Musical as a Healer
It is a busy morning in the month of March 2020, I was finishing up the morning chores and getting ready to go to school as I am a music teacher. The school bus is on time during exams but today it was 15 mins late and still it had not arrived. Kids at the apartment gate were happy that they had extra time to do some last minute studying sitting on perches here and there. Suddenly the phone ding dongs, all teachers received an message informing that “FINAL EXAMS have been cancelled”
I was concerned as final exams are never cancelled, and at most is it would be postponed. This got me thinking as to how serious a situation we were in, due to global Covid pandemic. The lockdown which started then, is still keeping us in the grip of fear even after 18 months from that day. I hope, this pandemic subsides and everything returns to normal.
As we should look at the silver lining in every dark cloud, lockdown was the best time to do the things I have always wanted to do but did not find time. I wanted to take up a certification course on music therapy for which I had researched. I knew one of best schools offering these courses was Chennai School of Music Therapy and I signed up for Music Therapist certification.
The most interesting part of the course were the videos of the case studies which we were given to observe the methodology employed to cure the medical condition. Let me give you an example. The case study of a woman in her 70’s who suffered from a medical condition called Dysarthria. It is a motor speech disorder where the muscles that are used to produce speech are damaged or paralyzed. Perhaps because of this, the patient also suffered from depression.
It was very interesting to see how the therapist first made the patient comfortable, so that she can begin the therapy. After much study about the case history of the patient, the therapist came up with a simple yet most effective way of dealing with the motor speech disorder and that was singing of the saptha swaras that is sa ri ga ma pa da ni sa which forms the universal foundation for music all over the world.
It took about 3 weeks for the patient to sing sa, but consistent therapy sessions and perseverance from the therapist and the patient worked wonders!! By the end of 8 weeks the patient was able to sing all the seven swaras and also communicate basic words which made it easy for her caretaker. Such is the power of Music! Music is definitely a great healer and is therapeutic in nature
Music therapy is definitely a boon to patients with cancer and other illnesses where the pain can be unimaginable and unbearable. No matter how much medication is given to them, sometimes it just isn’t enough. Through listening and playing music as well as song writing and singing, pain among patients reduces. Music therapy can help to relieve pain and reduce stress and anxiety for the patient, resulting in physiological changes, including improved respiration, lower blood pressure, reduced heart rate, relaxed muscle tension
In Summary, music therapy is by itself evidence based therapy. It is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all of its facets to help patients to improve, restore or maintain health. It is gaining more popularity in the recent times because of its reach and effect across spectrum ranging from overall development of personality to improvement in one’s health or even curing an ailment or helping children with special needs handle their emotions better and help them with speech and cognition too.