Music therapy

Music therapy is the use of music in a clinical setting to accomplish therapeutic goals. Music therapists are generally trained musicians who have completed an accredited music therapy program. Although established as a profession only relatively recently, the connection between music and therapy is not new. Music therapy is a broad field, using music-based experiences to address client needs in one or more domains of human functioning: cognitive, academic, emotional/psychological, behavioral, communication, social, physiological (sensory, motor, pain, neurological and other physical systems), spiritual, or aesthetics. Music experiences are strategically designed to use the elements of music for therapeutic effects, including melody, harmony, key, mode, meter, rhythm, pitch/range, duration, timbre, form, texture, and instrumentation. Some common music therapy practices include developmental work (communication, motor skills, etc.) with individuals with special needs, songwriting and listening in reminiscence, orientation work with the elderly, processing and relaxation work, and rhythmic brainwave entrainment for physical rehabilitation in stroke survivors. Music therapy is used in medical hospitals, cancer centers, schools, alcohol and drug recovery programs, psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, and correctional facilities. Music therapy is distinctive from musopathy, which relies on a more generic and non-cultural approach based on neural, physical, and other responses to the fundamental aspects of sound. Music therapy might also incorporate practices from sound healing, also known as sound immersion or sound therapy, which focuses on sound rather than song. Sound healing describes the use of vibrations and frequencies for relaxation, meditation, and other claimed healing benefits. Unlike music therapy, sound healing is unregulated and an alternative therapy. Music therapists use their techniques to help their patients in many areas, ranging from stress relief before and after surgeries to neuropathologies such as Alzheimer's disease. Studies on people diagnosed with mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia have associated some improvements...