levels and moods. Music also decreased the patients’ heart rates, respiratory rates, and blood pressures. Patients reported an increased quality of life after intervention with music therapy..."

Perhaps the involuntary (spontaneous) tapping of feet to music.  As an indication of the metrical structure of the music. Another response on a higher order would be whistling to a tune or humming to it. In that case both the metrical/rhythmic structure and melodic phrases seem to have elicited a emotional and behavioral response from the listener. These seem to be more naturalistic cues from everyday setting.

Dear Peter

Holmes and Rahe stress scale is a simple measure that lists 43 stressful life events and can be completed on line.  I like this scale and find it useful. 

Hi Nader,

Thanks for your question. I appreciated Ahmad's insight into cultural differences in accepting music as a useful therapeutic intervention.

The following music therapy websites might answer your question.

Best wishes,

Stephen

thank you both for the orientations! Indeed it seems that methods nowadays point out the best way to induce flow states is to make participants to do things, and more specifically, things they enjoy. Maybe it'd be a good idea to build an instrument to map participants' activities susceptible to induce flow, and then apply in a lab context.

I agree with Alexander Crooke. If the students are typically-developing, then music education techniques can be helpful. There is also the possibility of adapting some techniques that music therapists use but you would need to consult with them. 

If you have children who have learning challenges, I have 2 articles off the top of my head that may suit. Granted, they are older literature and they come to mind because I work with the author, but they may lead you in the right direction.

Gfeller, K. E. (1983). Musical mnemonics as an aid to retention with normal and learning disabled students. Journal of Music Therapy, 20(4), 179-189.

Gfeller, K. E. (1986). Musical Mnemonics for Learning Disabled Children. Teaching Exceptional Children, 19(1), 28-30.

No Doubt , nature has kept some remedy for each disease but we have to find it, it may be form music world plant animal river ocean

Dear dr Harries I think this article is use ful

8455 Colesville Road, Suite 1000, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301) 589-3300 fax (301) 589-5175

email: amta@musictherapy.org website: www.musictherapy.org

American Music Therapy Association, Inc.

MUSIC THERAPY AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

"...[W]e lose sight of how powerful melody and rhythm can be in the realm of medicine, particularly with respect to Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers... nursing homes and hospitals are finding that working with a music therapist can make a big difference..."

- C. Gorman. Time, November 14, 2005

When electromagnetic and mechanical systems interact there must be a transducer, somewhere.  Sound reception necessarily involves (typically vibratory) motion , so it is easy to imagine that electric and magnetic fields could be result according to Faraday's and Maxwell's laws.  Since the body also has electromagnetic properties (galvanic skin response, nerve impulses, etc.), these fields could easily induce small currents.  Who can say (yet) if some small current might affect your opinion about something?  Unfortunately, absence of evidence is also not evidence.

Finding a reliably reproducible effect of this kind would be very interesting, but it would need to be carefully verified.  Do you know of one?

Thank you for answer. It is good to know, that this method is succesfull an interesting. Do you have any publication or study about this topicin english language? I would need it for my research.

A famous musician, a person who can tell you more with own experience about this question is the deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Contact her via homepage: http://www.evelyn.co.uk/evelyn-glennie

Thank you very much.

I am a music therapist conducting research at the University of Iowa. My clinical (music therapy) research involves working with children who have hearing loss and cochlear implants. I would encourage you to contact the American Music Therapy Association (musictherapy.org) for resources of other music therapists doing research. I would think most universities (about 70 in the US) that have music therapy programs have research programs underway.

Yes and no. If people are feeling sad and want to continue to feel sad, they will often choose music that matches their emotional state. Conversely, if they are sad and want to feel better, they often choose music to elevate their moods. This, however, requires acknowledgement of their mood state and a conscious effort to improve their moods. I don't believe, however, it is able to be generalized for someone with a mental illness (such as depression).

