Inside the Time

I want to ask the same question I have been asking this entire blog season. What

is Music Therapy? I have been researching it for some time now and thought I couldn't describe it anymore. But I sat down and thought why I hit a wall so soon. Then it came to me. I have only been looking at this topic in a music stand point. I love music and I love to learn about what many things it can accomplish. What I really need to do is also look at it in a medical fashion. Music Therapy is not practiced so specially trained professionals can just come in and play music for someone. It's about healing ones needs through musical experience. More importantly, what makes the procedure what it is is the clientele.

Generally speaking, everybody can be treated by and enrolled in a music therapy session. The main age group that is influenced by music therapy are the children and seniors who are suffering from some form of challenge. Some of the challenges faced include: ADD, Autism, Asperger, Cerebral palsy, Depression, Schizophrenia, Bi-polar disorder, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Arthritis, and even Cancer.

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When undergoing music therapy, you and the “doctor” focus on using active, improvised music. There are times when pre-composed music may be played or even pre-recorded music. In a further aspect, there really is no typical session on music therapy. It's just the individuals who are participating in the process which could be

anywhere from two people to ten. Sessions normally last between 30 to 60 minutes. Being so short, the therapist must analyze afterwards.

Clients are offered to choose from an abundance of many different instruments. They include a range of tuned and untuned percussion, some different string instruments, and even wind instruments. The clients are even allowed to use their voice as long as it fulfills the musical properties the patient will need.

After the session is over, The therapist and client will most likely sit down and listen to a peaceful, lyrical song to ease the mind after a long, stressful session. In the end the patient can only benefit from the progress made by undergoing therapy musically.

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Pre Interview

The only way to really grasp the concept of music therapy is to ask someone who goes through it. If I interview a patient, I could get them to teach everything about the effects of music therapy. I plan to go to a local place that practices music therapy and asking permission to interview one of the clients.

        What I plan to find out about music therapy is that how it helps and in what way. I am still very skeptical about music therapy. The only thing I know is it's history. It all started around World War I or World War II. The doctors would hire musicians to come in and play some music to the injured and sick. The soldiers, however, really enjoyed the music as it somehow made them feel better. This being the beginning of music therapy, there has been some earlier signs of it in the 18^th century. But this is all I know of music therapy. I plan to find out more with this interview. How I am going to lay it out will start off with a friendly, personal question. I will ask about some stories from the clients childhood. Then I will get into the meat of my interest and start asking why they are enrolled in music therapy and how is it helping them become better.

        After I have talked to the patient,  I'm going to get some basic knowledge of music therapy from the therapist of the person I'm interviewing. After all said and done I will write up the interview giving credit to the client. Then I shall write an essay on the things I've learned from this whole experience. This will be on my next blog post.

Misconceptions

What is Music Therapy

What is Music Therapy? What does it do and how does it work? Not many people know or have even heard of Music Therapy. When asked, one person might say it's a way to relieve stress by listening to smooth music. Others might say it calms the mind. As this does work toward the goal of what therapy has been described as, it is not music therapy.

These few examples of what people say are generally the misconception of Music Therapy. Some misconceptions are that the patient has to have general knowledge of music or a background involving music or that only one type of music is possible to use in music therapy. You do not have to have any experience with music and any type of music is usable in music therapy. The many different types of music can be used to help one emotionally, mentally, or physically.

Music Therapy is a process undergone by patients who need help therapeutically and seek it through the use of music. After examining the patient and finding out what needs to be done, the doctor can either sing along, move to, or even play the music that accommodates with the clients needs. This strengthens the patients, takes that strength and moves it to other areas that might need it. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Research in music therapy supports its effectiveness in many areas such as: overall physical rehabilitation and facilitating movement, increasing people's motivation to become engaged in their treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for expression of feelings.

All needed information came from the American Music Therapy Association at musictherapy.org.

This video is of people at USUMTSA doing a survey on people asking them what they think music therapy is. It's a great example to show the common misconceptions of Music Therapy.

http://youtu.be/2pAF3qxQUjU

Discovering Music Therapy

Have you ever wondered what music therapy is? I always have. I've always heard so much about it and never quite understood it. What started the curiosity of wanting to understand music therapy happened in Middle School. My great grandmother had just had knee surgery and had to go through therapy. My mother was her transportation to the clinic. One day she took me because I had just got out of school and she didn't want to leave me alone. When we got there I thought it was the most boring thing to do. But as we sat there watching my granny walk down a path I noticed someone playing a guitar. I thought that seeing what was going on there would be more interesting than sitting here watching an old woman walk. I got out of my seat, went down the hall and found the guitar player. She was playing a tune while singing to a young boy.

This boy looked mentally challenged but as she played her guitar he moved to the rhythms of the song. I didn't think much of it being a little kid in Middle School but as I grew older my mind kept bringing me back to that day. The more I thought about, the more that I heard about music therapy. It has been puzzling me every year about how it works.

I have started my studies on music therapy but so far I still do not understand it.

Music Therapy

Good Afternoon. My name is Michael Williams. I am a student at Jacksonville State University and I am a Business Management major. I use to be a major in music until career demands made me change it. My hometown is Chatsworth, Georgia. I lived there my whole life until recently being accepted into college. I am in the percussion section for ours school's marching band, the Marching Southerners. I also play the tuba for our school's symphonic band. Outside of school, I am in an independent group that takes an idea and shows it through music made only by percussion and we also show visual representation through our movements to make the concept more understandable. I'm a also very social person and enjoy hanging out with people whenever possible.