MUSIC THERAPY & ITS RELEVANCE IN EDUCATIONAL/SCHOOL SETTINGS ·Music therapy is used as a tool for capturing attention so that your students can listen and attend to tasks put before them. ·Music therapy creates togetherness so that your students create connections with other students. ·Music therapy can be applied as a tool for developing your student’s communication and speech skills. ·Music therapy is based in rhythm, which helps your students improve motor movement and coordination. SOME RESEARCH FINDINGS1. The stimulation of beating the drum and hearing the sound of the guitar heightens the child’s senses which encourages them to interact with the therapist and reach the desired goals (Pellitteri, 2000). 2. In pre-school age children, music therapy builds on the skills addressed in their younger years to directly improve language, daily living, and social skills (Register, 2001). 3. To improve language skills, therapists will use activities that incorporate syntax and grammar patterns by using different melodies. Looking at each sentence as a different song helps stimulate the child’s brain to focus on the differences and similarities that are seen in each. Music therapy also provides the opportunity to learn letter/sound identification (Wolfe & Hom, 1993). 4. To improve daily skills, therapies relate everyday activities such as washing hands, getting dressed, practicing good manners, and memorizing important items like phone numbers and addresses to a song or rhythmic form (Thaut, Peterson, & McIntosh, 2005). Each of these helps the child learn to be more independent on their own and also how to function in today’s society. Using music therapy to memorize phone numbers and addresses is valuable because putting information in song form enhances the ability to recall the information. 5. The same way companies use jingles as a marketing technique is the same way music therapy can be used to enhance memorization (Schellenberg, 2003; Norton, 2005). 6. To improve social skills, it is more beneficial if music therapy is used in a group setting (Hallam & Prince, 2000; Harland et al., 2000). IN HOSPICE/HOSPITAL ENVIRONMENT Music is a universal phenomenon that permeates our everyday experience. Most people recognize the innate nature of music and its role in our lives, but the concept of integrating music experiences with therapy can be elusive. Music psychology studies have also shown that music intervention in health care can have a positive effect on patient's emotions and recuperating processes. In this way, hospital spaces have the potential to reduce anxiety and stress, and make patients feel comfortable and secure. How does music work during therapy? People constantly use music to alter their state, help reflect on their mood, motivate a workout, socialize with others, or just pass the time. Music on its own has immense power to influence how we feel and behave. It is a music therapist’s job to contain that power and administer elements of music to enact clinical therapeutic change. MUSIC AS THERAPYThis is when music is the primary medium and agent for therapeutic change. It is the music and its tailored qualities that exert influence on the patient. Personal relationships and the use of other arts or modalities are seen as the context that focuses the music’s potential. A music therapist (MT) implements live music with guitar while guiding the patient in imagery. Guitar chords are arpeggiated (i.e., strummed one string at a time) upwards during the patient’s breathing in, with downward arpeggiation during exhales. The tempo of the strumming is entrained to the tempo of the patient’s breathing and gradually slowed to cue relaxation and help manage pain. MUSIC IN THERAPY This is when the music provides context for other therapeutic factors such as the clinician-patient relationship or other therapeutic modalities. In this case, music is not necessarily the driving factor of change, but still enhances the overall treatment. The MT determines the preferred music of a patient. This music is facilitated live with singing and guitar, and the patient is tasked with actively listening and identifying lyrics meaningful to him. Following the song, the MT engages the patient in supportive conversation, helping the patient gain insight into his thoughts and develop positive cognitive coping skill THANKYOU!
