Video by Ramzi Moushabeck
The video our group created for this projects explores the local effects of music therapy through interviews with students. The students explain a different way that music has helped them in their day-to-day life at Plymouth State University. Keep an eye out for our video featuring artists of Dark World performing songs they wrote and produced – performance and production are part of music therapy, too!
By Grace Dawson
This article from The Clock, the student newspaper at Plymouth State University, is an op-ed on the benefits of refugee programs and schools in the U.S. Read it here: http://www.theclockonline.com/news/view.php/1037568/Interaction-Between-Refugees-And-Non-ref
https://www.the-scientist.com/features/exploring-the-mechanisms-of-music-therapy-31936
The link above will bring you to an article about how Music Therapy is carried out. This article digs into the mechanisms behind music therapy on a scientific level. Specifically, this article explains Neuroplasticity to help explain the functionality behind Music Therapy. The definition of Neuroplasticity in this article is described as the “ability of the brain to change throughout a person’s life span as a consequence of sensory input, motor action, reward, or awareness (Stegmoller, 2017)”.
By Grace Dawson
We’ve mentioned needing to get a degree in Music Therapy in order to practice it in a professional setting; luckily, Berklee College of Music is one of the most celebrated local colleges with a Music Therapy major. The major includes courses like “Advances in Neuroscience” and “Assistive Music Technology for the Visually Impaired,” as well as “real life” experiences like internships and clinical research.
While you learn more about Berklee’s music therapy program, give Mac Davis’ “I Believe in Music” a listen – it seems to capture the positive attitude of musical artists and therapists toward the power of music.
~Taylor Catlett
By Grace Dawson
Follow music therapist Oliver Jacobson through his work at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital as he visits patients and uses music to help them work through the anxieties and difficulties they face.
Anxiety makes it more difficult for children (as well as other patients, but children are the focus in this video) to heal, and through music therapy anxiety can be alleviated, which speeds up the healing process and/or provides comfort.
By Grace Dawson
Music educator Anita Collins asks “What if every child had access to music education from birth?” She uses research, done by herself and by other scientists, to back up her point that music improves brain function and every child should be able to have access to this resource.
According to Collins, musicians were able to solve puzzles and problems faster as compared to people who hadn’t had music education. Check out the whole TEDx talk:
By: Taylor Catlett
This podcast takes the ‘dis’ out of disability. Each episode features a person with a different disability, and explains their condition, misconceptions, and how they have transformed through music. It works to use music as a tool to bring awareness and end the stigma behind people with disabilities. In this episode, Jacob Smith, a young man with Trigeminal Neuralgia, highlights how he found a sense of purpose in life through music. Through playing and composing music, Jacob was able to create something with the chronic pain he felt, rather than be tortured by it. To hear more about Jacob’s story, check out the podcast below!
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/forgetdis/episodes/2017-12-23T11_12_52-08_00
By Grace Dawson
This video features Plymouth State University students and was made by Steam Dream, a student production team. Media Studies student and Steam Dream president Tim Lessard narrates the video, which explains the benefits of music in the community of older people in the Glencliff Home.
By Grace Dawson
Often social media acts as a portal where we can find so many interests and things to do, as well as educational opportunities and ways to see the world through different people’s eyes. This video of relaxing music played on a guda drum on a beach in Hawaii can be found in the #musictherapy tag on Instagram, which features many different kinds of ways music enhances people’s lives.
Music Therapy at PSU 