The delightful sound of music it's lovely isn't it. If you haven't noticed, music holds a great
power over our minds. There's a famous quote that says where words fail, music speaks, which is true
for some people. Take a moment to think about it you listen to music when you're sad when you're
happy or even when you want to fill the silence in your mind in a way listening to music is almost I
guess some would say therapeutic. So if that's the case, what role does music really play in
healthcare. The answer to that is simple, it lies within music therapy. Often times when you hear
the words music and therapy what do you think of since there are jaundice I cater to your feelings
at the time maybe you think of listening to music when you're feeling any sort of emotion but does
that mean that what you're doing is considered musical therapy um not exactly this is where music
therapy differs you see music therapy involves the clinical and evidence base use of music
interventions to accomplish individualized goals but not just any individual can be a
musical therapist in fact these individuals are specifically trained and accredited to use various
musical interventions as a method of reaching health care goals we had an interview with Rachel
Finnerty who's an accredited musical therapist and has been involved in music and the healthcare
industry since 2001 rachel has initiated music therapy programs in over 30 facilities including
McMasters Children's Hospital lucky for us she's here to help us explain what and how
music therapy is used to accomplish healthcare goals when individuals engaging in music therapy
they can find other ways to access abilities to reach the healthcare pool music therapy is
facilitated by an accredited music therapist who is trained in a way to use music whether
it's listening to music pre compose music creating and composing one's own music or improvising and
through accessing and put through exploring using these different waves music therapy can access
mm-hmm abilities despite a diagnosis so singing for example when we sing a song that's familiar
to us that has meaning it evokes memories so we can all think back to songs from childhood for
example and what kind of memories do that evoke for us right so whether it's being at school or
with family a certain family holiday trip six a truck and this happens throughout our life
music actually we can chronologically follow our life through them through music so for an
individual who has dementia for example and has difficulties retrieving memories who is confused
with difficulties being present in the moment when we use a pre composed piece of music that's
familiar and we start to sing that song and we encourage that individual to sing along now you
healthy area of the brain can access that memory and bring the memories forward and can't sing so
often when people think about music therapy people think about their own experience with
music and music is therapeutic or music makes me feel good or I love to listen to music yet
there is still a lot of educating that needs to be done around understanding using music with intent
to achieve a healthcare ball and I think that's probably the most common misconception is is that
music therapy is a health care profession so referrals for music therapy can be for
communication social skills self-expression building self-confidence empowerment evoking
memories being in the now quality of life palliative care post-stroke so the actual
diagnosis that would associated with these reasons for referral might be those who are in cancer care
so also pain management another reason for a referral so individuals on the autism spectrum
developmental delay who have cerebral palsy so perhaps also working on physical a study conducted
in 2000 by dr. claudio Bocchetti and colleagues objectively assess the effect of active music
therapy on standardized measures of parkinson's disease this also took into the account the
severity of the physical and emotional aspects of Parkinson's this three month long study showed
significant improvement in the Parkinson's disease rating scale more specifically the improvement in
slow movement all subjects reported feelings of well-being and dynamism at home saying that
they were more active and keeping themselves busy they also really appreciated the social
contact and creative means of communication that a music therapist offered so now that we've learned
more about music therapy let's review some of our take-home messages music therapy is used with the
intent of reaching a specific healthcare goal music therapists are accredited and trained to
use musical interventions such as composing and improvising to access abilities despite
one's diagnosis and most importantly studies have proven significant mental and physical improvement
in patients experiencing long-term disabilities Wow I know that was a lot to take in maybe try
listening to some music to help you relax a bit anyways that's all for today thanks for watching
if you'd like to learn more about music therapy and its role in the health care system check out
the links below and if you enjoyed this video please feel free to like and subscribe to the
McMaster demystifying medicines channel for more amazing videos we'll see you next time