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Music Therapy 1

 

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music therapy

I am a music therapist. To me, that means that I bring out the creative spirit in everyone I see. I find their music, the part of them that is free, the part that sings, the part of them that is rhythm. We all have music. When we are unable to think or speak or move or be who we once were, we still have this music. It helps us express and communicate. It helps us feel good. It moves us, often deeply, always naturally.
Much of the impact of a musical experience is obsevable and measureable.
What guides my work as a music therapist is my own musicianship and an intuitive sense of how music affects the people I serve. They may try a new behavior, focus on a talent or ability, or find a positive force within that allows them to overcome certain limitations or problems. The process is complex. It is also based on scientific principles, objective observation and systematic assessment of the person's needs.
A considerable body of experimental and clinical research examines the effects of music in its mnay forms, including performing instrumental and vocal music, listening, composing, improvising, moving to, conducting, analyzing, or talking about, music. Those benefiting from music therapy is, likewise, varied, encompassing young and old, acutely and chronically ill, educationally, physically, socially, and emotionally challenged. As aid is sought for whatever ails people, music therapy demonstrates its ability to help an ever-increasing number of individuals.
'Music therapy is a systematic process of intervention wherein the therapist helps the client to promote health, using music experiences and the relationships that develop through them as dynamic forces of change.' (Bruscia 1998) The specialized application of music as therapy will vary depending upon the setting, the therapist, and the selected technique. Even the the function of music may be quite different as the music therapist encounters each new clinical problem. Common to every music therapy program is that it applies one of the many forms of music as its primary medium and is based on the needs of the individuals it serves.
'This is an introduction to the amazing help music therapy has to offer, and I will continue to write more articles dealing with specific
topics such as Tourette Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, Autism and much more.
I also write articles for the TSFC Forum and the American Music Therapy Association.
I look forward to sharing the many possibilities music therapy brings to those searching for alternative approaches, without side affects, and natural in its approach.'
'MUSIC HEALS'
Raymond Vacchino M.Mus. (MT)
A.Mus. Licentiate, L.R.S.M.
 
  Music Therapist on 2007-08-05
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
Tuning Up for Surgery

A recovery room or itensive care unit is extremely noisy; it is not, ironically, a health-producing atmosphere. Following surgery and heavy medication, you may awake in an uncomfortable, dream-like state, made more anxious by the din. Listening to music can serve as a guide in these circumstances, allowing you to awake after the operation in a safe, familiar auditory environment.
If you know that you will be hospitalized, spend a few days beforehand rehearsing for your recovery. Find an album of slow and beautiful baroque or classical music. Each day before the procedure, listen to the album or CD while lying down with your eyes closed. Tell yourself that you are well, you are healing, the operation is over, and that you are now in a safe environment. The music will mask the noise and help reassure you.
Many hospitals now provide music systems for recovery, surgery, and preparation. Check beforehand and, if not, bring your own portable cassette or CD player, ideally one that plays music continuously. Ask the nurse or nurse's aide to turn it on when you are brought into the recovery room, so that it can be playing when you are awake.You can buy CD's or tapes that already have the kind of music you want to hear, music that will soothe you and relax you. Popular music, fast music, and vocal music do not work as well in this environment because of their emotional content and dynamic beat. Music for recovery need not be your favorite music. But it should be transparent and always calming.
At hospitals in London, patients can listen to classical music while undergoing local anesthesia prior to surgery. New scientific reports show that those who elect this form of music therapy suffer fewer complications and recover more quickly.
'Some of them are in a world of their own with headphones on,' one anesthetist observed.
'They hardly notice all the noises (sawing&drilling) we make during a hip replacement'
Research has proved that under these exceedingly, pleasant musical conditions, patients had lower blood pressure and a slower heart rate and could perform mental tasks more quickly and more accurately.
Music Therapy is provided in such areas as physical rehabilitation, respiratory ICU, breast cancer support groups, stroke recovery, labor and delivery, psychiatry, and general medicine. Nurses are using music as therapy to enhance the healing environment, and cassette and CD players and headphones are available in all patient areas.
At Kingston University in Ontario, Canada, doctors cite studies showing patients exposed to 15 minutes of soothing music require only 50% of recommended doses of sedatives and anesthetic drugs for often very painful operations.
'MUSIC HEALS'
Musically, yours,
Raymond Vacchino
M.Mus.(Per) M.Mus.(MT)A.Mus.
L.R.S.M. Licentiate, AMTA (professional status)
 
Music Therapist last decade
Raymond :

U've written a very good, classic and well explained article. My compliments.
Kindly explain MT verses different psycho problems like Hyper Anxiety, BP and so on and how it works specifically.

