When I was accepted into the University of South Carolina and the USC School of Music I declared my major as Music Education. In my short time here at USC, I have learned about music and how it affects people daily. Throughout the process of researching, I decided to research music therapy because of my passion for music and my desire to understand why music therapy is something not really talked about. Music therapy has been around for over fifty years, but is not very well known to the public at-large. However, my research raised questions such as, “Why is music therapy not used by major health practitioners?” or “If music was more widely used for health purposes, would over-the-counter drugs become a lesser used commodity?” Evidence of music’s effects can be seen in influential people like Condoleezza Rice, Alan Greenspan, and Bruce Kovner who were involved in music but have a career in another field. In the other sources used, they addressed what happens to the brain when music is played in the vicinity. It showed how music adversely effects the brain, whether “happy” music puts a person in a good mood or vice versa with music of a different tone. Other sources talked about how music educators would think about music therapy, both its benefits and possible drawbacks. With all the information that was gathered, it can be argued that music therapy is a discipline that should be more widely accepted and practiced in the United States and the world, people have said how music speaks when words do not or how music speaks for the soul. In that case then music is the key to truly understanding what is wrong with someone and possibly ways to fix that. Again, due to all the research it seems like music therapy is a very invasive discipline under the therapy umbrella. Music therapy does not require any medicines or chemicals, as well as their adverse effects.

To understand the positive and possible negative effects of music therapy, first the effects of music itself must be understood. In the third chapter of “Music, Health, and Wellbeing”, the word music comes from the “Greeks as mousiké, it referred mainly to a type of song—poetry, rhythm, and melody—and dance, accompanied by gestures and poses performed by amateur actors (Wright 1969, 37–41).” It also talks about how in Greek society, music was not for contemplation but considered a social praxis that existed for social uses: music was praxial. And that music was integrated with different ceremonies, celebrations, and therapy. “Bards, who held significant social status, sang to their own accompaniment on the lyre. They ‘sang about gods, heroes, historical events, and praised families in whose service one was bound’ (Edström 2008, p. 39), whereas ordinary men and women sang and danced at parties, processions, and rites, or during work (e.g. weaving and shepherding) and exercise.” Mousiké, or the large art form, was valued while instrumental music was not. Per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.” It is no secret, people have been saying for years that music is good for people and that it helps in a wide variety of areas. Most of the areas being talked about are like core classes such as language arts, math, and science. Another question that is asked “Is music helpful?” The answer is somewhat seen in a Sunday Review article from The New York Times about whether music is the key to success. In the article, it talks about how successful people in the world today, such as the people stated in the introduction. The author, Joanne Lipman, talks about individuals like former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who trained to become a concert pianist or former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan who was a professional clarinetist and saxophonist. To give background, Condoleezza Rice is a very influential person in our society today, before politics she was a political science professor at Stanford University before serving as provost in 1993. Later in her adult life she was appointed as the 20th National Security Advisor under President George W. Bush on January 20, 2001, before becoming the 66th Secretary of State on January 26, 2005. The other person identified earlier was Alan Greenspan; he was most known as the second-longest tenured Chairman of the Federal Reserve, serving under Presidents: Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, and W. Bush. He currently works as a private adviser and consultant for different firms through his business, Greenspan Associates LLC. Before that position in the United States government, he was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford The piece also names influential people such as Paul Allen, Woody Allen, Paula Zahn, Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, Steve Spielberg, and others. It talks about the multitude of studies that link music to academic achievement, due to how music opens the door to creative thinking. Paul Allen, known as being the co-founder of Microsoft, says that “[music] reinforces your confidence in the ability to create,” (Lipman). Most of these people will also admit that music is an emotional outlet for them after a day of hard work. Seeing that music has been a major and minor part of the lives of some influential people, one could also ask again “what does music do to the brain?” Per a CNN article entitled “This is your brain on music”, it talks about a psychologist named Daniel Levitin who studies the neuroscience behind music at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, research findings. The author, Elizabeth Landau, writes that music has a way of exciting and calming down a person at any given moment. As written, Levitin brought together a group of scientists to collaborate on a meta-analysis. Thus, over 400 studies showed that feeling good while listening to music has physiological benefits to it. From this, one study performed had the participants either listen to music or take anti-anxiety drugs before undergoing surgery. Scientists would then track the patient’s personal ratings of their anxiety and the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. The results said that the less anxious patients, who also had lower levels of cortisol, were those who listened to music before they went into surgery. Through it was one isolated experiment, it shows the power of music and how it could be useful then some of the medicines that are used today.