What are the specifics with the group? If the children are developing their language, the improvisation could function in a "call and response" type setting whereby the children are learning the functions of appropriate communication: taking turns, asking questions and waiting for responses, etc.

Yes, this is a great idea. My experiences in neurorehabilitation and in stroke management have redirected my thinking towards using music for treatment of patients with aphasia and dysarthria. I have indeed achieved much progress on this. It is also effective in teaching an individual a new language. However, for the apahsia and dysarthria, you need to understand the pre-morbid social life of the patient especially the kind of music that s/he is in turn with. Individual responds to music emotionally an there is always tendency to verbalise and vocalise the song especially if it is the one that the individual loves. The concurrent and consistent stimulation of the area 43 and 44 and some overlap to area 42 of the brain is very essential in aphasic patient.

Called social change "any observable change in time which affects in a way that is not temporary or transient structure or function of the social organization of a community and change the course of history ." Social change power must be logged in to see the time from a reference point in the past. From there, you should be able to say what has changed and how it has changed.

Social change occurs through agents more or less aware of the factors that affect sociaux.Les change agents " are actors and groups whose work is driven by goals , interests, values, ideologies that have an impact on the future of a society. "

Music is no longer linked mostly to the divine, has not provided a feature simple décor, and can not use more than just as an object of consumption. Instead, the music able to conduct a reenchantment world .

In this connection it is not to understand the study of music in a progressive or rationalist line, but rather follow the way it "appears" in the contemporary world .

Music is in large part the background sound of the environment. It creates a directory of composition and technique and a value system that are the result of our sociocultural environment.

More than any other philosopher Nietzsche can address the musical continent. First for being a musician, then for the Dionysian thinker par excellence.

For him, music is the heartbeat of the world. He designed the musical moment , not isolated from the cultural sphere, but as a means of expression thereof .

" So what wind music my whole body ?

It's ... I think its relief .

That's why I need music "

"The music never ceases to dramatize and make dramatic catharsis that task to rule by all means the night and darkness. "

Mangue Beat movement also appears as an issue in a social context that since the 80's is getting worse. Analysis of the economic and social situation in Recife . The idea is to add some thoughts to the discussion of the place of culture and leisure in society.

The music for this philosopher - artist expresses , more than any other art, the reality of the will to power , it is the stimulus of life.

I’ve been following the discussion with interest and would like to share one observation: While the initial question raised by Thomas implies (or at least this is my understanding) that a closer connection between the fields of arts therapies and other medical professions may be possible (beneficial?), some of the points raised in discussion seem to highlight that there are significant (and quite obvious) differences in understanding of the nature of arts therapies practice by the practitioners themselves and other professionals. Personally, I believe that any bridging needs to start with education on and de-mystification of arts therapies, so that their nature becomes comprehendible for those who are not experts in the field.

Initially, the meanings of arts in health and arts therapies should possibly be clarified. Again, I support interdisciplinary dialogue in general and definitely do not intend to pose artificial divisions, but I believe it is important that practitioners of other professions understand that the presence of the therapeutic relationship and focus on therapeutic process is what is crucial in arts therapies and not necessarily in the use of arts for health benefits. I second Virginia and Melissa in that the use of arts in psychotherapy may present risks and therefore requires skills and experience from the therapist. However, the therapeutic relationship in arts therapies includes the three essential elements: the client, the therapist and the arts, and it is the interaction of the three that makes arts so powerful and thus potentially harmful. However, arts themselves should not be considered dangerous and I believe it is important to remember that in arts therapies they have a special role to play, which differs from artistic engagement outside of therapy space.

I wonder what others think and whether you have any other ideas on how to improve the dialogue between the disciplines? (If you at all believe this is needed?)

There is definitely a difference between the two interventions. To have a richer discussion the question should be "what is the difference?", or "which is more effective, and why?" or "what are the merits of each in reducing agitation?".

