Many uses in many places.

Music therapists work in nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, physical rehabilitation facilities, and in private practice. They treat a number of conditions including communication and mental health problems, stress and anxiety, and substance abuse. Even people who have long-term diseases, such as arthritis, asthma, and AIDS, may benefit from listening to music or performing it.

One study found that music helped women who were in labor to relax and feel less pain. Nursing home residents who participate in musical activities appear to have better physical coordination. Music can also remedy loneliness and promote social skills.

An aid to walking

Currently, music therapy has shown some value in helping patients who have movement problems resulting from such disorders as strokes, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy. Some of these patients needed to relearn how to walk, and music helped them. Those who listened to marches and other types of music with a strong beat while they learned to walk again had longer and more even strides than did patients who didn’t listen to music. Simply put, the patients who walked to music walked better.

Music therapy still needs to prove itself scientifically so that healthcare insurance will pay for it. Research to provide evidence of music’s worth is under way. So before long, music may be part of a treatment program for you or someone you know.

Click here to discover the benefits of HAH Center's unique Drum Therapy

Music as Healing Power

Music is a magical medium and a very powerful tool. Music can delight all the senses and inspire every fiber of our being. Music has the power to soothe and relax, bring us comfort and embracing joy! Music subtly bypasses the intellectual stimulus in the brain and moves directly to our subconscious. There is music for every mood and for every occasion. Music Therapy is incorporated in a number of areas of medicine. Some of these include labor and delivery, oncology, pain management, physical rehabilitation, and pediatrics. Music Therapy has been shown to have influences on the immune system, blood pressure, heart and respiratory rates, and pain perception.

Many cultures recognize the importance of music and sound as a healing power. In the ancient civilizations of India, the Orient, Africa, Europe and among the Aboriginal and American Indians, the practice of using sound to heal and achieve balance from within has existed for many years. The Tibetans still use bells, chimes, bowls, and chanting as the foundation of their spiritual practice. In Bali, Indonesia, the echoing gamelang, gong, and drum are used in ceremonies to uplift and send messages. the Australian Aboriginal and Native American shamanists use vocal toning and repetitive sound vibration with instruments created from nature in sacred ceremony to adjust any imbalance of the spirit, emotions or physical being.

The Priests of ancient Egypt knew how to use vowel sounds to resonate their energy centers or chakras. There is a direct link between different parts of the body and specific sounds. Such a technique appears extremely old, yet healing through sound goes back even further at least as far back as Atlantis where the power of sound was combined with the power of crystal.

Click here to learn more about HAH Center Music Therapy