Music and health
Music for the Mind
ABC Classics’ brand new CD compilation called ‘Music for the Mind’, which features beautiful selections from the great composers and some choice liner notes about the benefits of music for physical and mental health, by campaign director, Tina Broad. Read the notes – and use excerpts in your own advocacy efforts. Download the notes here.
Making the case for music therapy
Flinders University’s Roger Rees was on Radio National last weekend giving a stirring round-up of the therapeutic benefits of music to people with brain injuries, mental health issues and after trauma and arguing that music therapy should be on the medicare list. Listen or read more.
US researchers join the dots
US researchers, Lea and Thomas Wolf, have drawn together what research tells us about the transformative power of music: in different settings such as jails, nursing homes and hospitals; at different life stages; and as a therapy in medical conditions such as dementia and Parkinson's Disease. Read their report here.
Music and Wellbeing
There are lots of general benefits to health and wellbeing when people make music.
As their job title suggests, registered music therapists draw on these benefits when they work with their clients to deliver music therapeutically. Music therapy is practiced in many different settings across Australia, such as hospitals, nursing homes, in special education and in early intervention programs for at-risk children. And there are many different techniques – all based on strong research – available to the music therapist, depending on a client’s specific needs.
These case studies are a collaboration between Music: Play for Life and the Australian Music Therapy Association.
They provide some insight into the work of seven music therapists, each working in diverse ways in different locations across the country. Each case study also summarises a little of what we know from science about why music works so well in the particular context - from aiding a person’s end-of-life journey to helping seriously ill children build resilience in hospital.
Music and special education
A music program helps a 10 year old boy with Autism lead a partner to the dancefloor for the first time
Music in palliative care
Self-confessed ‘ageing hippy’ Alan is learning the piano for the first time at age 61, and in the advanced stages of cancer
Music in adult disability
Music opens up a whole new world for stroke victim, Curly
Music in a hospital
After surgery to remove a brainstem tumour, 8 year old Jack’s musical journey helps build his resilience
Music in aged care
All the old songs connect 83 year old Rose with her fellow nursing home residents
Music in a community support service
Friendships and catharsis through music at a Hobart crisis service
Music in mental health
Music is top of the list for most adolescents, and can be a lifeline for those with mental health problems
Did you know?
Research by the Australian Music Therapy Association provides some fascinating insight into the impact of music on the human body, as it looks at the links between music-making and physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, from womb to tomb.
- A baby’s brain is wired for music while in the womb. The musicality of the mother’s voice creates an immediate and powerful bond and is pivotal to the infant’s survival.
- Learning a musical instrument impacts positively across most aspects of a child’s development
- It can also be particularly helpful in remedial learning for dyslexic children and, in the case of wind instruments, in breath control for children with asthma.
- Music-making – and listening choices! - are powerful forms of positive expression for adolescents.
- Music-making can help in alleviating depression and reducing anxiety and can help to encourage a positive attitude.
- People in even the most advanced stage of dementia can benefit from music, as familiar songs retain a place in our memory right to the end of life.
The campaign collaborates with the Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA) on a national initiative to raise awareness about the links between music making and wellbeing: Making Music Being Well. For more info go to: www.makingmusicbeingwell.org.au
Read more music therapy case studies from the pages of arts+medicine and arts+health magazines:
- Helen Shoemark's work researches the effect of the human voice on premature babies
- Annette Baron draws late-stage dementia patients out of isolation with music from their past
- Katrina McFerran reaches teens with eating disorders through lyrical explorations
- Jeanette Tamplin uses music therapy to help brain-injured patients reclaim their powers of speech
- Anja Tait's Darwin health service project unites black& white, staff and clients in an unforgettable choir
- Anne Horne-Thompson is helping to relieve acute anxiety in the terminally ill
Visit AMTA for more infoJoin Australia’s first national community music network. Skill-up and learn from the experts.
Will it fix the inequities in school education in Australia? Read the Gonski Report into school funding here.
Seven inspiring case studies highlight the work of music therapists. Read and download at the Making Music Being Well website. More
