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Kendall Kotcher
Prof. Gerber
WRA 150/36
4 April 2013
Your New Prescription: Music
As a first year college student, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been stressing out
over a variety of reasons. On Mondays, the hardest day getting back into the week, I start
my day with Calculus. I leave that class fuming almost every single day because of the
teaching assistant I have. Then I trudge along to Intro to Technical Theatre, which isn’t
so bad. Then I make a 2-mile hike through snow, hail, rain, ponds, rivers, whatever
Michigan State University’s campus has to throw at me, to get to my choir class. Usually
all of my Mondays are hard on me. There was one particular Monday where I woke up
with a sore throat, burned the inside of my nose with salt water, fell asleep in calculus,
was splashed by someone’s umbrella, was served cold pasta, was served cold pizza,
forgot my theatre notes, listened to a boring theatre department professor candidate, and
then had to make that 2 mile walk in the pouring rain to choir. One would conclude that
that Monday sucked. However, that Monday was not over. Going to choir class that day
completely turned my day around. My 3 energetic, passionate, and hilarious directors had
us create beautiful and incredible music that brightened up my mood. Having that one
music class changed my mood, and my outlook on those drag of a Mondays.
If music has the ability to change people’s moods so drastically, then shouldn’t it
be used to help people? Music’s powerful affect on people has opened up the growing
clinical field of Music Therapy. Therapy “is the clinical and evidence-based use of music
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interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a
credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program”
(Musictherapy.org
FAQ 1). It’s an established
and developing
profession that uses music
in a therapeutic
environment with
specialists and
patients to address
physical, emotional,
cognitive, and social
needs. A qualified
patient’s strengths
Figure 2.
A music therapist works with a patient in
her
hospital room. During the
therapy session they
sing, listen to song
lyrics, and play music to help her
relax and
express herself.
them by creating,
therapist assesses a
and needs, and then treats
singing, moving to,
and/or listening to music (See Figure 2).
Using music as a healing tool dates back to World War I and World War II.
Amateur and professional musicians went to Veteran hospitals around the United States
to play for thousands of veterans suffering from physical and emotional trauma from the
wars. The musicians made veterans happy and distracted the war heroes from their
trauma. “The patients' notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors
and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals” (American Music Therapy
Association 1). It was soon clear that the musicians needed training. Therefore, the first
college degree program for Music Therapy was created at Michigan State University in
1944 and has expanded to prestigious universities all over the country.
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Music Therapy is extremely effective because it directly manipulates the brain’s
operations. Everyone’s brain works differently and has a unique electric make up. Music
Therapists can use an electroencephalogram (EEG shown in Figure 1) to monitor the
brain’s “musical score.” The EEG measures
frequencies in the brain and creates two musical
tracks—one to listen to for relaxation and one for
stimulation. The music is specifically contoured to
the brain of the patient. One psychiatrist played
his specific CD during a presentation and “40% of
the audience started getting headaches.” This
music for the brain “has been shown to significantly
Figure 1.
An EEG visually depicts the brain
waves at different states.
increase melatonin levels, [which is] a critical
hormone in achieving restful sleep” (Peake, Par 15). Even music that’s not contoured to
you can still have lasting effects. Not only can the therapy relax you, it can energize you
too. According to a survey of high school and college music students, seven out of eight
people reported that listening to music helped them perform better when working out
(Kotcher). Music Therapy can be used to directly work with the brain to manipulate
someone to be relaxed or energized.
Music Therapy can also stimulate other parts of the body like the immune system.
There is a genre of music that the therapy uses called designer music. This music consists
of a variety of rhythms and melodies that produce a particular desired result. In a study
performed by Dr. Alan of Southampton General Hospital, participants were asked to
think of a person or an activity that gave them the feeling of appreciation. Participants
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then listened to three different genres of music on separate days: New Age, Rock, and
Designer. After thinking the appreciative thought, participants showed a forty percent
increase in immunoglobulin A (an anti-body found in fluid bodily secretions, AKA IgA).
Dr. Alan then tested their saliva after they listened to each genre of music and discovered
that the Designer music yielded the highest concentration of IgA with an increase of
140%. The direct correlation between the music therapy and the immune-fighting
antibodies proves that music can be used as an easy alternative to promoting good health
(Pouliot 1).
While Music Therapy can be used as preventative care and can alter current
moods, it can also be used to treat the human body after illnesses. There are medical
conditions that are severe enough to not be treated effectively by medicine. However,
Music Therapy has ousted this obstacle by treating patients with strokes. In a study
performed by Dr. Teppo Sarkamo, a neurologist at Helsinki University, patients who
listened to music showed a significant increase in brain function than those who listened
to audio books or who did neither. Three months after the patients suffered from a stroke,
Dr. Sarkamo calculated that “the patients who listened to audio books recovered eighteen
percent of their verbal memory. Those that listened to music regained sixty percent, and
those that did neither regained twenty-nine percent” (Christian 113). These patients were
able to regain parts of their brain that were wiped out from their stroke—a challenge that
could not be overcome by medicine.