Would any of the music therapy literature regarding coping and rehabilitation be helpful? I'm thinking of hospitalized children or children who have chronic health issues (no articles come to mind immediately). The articles referenced by Nelson are definitely of very high caliber.

You may have to look for a survey that addresses Creative Arts Therapies as a group or, perhaps, lets you specify a target therapy. I don't now that the American Music Therapy Association has a survey regarding children with speech-language delay. Plus, most kids who receive music therapy may not even realize it's not just a music group/class.

You might want to look at the websites of the Australian Music Therapy Association and the American Music Therapy Association for more information for the wide range of applications of music in health care and medical treatment. The new journal, "Music and Medicine" also includes much relevant information for you. You have asked a very big question, and you many need to narrow down to specific areas as you investigate this.

Here is an extract of a news item that may be of help:

Even Patients with Severe Dementia Respond to Music

French researchers report music therapy can improve the mood of people suffering from severe Alzheimer’s disease.

July 9, 2012 • By Tom Jacobs • No Comments and 0 Reactions

Music has charms to soothe even those suffering from severe Alzheimer’s disease. That’s the key finding of encouraging new research from France, which found music therapy enhanced the moods of patients as much as four weeks after the conclusion of a four-week-long program.

It’s the latest in a series of studies that point to music therapy as an effective tool in dealing with dementia. The Italian Psychogeriatric Association just reviewed 32 papers published over the past decade, and found a pattern of significant reductions in such symptoms as depression, delusions, and hallucinations.

The new French study, published in the journal Music Perception, is—like most studies of people suffering from dementia—based on a very small sample: 11 people. But it was structured to provide a direct comparison between music therapy and an alternative treatment approach: specifically, eating and cooking.

The patients, members of a French residential home for the elderly who had been diagnosed with severe Alzheimer’s disease, took part in eight sessions (each lasting two hours) over four weeks. By design, each of the sessions alternated between passive and active activities.

The five members of the music group “were seated in a circle around a table on which various musical instruments (mainly percussion) were placed,” writes a research team led by Sylvain Clement of the Universite de Lille – Nord de France. A selection of songs proposed by the patients themselves were played from a CD, and the patients were encouraged to accompany the music “by tapping, rubbing or shaking” the percussion instruments.

“Between the songs, patients were encouraged to express their feelings about the musical listening and to try to verbalize memories evoked by the music,” the researchers write.

The six members of the cooking group “were seated around a table on which utensils and ingredients needed to prepare a dessert were placed.” During each session, they together created a simple dessert such as an apple pie or fruit salad, “cutting, peeling, measuring quantities and mixing the ingredients” and tasting them as they went along.

Echoing the music sessions, “participants were encouraged to express their feelings about food and to try to verbalize memories evoked by food,” the researchers write.

The participants’ state of mind was evaluated at the beginning, midpoint and end of the four-week program, and again two weeks and four weeks later. The researchers used three separate measurements of the patients’ emotional health: their facial expressions, vocabulary, and overall mood. “The main results were that music was more effective than cooking in improving the emotional state of patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers write.

Specifically, the music therapy increased scores on all three measures at both the midpoint and end of the four-week program. Moreover, the patients’ moods remained significantly elevated four weeks after its conclusion.

“In contrast with the music intervention, the cooking sessions had almost no positive effect on the emotional state of the Alzheimer’s disease patients,” the researchers write.

The difference is striking, since the two sets of activities were similar in many ways: both elicited strong, pleasurable sensations (hearing music and tasting sweets), and both involved pleasurable interaction.

Clement and his colleagues aren’t sure why the music therapy was so much more effective. But they note that in a 2009 study (published in French), they found music therapy improved the mood of Alzheimer’s disease patients far more than participation in a painting workshop (although visual arts have their partisans, too).

“It appears that music interventions may have a specific beneficial effect on the emotional state of patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers conclude. While more and larger studies are needed, it seems a particularly effective way “to produce long-lasting effects on patients’ emotional well-being” involves beating time to favorite tunes.

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