Written by Fadhil Halim and Ezzati Rahman
Edited by Fadhlan Salleh
From starting a band with a group of friends, composing, collaborating and writing, to listening to music at your local coffee shop, or during a long night’s cruise, music has always been a part of our lives, translated and embedded into many different languages, cultures and lifestyles. Music is a versatile thing and the concept of it as entertainment and medicine is nothing new in our long history and has roots in many ancient cultures. However, now, in this modern day where music has become a lot easier for us to get our hands on, and in a time where we are more aware of our emotional and mental well-being, what role can music play in therapy? In order to answer this question, we must first look back at how music was used in the past.
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Music Therapy 101
In the 5th Century BC, we saw a shift in the way disease and health was viewed. The Greeks began to move away from the notion that disease was a divine act; God's way of punishing us and cleansing the earth of its unnatural impurities. A holy intervention meant to cleanse the earth of all things impure. Rather, they began to view it as an imbalance of our bodily fluids and music was seen as a tool to help balance our body, mind and soul. It was no longer just a tool to entertain the masses, it started to look as if it had a real positive impact on ourselves.
Source: MailOnline
Jump a few centuries and halfway across the country and we find ourselves in the midst of the Crimean War in the mid-1800s. Florence Nightingale, the founder of Modern Nursing, recognised the effects different types of music had when treating patients affected by the war. She is quoted saying, “Wind instrument pieces with continuous sound or air generally had a beneficial effect on patients and instruments that do not produce a continuous sound had the opposite effect”.
Timeline from Time Toast - History of Music Therapy
We see similar observations within hospitals during the American Civil War, which had bands stationed with the task of performing for the injured. Music gave them a sense of salvation, a way to distract them from the pain that they were experiencing as a result of conflict between neighbours. These events, along with many more in the last 100 years, have led to the development and establishment of music as a form of therapy in a healthcare setting with it becoming a clinical and evidence-based method of addressing and treating physical, psychological and social health issues. Today, music is being used to help treat a wide range of conditions in a medical setting ranging from improving respiratory health to relaxing muscle tension and even improving cardiac conditions, among others. However, using music as a form of therapy does not only apply to healthcare settings.
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How Music became More Than Sound
Music is a powerful tool that creates unique, distinct experiences which allow us to heal our physical and/or psychological limitations.
On a psychological level, music has been used to help individuals struggling with anxiety, depression and/or past trauma as well as individuals with autism. Some techniques used to help these patients involve teaching them to process, regulate and express their emotions through writing their own lyrics or making inferences of meaning from song lyrics and/or instrumentation. Other techniques involve finding their “power” music, which can serve as positive affirmations, to help patients cope with troubling patterns of thinking, worries or negativity.
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On a physical level, music has been shown to be effective in recovering certain physical abilities that have been lost. For instance, in 2011, Gabby Giffords, a former US Congresswoman was shot through the left side of her head during a public event where she spoke to her constituents. The gunshot affected areas of the brain that were critical for speech, which left Gabby unable to even get two or three words in a phrase. Music was one method she and her doctors used to help her re-learn how to speak. This was made possible by retraining the right side of the brain, where more of the musical processing occurs, and using techniques like singing to teach words. Music has also helped patients with disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD) to move more fluidly. A technique known as rhythmic auditory cueing is applied, where rhythm is used to make it easier for the movement of people with PD. This provides an avenue for people with PD to socialise, through dance for example, which has shown to have an improved mood and cognition.
How Music Can Be Used as Therapy
The way we use music affects how we respond to it. One strategic way is by curating a playlist and listening to songs which align with your current thoughts and emotions, allowing you to acknowledge how you are feeling at that particular moment in time. From this point, gradually move towards selecting music that represents what or how you would like to feel. If creating your own playlists seems too big a task, you can also find ready-made playlists with themes such as “Happy” and “Chill” on Spotify for example.
The science behind this step is based on the Iso Principle, which is the technique detailed above, in order to cause the gradual change of mood into a more desirable one. In a survey by Van de Tol and Edwards in 2013, which explored the question, “why do people choose to listen to sad music when they are sad?”, the study found that sad music served multiple functions for its listeners. It can be a hopeful reminder for strength, a way to revisit the past and experience nostalgia or it can simply be for aesthetic value and appreciation - but one of the main reasons why people choose sad music, when they are already feeling low, is because it allows and accepts individuals who feel vulnerable, overwhelmed, broken or empty. One participant explained, “I didn’t want music that would cheer me up, I wanted to stay with those emotions for a while until I was ready to let go of them”. Sitting with your own emotions, even if they are negative, is something that can be therapeutic. It gives you an opportunity to feel what you need in order to cope and with time, allows for a change in perspective by learning to see and view sadness as part of a larger human experience, rather than a lonely, isolated one.
Source: Esther Lui for NPR
A second therapeutic measure is to share your music with others. In this day and age, we can easily share our favourite playlists or albums with our loved ones at the touch of our fingertips through various online music platforms such as Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify and Tidal, just to name a few. The feeling of being able to connect with others, especially during chaotic times, is something we all need, and playlists are a good way for us to communicate with others without needing to be in the same room. Trying out different playlists also allows you to expand your library of music by giving you a different experience from the music you are used to. This is why we enjoy listening to new music with our friends or going to a live concert. It's an environment that fosters community and a togetherness that gives us that sense of connection. Interestingly enough, this sense of unity that we share when enjoying similar music can also occur down to the neural level, with the synchronisation of our brain activity.
Music can also be used alongside other physical activities of varying intensities such as yoga, powerlifting, hiking etc. Putting the two together can have a profound impact and boost our mood. This is because listening to music releases “feel-good” chemicals like dopamine which helps regulate our sense of pleasure and motivation, putting music on the same level as food and sex, whereas exercise helps trigger the release of endorphins which induces feelings of euphoria. Studies have been conducted that have outlined how different types of music can have an impact on our breathing rate and cognition. For instance, faster beats encourage an increased alertness and sharper concentration, whereas music with a slower tempo allows our brain to shift into a calm and meditative state. This is why we listen to upbeat music when we do strenuous exercises and calming music when we are trying to slow down.
Source: The Neuroscience of Music for WIRED
The therapeutic effects of music can also mean doing something with music. The act of picking up an instrument and taking the bad energy you may be experiencing and channeling it into positivity, can help practice mindfulness, which is its own form of meditation. It can also help to alleviate pent up stress from work, school or family, stress which, if left unattended, can lead to the deterioration of our mental health and therefore, a reduced quality of life. This was also supported by past research which found that playing an instrument can lead to a decrease in blood pressure, heart rate and even a reduction in anxiety and depression. On top of that, if your love of music is as strong as your passion to create, picking up an instrument can be a perfect way to disconnect and unwind.
By using music to your advantage, it can be the escape rope for your troubles, a friend for you to embrace or a door to take you back to your past and reminisce. With an ease of accessibility and a wide range of music genres available, it definitely is a good place to start and to figure out what works for you in terms of therapy.
Sources:
American Music Therapy Association, Inc.- Music Therapy and Medicine:
American Parkinson Disease Association- Music Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease:
Berklee Online Take Note - 5 Music Therapy Techniques to help you cope in a Pandemic:
BPS - Musings on music:
Britannica - Music Therapy:
Good Therapy - Music Therapy:
Jenna Spencer - A Historical Review of Music Therapy and the Department of Veterans Affairs:
The Liverpool Academy of Music- Play an Instrument, Relieve Stress:
UMWblogs - The History of Music and Art Therapy:
Verywellmind- How Music Can Be Therapeutic:
Youtube - Explained, Music:
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