What Is Music Therapy?

Music therapy is a type of expressive art therapy that uses music to improve or maintain the physical, mental, and social well-being of people. Music therapy engages the clients in a wide range of activities like listening to music, singing, playing musical instruments, or composing music.

Music therapy is a research-based practice and profession in which music is used to assist people in their quest to improve their health, function, and well-being.

Music therapy has established itself as a health profession because music can be used in therapeutic relationships to respond to the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of the individual.

This is a clinical, evidence-based use of music as an intervention to achieve individual goals in a therapeutic relationship with a recognized professional who has completed a recognized music therapy program.

What Does A Music Therapist Do?

Music therapists harness the mood-boosting properties of music to help people improve their mental health and overall wellbeing. Music therapists try to ensure that the lyrics, melodies, and selected pieces of music match the mood and psychological state of the client.

Trained and certified music therapists work in a variety of health and educational institutions. They use music listening, songwriting, improvisation, and lyrical analysis as a means to fulfill the goals of improving movement, cognition, language, and language as well as mental health.

The music therapist ensures that the type, mode, chosen music form, and time of the music intervention correspond to the needs and goals of the client. As well as, uses music elements such as rhythm, dynamics, pitch, and harmony to trigger desired non-musical reactions.

Therapists integrate a range of music-making methods into therapeutic relationships and are used in a variety of areas, including health care, community, aging care, disability, early childhood support, and private practice.

What Benefits Does Music Therapy Provide?

Listening to music and participating in music-related activities (like playing an instrument) releases dopamine, a hormone that makes people feel good, and endorphins, another hormone that causes a good mood and relieves pain.

Music therapy can be helpful for people with depression and anxiety and can also help improve the quality of life of people with physical health problems.

Programs use the physical, emotional, mental, aesthetic, and spiritual aspects of music to help people improve their general health. Musical interventions have also shown a positive impact on the mental and physical outcomes of cancer patients.

What Should I Expect During Music Therapy?

Music therapists use a personal reaction and connection to music to promote positive changes in mood and general mental attitude. Music can also be used to relieve pain in patients by giving them the opportunity to express themselves through words, allow relaxation, sing, play an instrument, write songs and listen to music.

The program includes certified professionals who use music clinically to achieve goals that are individually tailored to each person. After assessing the patient’s needs a program is offered that could include creating music, singing, moving, and listening to music.

Elements of a music therapy session could include understanding that a holistic music performance includes words, sounds, and movement; the use of music games and improvisation to give the client creative impulses to explore.

Orff instrumentation, keyboards, and percussion instruments can be used as a means of participating and interacting in a therapeutic environment. This can help meet the client’s multi-sensory aspects such as emotions and hearing the sounds of the music used.