Music Therapy: Transforming Disadvantaged & Disabled

This essay will provide research (both found and from personal experiences) based upon how disadvantaged and disabled people react to music of different genres ranging from classical to more modern styles of music.

Music therapy has been used to help disadvantaged and disabled people for hundreds of years dating back to 1789. Musical therapy is considered to be a healthy form of therapy especially for children and adults with autism. One of the reasons that music has quickly become a tool used in autism therapy is that it can stimulate both hemispheres of our brain, rather than just one. This means that a therapist can use a song or instrument to support cognitive activity so that we can build self-awareness and improve relationships with others.

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Classical music is a very popular choice for music therapists as they are often classically trained with degrees in music. They are also often multi-instrumentalists who can adapt their styles of teaching to each of their patients/students. Classical music therapy can also be used to teach music. By teaching music to autistic people, you can increase their responsiveness to social situations. Classical music has a wider range of different sounds that can be used to treat different types of autism. Soft woodwind sounds of a full orchestra can be used to calm down people with autism. Because autism is a spectrum soft sounds have different impacts depending on the severity of the spectrum. People with mild autism can understand the softer sounds more logically. In music therapy they may take notes on how the music makes them feel. I know this from first-hand experience as this is an exercise I did whilst playing music to people with autism. People who are higher on the autistic spectrum may use the softer sounds as a calming measure as sometimes they struggle to understand how the music makes them feel. One study has found that when children with autism listen to music it increases and focuses them. It can also be used to reduce anxiety. For the average child, loud or rowdy environments can be just a part of everyday life. For autistic children, though, a loud environment can be overstimulating. Because many individuals on the autism spectrum are unable to filter the stimuli they encounter, it’s easy for an autistic individual to become overwhelmed. With this in mind, it is easy to see why those on the spectrum can have anxiety issues. Just like anyone else, autistic individuals may find they have preferences for one genre of music over another. Generally, though, classical music or any kind of music that has a repetitive beat is best to reduce anxiety. Classical music often has very complex structure. This can also help people with severe anxiety to handle more sociable situations with lots of different people. The complex structure of classical music is then able to act like different people.

Moving away from autism into people with mobility disabilities, classical musical therapy is very useful to help them get through pain. Classical music as said before is a great genre of music to relax people. Classical music often has slow movements, especially in symphonies, and therefore can be used to slowly move their joints so they can feel freer. Again, I have had personal experiences with this. Whilst conducting Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony for the City of Carlisle Orchestra there were a few elderly people at the front of the audience who reportedly, from people in the orchestra, started to move around in their chairs especially during the second movement which has a lovely slow tempo. People often move to music, but this is normally fast and more modern types of music. Because people with mobility disabilities struggle to move to quick music slow, classical movements can be a good option to relieve their pain. Music therapy in this form can act like physiotherapy. People can listen to slower music to help build up their strength before they can stand after an accident.

Classical music has been one of the best forms of music for music therapy since the 1700’s. However modern music therapy focuses on more modern instruments and music. The second part of this essay will focus on how modern music techniques can help children.

Modern forms of music therapy are used differently from its origins. Nowadays music therapists are often free-lancing musicians who come into hospitals and provide music therapy to children. They often bring a wide range of instruments with them and allow their patients to use these instruments. Modern music therapy is also very closely linked with science studies to focus on how music reacts with the brain. These studies are used on both children and adults however, a child’s brain is more active than an adult as they can pick up sounds differently. From past experience of teaching music to both adults and children I have found that adults frequently aren’t able to improve their part whereas if I asked a child to possibly pitch higher than what they are thinking. They often respond well to this and are therefore able to get a note easier than an adult. Some studies have found that you can compare the effect that music has on the brain with cocaine use. Music and cocaine both stimulate and release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, which makes the listener feel pleasure. Freelance music therapists often use both traditional and modern forms of instruments when they see a patient. They frequently use guitars as they offer a wide field of different sounds. The guitar is also a multipurpose instrument as it can be used melodically, chordal and sometimes be used as a drum. Guitars can also be relatively cheap compared to other instruments such as brass and woodwind. The guitar is easier to learn to play as the patient won’t need to use their lips which can take time. It is also used when a patient has difficulty breathing as you don’t have to blow through the instrument.

I was watching a music therapist online a few months ago and I noticed his different approach to teaching instruments than conventional music teachers. His approach was not from a book and rather he used himself as a physical and interactive book. He played the guitar to a child patient whilst they were holding maracas. As someone who has taught in a very conventional way to young, beginner cornet players I found this approach very interesting and inspiring. He was experimenting with the different sounds from the guitar and maracas. He also encouraged the child to create lyrics after he had sung a few himself. Music therapists’ sometimes feel that if they can actually teach a musical instrument then they might try going through books with patients. However, this is normally not the preferred method because some of the patients aren’t able to learn normally. In some hospitals, music therapy has become part of treatment to patients. Some hospitals have several different music therapists each in a different area of expertise. Sometimes music therapy encourages non-verbal communication like eye-contact, anticipation and concentration. An exercise a music therapist might do is do a group exercise instead of one-to-one tuition. This can be used to help patients with anxiety. Anticipation may be a result from the therapist asking their patients to hold an instrument and play it when no one else is without telling anyone that they are about to play. This leads onto the patient concentrating hard on how they might be able to complete this task. If they are not able to complete this task the therapist may introduce eye-contact so the patients would therefore be able to let each other know when they were going to play. This task is said to decrease a child’s anxiety as it gets them used to communicating with others but without actually talking to them which can be challenging.

“Playing a musical instrument, being part of a choir or in a band, listening to music - these are all ways in which we can engage in music. They help us to connect with ourselves and others. Music can be exciting or calming, joyful or poignant. It can stir memories and powerfully resonate with our feelings, helping us to express them and communicate with others” (ArtsProfessional, 2019).

In conclusion, music therapy has changed drastically throughout the decades. Starting in the 1700s helping patients with classical and baroque music. The sounds of a full orchestra have now turned into one therapist and their guitar but can also provide the same effect that a full orchestra has. Music therapy has become a respected profession and they are thought of highly in the music industry as using music to help people with physical and mental disabilities. This essay was to show how music therapy was back in the 1700s to how it is today.

References

1. 2019 NurseJournal.org. (2019). The Benefits Of Music Therapy For Autistic Children. [online] Available at: https://nursejournal.org/community/the-benefits-of-music-therapy-for-autistic-children/ [Accessed 9 May 2019].
2. The-art-of-autism.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://the-art-of-autism.com/how-music-can-be-used-to-help-autistic-people/ [Accessed 9 May 2019].
3. Judd, R. (2019). Ryan Judd. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrX41p_UQ-liq-pjVY9EHSw [Accessed 14 May 2019].
4. ArtsProfessional. (2019). British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT). [online] Available at: https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/node/200130 [Accessed 14 May 2019].