This is Part 1 of Dr. Arthur W. Harvey's article. The References are at the end of Part 5.
"Musicogenic Eutherapeia"
by Dr. Arthur W. Harvey, B.S., M.M., D.M.A.
Part 1: Introduction
Music is a POWERful expressive SOUND language serving many purposes, and involving specific combinations of timbre, rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and texture resulting in the diversity of styles that are able to produce a wide range of effects on any or all of the systems in our body. It is the uniqueness of the gestalt of SOUND organized rhythmically, melodically, harmonically, formally and stylistically that makes music so very POWERful, and causes it to have such unique effects on our brain, and in turn, all our body systems. Marshall McLuhan, a pioneer in communication theory, in his book The Medium Is The Massage (Message) (1) presents a compelling argument for carefully choosing the medium used to communicate a message. The purpose and message of this chapter on the Music-Brain-Body Connection is to convey the Power of MUSIC, most specifically for its therapeutic effects.
Based upon the aesthetic premises that "Music expresses the inexpressible", "Music is a Language of feelings" and "Music's uniqueness is its Ineffability", that which cannot be fully captured in descriptive language, the clarity of these concepts would be enhanced using media, both audio and video, as documentation illustrating the points discussed. I have been teaching, both in person and online, courses titled MUSIC AS THERAPY for the University of Hawaii and use extensive media to complement the written texts.
To strengthen our ability to communicate to others Why, What and How music is therapeutic, this chapter will highlight representative examples of the amazing wealth of published material exploring many areas in which the POWER of music is documented. A bibliography representative of a variety of publications documenting music's POWER will be included at the end this chapter. The content will focus on a representative variety of therapeutic applications of MUSIC:
....Physiological Effects
....Oncology Applications
....Wellness Benefits
....Emotional Expression Through Music
....Rehabilitation and Medical Applications
An often quoted statement by William Congreve in the 18th-century, "...Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast…to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak" reflected his awareness of the therapeutic POWER of music. Today, we have research to support earlier anecdotal accounts of music having an effect on everything from intelligence to health, learning, shopping, stress, strength, pain, self-knowledge, emotions, socialization, and spirituality. Popular publications as diverse as the AARP Bulletin (2), Working Mother (3), Ford Times (4), The World & I (5), ABCNEWS.com (6), Psychology Today (7), Going Bonkers (8), BBC Music Magazine (9), Country Living (10), UNESCO Courier (11), Integrity Network (12), PRINCIPAL (13), and COPING (14) have included articles exploring the POWER of music. Academic publications abound that examine many aspects of this topic. A few of these books are listed in the bibliography (I5).
During the summers of the early 2000s, I taught courses at the University of Hawaii, focusing on The Music/Brain Connection. A necessary, and an important component of these courses included an examination of research dealing with the recent interest in the POWER of music to impact intelligence, or at least spatial-temporal reasoning (STR) intelligence. The seminal research by physicist Dr. Gordon Shaw and psychologist Dr. Francis Rauscher of the University of California at Irvine, is described in detail in the book Keeping Mozart in Mind (I6), ignited an explosion of subsequent publications, media presentations and challenges, recordings, ongoing research, and debate concerning whether music (Mozart) really does make you smarter.
Don Campbell, in his 1997 publication, The Mozart Effect, (I7) and The Mozart Effect for Children (18), published in 2000, popularized the term "The Mozart Effect" and increased public awareness of the unique POWER of music to have not only an impact on intelligence, but also on emotions and health. In 1999 I co-authored a book and CD, Learn With the Classics (19), presenting a rationale for using music of the classics to facilitate better learning.
A few examples of reports published that have been used to promote the POWER of music in education follow:
....In 1999, according to a College Board report, students with coursework or experience in music performance scored 53 points higher on the verbal portion of the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) and 39 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework or experience in the arts, for a combined total of 92 points higher.
....In a study headlined "Texas AllState Musicians Score 96 Points Above National Average on the 2000 SAT", the Texas Music Educators Association reported that students involved in orchestra, band, or chorus had higher scores on their SAT's than students who were not involved in a music program. The students who scored highest were those in the schools' string orchestras.
....A two-year Swiss study involving 1200 children in 50 schools showed that students involved in the music program were better at language, learned to read more easily, showed improved social interaction, showed more enjoyment in school, and had a lower level of stress than non-music students.
.... According to a Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities report, there is a very high correlation between positive self-perception, high cognitive competence scores, healthy self-esteem, total interest in and involvement in school activities, and the study of music.
.. ..Researchers at the University of Munster in Germany have discovered through tonotopic maps (pathways in the brain involved in determining the pitch of a note played on a piano) that music lessons in childhood actually enlarges the auditory cortex of the brain. An area used to analyze the pitch of a musical note is enlarged 25% in musicians compared to people who have never played an instrument, as reported in Nature, April 23, 1998.
. ...Music can make a difference for young people from low socioeconomic status (SES). A 1998 research study published in the American for the Arts Monograph Series No. 11, found that low SES students who took music lessons from 8th through 12th grade increased their test Scores in math, and scored significantly higher than those of low SES students who were not involved in music. Math scores more than doubled. History and geography scores climbed by 40 percent.
... .A curriculum combining piano lessons, educational mathematics software and fun math problems can help second graders achieve higher scores on certain tests comparable to fourth graders, according to studies by the Music Intelligence Neural Development Institute (MIND) in Irvine, California.
. ...A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training - specifically piano instruction - is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science. Neurology Research, February,1997.
Part 2: Physiological Effects of Music
Part 3: Oncology Applications of Music
Part 4: Wellness Benefits of Music
Part 5: Emotional Expression through Music, and References
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