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  

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