Music boosts our mood and well-being, and music therapy may help during treatments for certain health conditions.
Hard time. The current political climate, wars, the impact of global warming, continued inequality due to systemic racism, and the ongoing physical and mental health challenges of COVID are impacting our sense of security in the world and our quality of life. Hopefully, each of us can find moments of ease and temporarily take our minds off the difficult daily news. For many, music can play a role in making that change, even gradually.
How can music impact our quality of life?
Recently, researchers have looked at the impact of music interventions on health-related quality of life, and tried to answer questions about how best to help make the shift towards release, relaxation, and rehabilitation. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis (study studies) showed that the use of music interventions (listening to music, singing, and music therapy) could create significant improvements in mental health, and smaller improvements in physical health-related qualities. . life. While the researchers found a positive impact on psychological quality of life, they did not find a single best intervention or “dose” of music that worked best for everyone.
Complexities of music
As complex people from different cultures, with different life experiences and mental and physical health needs, our relationship with music is very personal. Our relationship to music can be a very beautiful, vulnerable, and often complex dance that changes over time based on our moods, preferences, social situations, and previous experiences. There are times when music can have a clear and immediate impact on our well-being:
There are other times when a certified music therapist can help you build that connection with music, and find the best interventions and “doses” that can positively impact your health and provide a form of healing. This may interest you : Texas needs to increase investment in children’s mental health initiatives.
How can music be used as a therapeutic tool?
Music therapy is an established health care profession that uses evidence-based music interventions to address therapeutic health care goals. Read also : Danette Mitchell: The Power and Promise of Black Music. Music therapy occurs between patients (and possibly their caregivers and/or family) and a certified music therapist who has completed an accredited undergraduate or graduate music therapy program.
Music therapists use both active (singing, instrument exploration, songwriting, movement, digital music creation, and more) and receptive (music listening, music-guided imagination, playlist creation, or music conversation conversations and mementos) interventions, and create the goal of improving health and well-being.
Some of these goals can include reducing anxiety, changing your mood, reducing pain perception during cancer or other medical treatment, increasing expression, finding motivation, and many others. The approach to using music to achieve these kinds of goals — and to improve your quality of life in general — may change over time, and a music therapist can help you find what is best for a given situation.
My top music therapy tools
This intervention has been studied the most, in almost every scenario. This can be done either alone or in music therapy. Music can be live or recorded. Listening can be done with intentional focus or as background listening. See the article : Switching to a hyper-digital lifestyle and self-isolation can lead to dissociative disorders. You can amplify the emotion of letting go. You can use music to calm your mind. Or you can use the “iso principle” and match the music to your current energy or mood, then slowly change the feel, tempo, and complexity to help you shift. Listening to music can be paired with a push for relaxation, or to motivate you to exercise, move more, or do a task you’ve been putting off.
Learn or play an Instrument
Active music making really engages your whole brain. This creates the greatest potential for distraction, pain reduction, cognition, fine and gross motor development, and expression. Some instruments are designed for easier access to freedom of expression or learning.
Steel tongue drums, for example, are set on a pentatonic scale, have a beautiful resonant sound, have no “wrong notes”, and by design allow you to just play! If you want to engage your cognitive brain a bit, try learning the ukulele. The strings are easy to press, beginner chords only require a finger or two, and there are plenty of great ukulele resources online. Making music with instruments can be fun and easy.
A certified music therapist can help you find the most direct and success-based path of musical expression. Learning how to really master a musical instrument and read music takes time, patience, and practice.
This can be a great intervention if you have a good connection with your voice and/or have a good music therapy relationship where a therapist can help you build a connection to your instrument. There are physical benefits of singing on lung function and emotional benefits of singing lyrics that reveal your truth. Lastly, there are community relations and power surrounded by strong and close harmony.
The bottom line
While there is no single best intervention, magic song, or perfect genre to make all the difficult things in life easier, music can be a powerful agent of change.
Need extra help finding the best musical instrument for you? Here are some resources for exploring music therapy and finding a certified therapist.
American Music Therapy Association
