What is Music Therapy?
Equipping music therapists with the language to explain the practice
The practice of music therapy is quite often misunderstood as an entertainment rather than a functional research-based clinical modality.
However, new insights from the cognitive neuroscience of music (neuromusicology) and the study of neuro-aesthetics is helping us to form a better understanding on the impact of music on brain function. This emerging perspective is helping us to employ music more effectively as a clinical modality and make a more compelling case for the practical utility and necessity of clinical music therapy.
While we all may intuitively understand the transformative power of art, it can be quite difficult to define what it is and how it affects us.
The purpose of this post is to help explain the practice of music therapy for the benefit of personal reflection and interpersonal/interdisciplinary communication. My hope is that this information will help you to equip yourself with the language and rhetoric to explain music therapy in a way that effectively elucidates and contextualizes the practice as a legitimate and effective clinical modality.
Explanation
Music is a complex sensory-motor experience that can have a profound effect on brain function and behavior. This is because music playing or listening involves a wide set of brain functions that all engage and synchronize in coordination with the music, as music is composed of a wide set of elements in various dimensions that all coincide as one harmonious whole.
Areas in the brain that are activated in music listening or playing are sometimes also involved in other activities that are non-musical. These brain areas are engaged in things like speech/language, attention, cognition, memory, emotions, etc.
Music stimulates neurophysiological processes that are non-musical in nature (speech, language, cognition, emotion, memory, etc.) which can make it an effective tool for education and therapy. However, in order to ensure the musical experiences effectively facilitate education and therapy, it needs to be intelligently administered.
This is where the craft of music therapy comes in.
Music therapists are trained to utilize musical elements as a set of tools to target and develop specific neurologic processes, thereby effectively influencing positive change in the skills, cognitive abilities, and behaviors of the individual receiving treatment.
This is why the practice of music therapy requires a specialized education as an individual trained only in music (e.g. performance, technical music skills, , etc.) may do more harm than good, regardless of good intention.
To become an effective music therapist requires a rigorous study of music, biology/anatomy, psychology, neuro-aesthetics, neuroscience, and clinical application to administer effectively.
In conclusion, there is sufficient scientific evidence (sources below) for the benefit of music for personal and social well being. The utility of music therapy spans far beyond simply providing entertainment.
Music therapy can:
- Help to facilitate positive change in the brain (neuroplasticity)
- Train and improve brain functions (attention, memory, executive functions, social skills, etc.) in the same way you can target and exercise muscle groups in the gym
- Improve emotional intelligence and fluency
- Promote social cohesion
- Structure the perception of individuals / groups receiving treatment.
- Provide comfort and psycho-emotional resolution in end of life care
- Do much more
Ultimately, when administered by a qualified professional, music therapy is an effective modality for facilitating education, rehabilitative therapy, and general wellness within an individual and the community.
Sources
Galińska, E. (2015). Music therapy in neurological rehabilitation settings. Psychiatria Polska, 49, 835–846. https://doi.org/10.12740/PP/25557
Hodges, D., & Thaut, M. (2019). The Oxford Handbook of Music and the Brain. Oxford University Press. Neurosciences and Music. (n.d.).
Thaut, M. (2005). Rhythm, Music, and The Brain.
Thaut, M., & Hoemberg, V. (2016). Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy. Oxford University Press.
Written by Alec Johnson, Music Therapy Intern