Remain Healthy & Happy ....... Nesha-India
 
Nesha-India last decade
PDD
Pervasive developmental disorder.
A set of conditions, including Autism, Rett Syndrome, Asperger's disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and others.
PDD is a relative term for a variety of mental and/or behavioral disorders without biological cause.
AUTISM (Autistic)
An individual with autistic disorder, beginning in infancy, which is characterized by self-absorption, preoccupation with inanimate objects, and/or dysfunctional, destructive or ritualistic behaviors.
Individuals who display these characteristics later in life are also sometimes diagnosed as autistic.
Autistic disorder is a type of pervasive developmental disorder.

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

The most frequently served clinical population in children is developmental disabilities. This diagnosis refers to disorders which originate during childhood and continue indefinitely, affecting functional abilities substantially. One common developmental disability is autism. Autism appears in mild, moderate, severe and profound forms.
For the autistic child, music therapy attempts to create an environment of fun and enjoyment in which those who generally associate learning with failure are able to achieve success.
While learning a simple song or finger play, recipients of music therapy are simultaneously improving eye contact, attention span, direction-following, verbal imitation, memory, fine-motor dexterity, and auditory discrimination. These outcomes are typical of goals established for music therapy.
By pairing words with tones and sentences with melodies, therapists improve communication through speech and language (Cohen,1992,1994)
The music setting also offers opportunities for autistic chidren to learn social and motor behavior. They gain self-awareness through movement to music, and social interaction through group music therapy.
Musical experimentation and stimulation nuture responsiveness to the surrounding environment in the most profoundly autistic child. The music therapist's goal of 'increasing responsiveness to the surrounding environment' may be observed as the child moves to a sound stimulus such as a ringing bell. The therapist might look for turning the head in the direction of the sound, gazing at the bell, reaching for it, grasping it, sounding the bell, and imitating patterns of bell-ringing. Even at this most basic level, awareness is initiated and maintained, preparing the way for the development of more complex skills.
The literature is replete with successful applications of music therapy techniques in recognizing the potential of developmentally disabled individuals.
Even in the most pervasive developmental disorders, music therapy enhances funtional abilities while simultaneously enriching creative and expressive capacities. Enabling children to participate in some way at their own level of competence, a music experience challenges growth through developmental stages using success-oriented medium.
Music has the advantage of demanding attention that a visual stimulus cannot, because it intrudes immediately through ears that cannot be closed voluntarily.
This phenomenon, coupled with the nonthreatening nature of musical exploration and auditory stimulation, may be most applicable for the child with a pervasive disorder or delay.
An autistic child who has previously shunned human interaction may begin to communicate with their therapist who provides positive music experiences. Clinical improvisation is used extensively to enhance communication and expressivity as well as to develop more interactive social skills in autistic children. Through music therapy, they may encounter their first close relationship with a non-family member.
Until the next article,I am,
Musically Yours, Raymond
M.Mus.(Per) (MT) A.Mus. L.R.S.M. Licentiate, MTNA, AMTA (professional status)
'MUSIC HEALS'
 
Music Therapist last decade
HYPERTENSION
(high blood pressure)
Hypertension or high blood pressure affects nearly 60 percent of Canadians and is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and peripheral artery disease. In a study with twenty coronary patients at a hospital a researcher reported in 1998 that litening to certain taped music programs lowered blood pressure. The music included pieces by Bach, Vivaldi, Bizet, Debussy, Cat Stevens, Nat King Cole, John Denver and especially Mozart were all chosen to avoid dynamics that could trigger fearful or compulsive imagery.
In an article on the study in Applied Research, a professor observed that the sedative music reduced systolic blood pressure (from a mean of 124.3 to 118.6), diastolic blood pressure (78.8 to 73,7), heart rate (91.2 to 88.6). mean arterial pressure (94.3 to 75.7), and other improved heart values. Patients' anxiety was also decreased, their pain diminished, and the positive shift in physical and emotional responses outlasted the therapy itself. Several patients said afterward, 'It was the only thirty minutes of peace I've known in days.'
Musically Yours, Raymond
M.Mus.(per) (MT) A.Mus.L.R.S.M.Licentiate,AMTA (professional status)
'MUSIC HEALS'
 
