3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
From trauma to dementia, music proves its powerful healing benefits
Among those making the most of its application beyond cultural expression are music therapists.
Later this month, on June 21, people around the globe will celebrate World Music Day, and Scottish specialists are among those singing the praises of its use as a helpful tool.
'It's an inherent quality we all possess, human beings are innately musical,' says music therapist Reuben Quinn.
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For millennia, music has been used for religious ceremonies, communication and creating social cohesion.
The digitisation of music has made it a more individualised experience, but its emotive power has remained a constant throughout.
Now, music research is beginning to extend its influence, providing evidence towards the social, cognitive and therapeutic benefits underpinning our emotional responses. This led to its therapeutic application in the modern era.
'Music provides a really safe way of being vulnerable in therapy, which is one of its unique qualities,' says Quinn, inset.
Quinn works for Nordoff and Robbins, the UK's largest music therapy charity, which trains and employs music therapists that help people to break through the barriers caused by life-limiting illness, disability and social isolation, using the power of music.
The charity reaches thousands of people every year from its bases, and by working in partnership with organisations including care homes, schools and hospitals.
'It has such a wide variety of benefits, each story is unique and so the approach is non-prescriptive. The clinical goals emerge with the specific individual you're working with.'
Much of Quinn's work involves working with the challenges faced by people with complex support needs: 'Some people I work with struggle with movement in a particular part of their body. Using musical rhythm can encourage meaningful and controlled use of muscles in the body part affected by disability.'
The benefits of music therapy can also provide alternative modes of communication for non- or minimally verbal children.
Around 25-30% of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are minimally verbal, speaking less than 30 words and often not at all. One reason for this can be due to speech apraxia, which affects brain pathways, affecting their ability to translate conscious thoughts into speech.
Others can have delayed or underdeveloped verbal communication skills and some can lose their ability to speak over time.
'For some people, music can be a more accessible and flexible and fulfilling mode of communication, because they have limited capacity for spoken or written language,' says Quinn.
'Engaging together in music provides that real-time dynamic interaction with people which can contain a lot of important social information and activity, such as turn taking, humour, surprise and pathos.'
Researcher and music specialist Dr Rachel Drury (below) is the co-developer of the MA Psychology in the Arts (Music) course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and has worked with children from birth to age 21 at Rachel House Children's Hospice in Kinross for 10 years.
(Image: Supplied)
'The alternative platform music creates for children has benefits for their family members too,' says Drury.
'The pressures of looking after a child with a life-shortening condition are tremendously difficult, so being able to offer an artistic process for them to put their stories through is really powerful, it's really nice to facilitate that.'
Drury stresses how important music is for everyone, regardless of whether they suffer from physical or mental health symptoms.
'When you listen or produce music, your brain lights up like a Christmas tree,' says Drury.
Music stimulates our cognitive abilities including speech, attention and memory, and affects more parts of the brain than other sensory stimuli. These include regions associated with social and emotional processing, which gives music the power to induce a feeling of wellbeing.
'Learning a musical instrument has been shown to increase the grey matter in the corpus collosum. This region forms a link between both sides of the brain allowing them to communicate with one another, and plays an important role in sensory, motor and cognitive processes,' says Drury.
Fortunately, singing and remembering music is thought to use parts of the brain which aren't affected by dementia, which means clients are often able to engage with this mode of therapy and maintain their speech and language – as well as feeling good.
Quinn also works with patients in end-of-life care, and has witnessed the benefits of music therapy throughout care homes.
'Encouraging patients with dementia to sing or engage with musical instruments allows them to show sides of themselves which, because of their diagnosis, often lie dormant,' says Quinn.
'This not only improves their mood and confidence but knits the care home community together. It allows residents to demonstrate skills and the confidence that changes who this person is in eyes of care staff.'
The therapeutic benefits of music therapy has led to it being a certified mental health intervention. Currently offered on the NHS, it is employed to help alleviate symptoms relating to anxiety, depression and trauma.
Quinn continues: 'It's sad we don't have much music in the curriculum anymore so kids aren't being exposed to the potentially transformative experience of identifying themselves as a musician.'
'It's one of the first things to go when there's funding cuts and one of the biggest barriers I've realised while being a musician is making people understand the value and the impact it does have,' says Drury.
'It's one of the world's best-kept secrets.'
The RCS is the only institution in Scotland which offers an MA in Psychology of the Arts (Music) and Drury is encouraging anyone who is interested to reach out and find out more via its website.
To find out more about Nordoff and Robbins Music Therapy, visit