Music Therapy is equally as effective as clinical therapy and medicine. Normally,
people go to therapists in hopes of becoming emotionally stable—like after a death of a
close family member. Adrianna Fay, a college student majoring in Music Therapy at
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Purdue University, tells a story about how a girl recovered from a death of a family
member, through music:
“My professor had a client whose grandfather had died six years ago. The girl was
quite close to her grandfather and didn't take his death well. So much so that
every time his name was brought into a conversation or a picture sat in someone's
living room the girl would hysterically cry and scream. My professor performed
lyric analysis in which she found a Vince Gil song that the girl loved and had her
write a tribute (through lyrics) to her grandfather. She performed it for her family
and was able to talk about or see pictures of her grandfather. It has now become a
family tradition for her to perform it” (Fay 2013).
This is an inspirational example of how music therapy—an extremely easy and effective
treatment—can help someone who cannot be helped through medicine. Laurel Fontaine,
a stroke victim, also got to experience the positives of music therapy. Eleven-year-old
Laurel got a stroke and lost eighty percent of her left-brain. The significant brain damage
took away her ability to speak. “After a year of conventional speech therapy, Laurel
could speak only a word or two at a time” (Knox, Par 20). Desperate for recovery,
Laruel’s Mother enrolled her in a music therapy research project referred to as “singing
therapy.” This type of music therapy was so lucrative because “the right side of
Meyerson's brain – the singing part that's being retrained to ‘speak’ – is good at melody
and pitch, but it's not as fast as the left-sided language center, called Broca's area” (Knox,
Par 12). Within four months, Laurel saw permanent effects with singing therapy. "I'm
singing in my head and talking out loud without singing. I do it, like, really quick"
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(Knox, Par 22). The girl who recovered from her grandfather’s death and Laurel both had
life changing experiences just by choosing music therapy over traditional treatments.
Not only has music therapy proven more effective than traditional medical
treatments, it has no side effects. The huge problem with drugs and prescription
medication is the harmful side effects they have. In almost every television commercial
about a drug they list the side effects that can be anywhere from trouble sleeping to heart
attacks, diarrhea, amnesia, loss of vision, loss of hearing, constipation, discoloration of
the skin, loss of hair and death (Freeman 2-11). It’s terrifying to pick up a prescription
and find out that you’re one of the “rare cases” that has a heart attack. However, music
therapy doesn’t have these terrifying effects. The only possible effect it could have is
resurfacing “negative feelings from the past; these can be addressed by working with the
music therapist” (Arnold, Par 7). Music therapy has drastic positive impacts with little
cost. Music therapy is a critical field to invest in for it’s effective, easy, and safe.
“I believe that if I didn't have music, I wouldn't be the same person I am today...
Without it I wouldn't be able to properly express myself when I'm feeling
down/angry/overjoyed... Having a music class makes my whole day better… Music has
probably saved my life” (Kotcher). These are true feelings from high school students
about how music has affected them. Music is powerful and can be used for more than just
leisure. It can be used as a therapy to cure the sick, ease the pain, and keep people alive.
Throw away the prescriptions and look into music therapy to experience the powerful
positive results.
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Works Cited
"American Music Therapy Association." American Music Therapy Association.
American Music Therapy Association, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.musictherapy.org/>.
Arnold, Robert. "# 108 Music Therapy." # 108 Music Therapy. Medical College of
Wisconsin, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.eperc.mcw.edu/EPERC/FastFactsIndex/ff_108.htm>.
Christian, Margena A. "Study finds listening to music could improve recovery from
stroke .(LIFESTYLES) (Brief article) (Clinical report)." Jet 113.9 (March 10,
2008): 50(1). General Reference Center Gold. Gale. Library of Michigan. 22 Feb.
2009
<http://0-find.galegroup.com.elibrary.mel.org/itx/start.do?prodId=GRGM>.
"Electroencephalogram." The Free Dictionary. Saunders, 2007. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.
<http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/electroencephalogram>.
Fay, Adrianna. Interview by Kendall Kotcher. "Music Therapy Research." Web. 19 Mar.
2013.
Freeman, Shanna. "Top 10 Weirdest Prescription Drug Side Effects." Discovery Health.
Discovery Communications, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
<http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/10-weird-prescriptiondrug-side-effect.htm>.
Knox, Richard. "Singing Therapy Helps Stroke Patients Speak Again." NPR. NPR, 26
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Dec. 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/26/144152193/singing-therapy-helpsstroke-patients-speak-again>.
Kotcher, Kendall. College and High School Music Students. "Music Therapy." Survey.
19 Mar. 2013.
"Music Therapy at Children's Hospital Colorado." Children's Hospital Colorado.
University of Colorado School of Medicine, 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.childrenscolorado.org/conditions/psych/creative-arts-therapy/musictherapy.aspx>.
Peake, Michael. "Brain Music: Turn On, Tune In, Feel Better." Medill Reports.
Northwestern University, 03 Mar. 2010. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
<http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=159319>.
Pouliot, Janine S. "The power of music." World and I 13.n5 (May
1998): 146(8). Academic OneFile. Gale. Library of Michigan. 21 Feb. 2009
<http://0-find.galegroup.com.elibrary.mel.org/itx/start.do?prodId=AONE>.