Per the Meriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, music therapy is “Therapy based on engagement in musical activities: the therapeutic use of music (as to reduce anxiety, improve cognitive functioning, promote physical rehabilitation, or enhance interpersonal communication) that typically involves listening to music, singing, playing musical instruments, or composing music.” Before the 20th century, music has been used for healing throughout the world; even so that the Greeks had a god for it, Apollo the god of music and medicine. Plato stated that music can affect the emotions and influences the character of an individual; Aristotle also said that music affects the soul and purified emotions of its listeners. Hints of music therapy are even seen in the biblical times when David played the harp to rid Saul the King of an evil spirit, seen in 1 Samuel chapter 16, verse 23. Other occurrences through ancient history have been observed, Hippocrates used music, Arab hospitals in the 13th century used music, and later early psychologists like al-Farabi used music as well. In the 17th century, Robert Burton wrote The Anatomy of Melancholy, that argued that music, as well as dance, were crucial to treating mental illnesses like melancholia. Later, the earliest specific references of “music therapy” was seen in an article in Columbian Magazine titled “Music Physically Considered” in 1789. Later, in the 1800s, both Edwin Atlee and Samuel Matthews wrote medical dissertations about the music therapeutic value. Music Therapy formally became a profession the 20th century following the conclusion of both World Wars, when community musicians used their talents to perform for hospitals run by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and their wounded patients. According to the American Music Therapy Association, there were notable responses both physically and emotionally to the music, that caused hospitals to start hiring musicians, which later led to college curriculum being created to train music therapists. During the mid- 1940s, college curriculum began to be established at institutions like Michigan State College (now Michigan State University), the University of Kansas, the College of the Pacific, the Chicago Musical College (now the Music Conservatory of Chicago College of Performing Arts), and Alverno College. The discipline of music therapy, in modern time, can be applied to treatment for autism, mood disorders, depression, schizophrenia, heart disease, stroke, stress disorders, for prenatal care, and many other issues.

Music, as stated above, is an expressive form of art that has positive effects on a person’s brain and emotions. This musical art can be transferred over to help in the treatment of impaired brain development. Thousands of children are diagnosed with some degree of autism spectrum disorder, a disorder that is recognized by certain brain irregularities. Professionals in the medical field have worked for decades to identify the cause of this developmental disorder, yet no concrete origin has been identified. Many different medicines and therapy practices have been developed to mitigate symptoms, but there is one form of therapy that is believed to have the best effect when physicians seek to treat autism. The aid from music therapy provided to patients dealing with autism exceeds other prescribed methods. The range of severity of brain irregularity is what gives autism it’s spectrum. Due to the wide range of symptoms produced, disabilities can be concentrated on intellect, physical health, and coordination. The subtypes of autism include childhood disintegrative disorder, autism disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder. The severity of the symptoms will determine the category into which individuals falls. Another way music therapy can be used to better those with disabilities is through community therapy. As stated in a passage written by Even Ruud from the University of Oslo, community music therapy is “a way of doing and thinking about music therapy where the larger cultural, institutional and social context is taken into consideration.” (Ruud 1) This approach to the use of community therapy, is even more unknown than the broad discipline itself. An example of community music therapy in action is observed in the seventh chapter of the book, “Where Music Helps: Community Music Therapy in Action and Reflection.” In the book, two therapists go to Heideveld, South Africa and they write about noticing the instant excitement and energy that exploded in the area when children of all ages saw the instruments that the therapists had brought. One of the therapists said “…it was palpable…” just the pure excitement to enjoy music without having to worry about the outside world around them.

To counter the claim that music therapy is a great and unknown therapy discipline cognitive neuroscientist Jose Morais of the Free University of Brussels has claimed that music therapy is not helpful to those who are suffering through dyslexia. Morais claimed that there was no relationship between the lack of musical ability and dyslexia, music therapy hinges on the association between language and music, and that music should you used more so as motivational support tool. However, a rebuttal to this argument could be that the Morais did not distinguish between musical training and music therapy. Music therapy as stated in the YouTube/TEDx video called “Why I Want to Change the World with Music Therapy” is and involves the application of music-based intervention to achieve non-musical treatment goals, while music training involves learning music, including music theory, reading, and writing music. As stated in Psychology Today, “Music therapy is "musician-proof" and has nothing to do with the musical ability of our clients.” And lastly the fact that this form of therapy works only between music and language. Which is argued as not correct due to how music therapy is supposed to work with the processes of the brain like motor skills, coordination, emotional regulation, memory, to some degree language production, and other functions.

As discovered throughout research, music therapy has been around since the ancient times while becoming a real discipline of therapy within the last fifty years. But even with all this history and evidence of positive effects from it, most people have not been aware of this type of healing. It was discussed originally that music is the “art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity” (Meriam-Webster). That music comes from the Greek word “mousiké” which meant mainly to types of song, such as poetry, rhythm, melody, and dance, accompanied by gestures and poses performed by actors. Music has influence the United States’ most influential people like Condoleezza Rice, Alan Greenspan, and Bruce Kovner who were involved in music but have a career in another field. In the other sources used, they addressed what happens to the brain when music is played in the vicinity. It showed how music adversely affects the brain, whether “happy” music puts a person in a good mood or vice versa with music of a different tone. Other sources talked about how music educators would think about music therapy, both its benefits and possible drawbacks. With all the information that was gathered, it was argued that music therapy is a discipline that should be more widely accepted and practiced in the United States and the world, as a treatment for disorders, specifically autism. Music as stated before has such amazing power, so many quotes have been said about how music speaks when words do not or how music speaks for the soul. In that case then music is the key to truly understanding what is wrong with someone and possibly ways to fix that. Again, due to the all the research it seems like music therapy is a very invasive discipline under the therapy umbrella. Music therapy does not require any medicines or chemicals, as well as their adverse effects. When applying music therapy, it was never meant to try teach people to play musical instruments, but to rather to reach non-musical goals through music. So far this has worked for people dealing autism and allowing to not be constrained to different medicines, and even veterans at the end of World War II who returned from war with shell shock, now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That the counterpoint to music therapy is not as strong due to lack of research and having the correct definition of music therapy and what its actual outcome is supposed to be.