Music Therapist last decade
BURNS

Excruciating pain usually accompanies severe burns and can last for weeks and months. Because of extensive bandaging and isolation in a sterile environment burn patients have little outside contact. This is particularily hard on children. According to a study conducted by Elizabeth Bolton Christenberry, a music therapy intern in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, live music in a burn ward provides both auditory and,in the case of such things as hand-clapping and guitar-strumming, visual stimulation. Tight bandaging and pain, she found, could inhibit movement, but nearly all patients could sing or hum, thus providing sensory stimulation and giving patients an outlet for self-expression.
In Christenberry's experience working with burned children at the Chidren's Hospital in Birmingham, songs such as 'The Eensy Weensy Spider' were helpful in improving finger or hand movement, walking, and other gross and fine motor movement. The song 'If You're Happy and You Know It' was particularily good because it allowed patients to, in the lyrics of the song, 'wiggle your fingers' or 'make a fist.'
(Adults responded to 'She'll Be Comin' Round the the Mountain'; 'Do, Lord,' in which they were encouraged to clap their hands, tap their toes, and stamp their feet; and 'Swing Low,Sweet Chariot,' during which they were asked to lift a leg whenever the phrase 'Comin' for to carry me home' was played.)
Music therapy is important for psychological reasons, especially for chidren. Unlike doctors, nurses, and other physical therapists, the music therapist's procedures do not produce pain, and they are frequently able to earn more trust and have better communication than other caregivers.
In visits to Dallas hosiptals and clinics in the mid-ninety's, I found that ambient and New Age music didn't work for teenagers with serious burns. Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and the latest rock hits masked their pain better and made them feel more connected to their bodies than more tranquil sounds. Relaxing music was too painful to listen to. The most soothing image for these teenagers was a long-haired guitar player, not an angel with a harp.
Musically Yours, Raymond
M.Mus.(Per) (MT) A.Mus. L.R.S.M. Licentiate, AMTA
'MUSIC HEALS'
 
Music Therapist last decade
'The Mozart Effect'
Pulse, Pace, And Pattern

Music has a pulse, as does everything that lives. Pulsation means flow, the steady current of energy coursing through and around us. Our circulatory system is an intricate network of surge and release, activity and rest. Finding the pulse of music opens-or paces-the pulse of the listener.
Not only music but language itself is ryhthmic. Record your own voice as you speak on the telephone and you will find that there are phrases-musical sentences-within which you can sense the pulse and pace of an underlying ryhthm. When you read the words on a page you are actually reading at a certain pace and rhythm. Turn on your classical station for a moment, reread the page, and notice whether you are reading faster or slower. Then switch the channel to a station playing popular music, and notice how your ability to receive the sound or information has changed. As you read a page aloud, you'll notice how the pace or pattern changes once again. You will discover that your voice-and the way you convey spoken information-is truly musical.
Although we do not become perfectly synchronized with music merely by listening to it, the pulse of the music does influence the tempo of our thinking and behavior. At a dance, for instance, the music will stimulate body movement, and different styles of music will cause us to move in different ways. However, while driving a car and listening to the radio or a CD, the body won't harmonize to the same degree. We're thinking about driving, so our consciousness is divided. If the music is playing in the background while we are talking to a friend, it has much less effect than it does when we are attending a concert.
Nevertheless, whether we focus on it or not, the pulse of music subtly defines the boundaries of our physical, mental, and social environments, influencing how strongly, harmoniously, and fluidly life moves within and around us. As we all know, 'road rage' has become an alarming and dangerous occurence. People are rapidly becoming hot tempered and uncontrolled over the slightest happenings in traffic. The type of music we choose to listen to while driving can actually alter our frame of mind and mood radically! Considerable research is being done regarding this development, and results are proving that the type of music we listen to while driving dramatically sets the pulse, pace, and pattern as to how we react during stressful situations such as driving. Test yourself while driving by changing the type of music you are listening to and concentrate on how it influences your overall mood.
Music creates multiple patterns simultaneously. The structure and design of its tones affect our body and our movement, while its changing harmonies and chords can sway our emotions. The lyrics, or stories, that ride in on a piece of music can take us back in time to losses or joys. This is why we love listening to the songs of our youth or early adult years; the music evokes rich and personal memories.
Music can be delicate and quiet, but never sedentary. Even a tone that extends for hours at a time, unvarying, carries a pulsing wave that affects our mind and body at many levels. What we bring to each sound is also of vital importance. In terms of healing, the 'Mozart Effect' extends far beyond the sound itself or the quality of the performance or recording. You, the listener, determine the final impact: You are an active conductor and participant in the process of orchestrating health.
Your cassettes, CD's, and audio components give you unprecedented control over how you organize the pace and rhythm of your day. The music you play when you wake up on a workday is probably vastly different from the music that you enjoy on a leisurely weekend or vacation. By paying close attention to the pulse, pace, and pattern of music, you can create a sonic diet to keep you energized, refreshed, and relaxed throughout the changing seasons and cycles of your days and lives.
Musically Yours, Raymond
M.Mus.(Per)(MT) A.Mus. L.R.S.M. Licentiate, AMTA
'MUSIC HEALS'
 
Music Therapist last decade
If music can sooth the mind it sure can heal the body.
 
girilal last decade
Very informative posts. I didn't imagine that music could have that effects. I am very interested in music and health so it's good to know that these two are correlated.
 
steinwaymichigan last decade

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