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
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.
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
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.
By Grace Dawson
This music therapy playlist seems grated toward an older crowd, which makes sense since dementia is a condition more common among the older crowd. The songs are songs that have the potential to stir up memories, good and bad, which is one of the goals of music therapy. Check it out on Spotify: ttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xB7b0Hx0n6GgnE3q4OBwH?si=GcbPXzvDRryhipzy1hVj3A
By Grace Dawson
Many people have experienced the power of music to bring up memories and emotions from the past. In this episode of the Instru(mental) podcast which explores the relationship between music and psychology, host Brea Murakami recounts some of her personal experiences as well as talking about the science behind the musical phenomenons (the citations are included on the webpage for the episode).
Emotional contagion is an effect of music where people pick up on the emotion written in the music (which is a whole separate topic in and of itself) and mimic the emotion, letting it influence their own emotions. “Researchers think this strong empathic response happens because elements of the music are directly activating the emotional regions of your brain,” says Murakami.
Listen to the “Music and Emotion Induction” podcast here and take a second to browse some of the rest of the episodes at the main Instru(mental) page here.
By Grace Dawson
For an expert’s explanation of music therapy featuring Thomas Sanders (from Vine and YouTube), check out this video by Kati Morton.
By Grace Dawson
According to the American Music Therapy Association, music therapy is “clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.” This more formal definition requires a bachelor’s degree from one of the AMTA’s approved institutions, but a less formal definition of music therapy goes beyond the clinical definition.
The effectiveness of music has been proven to help many groups of people, from children to refugees. Music provides sensory input that helps people process emotions in a healthy way, and has been proven to be as effective as the “usual” psychotherapy treatment.
We would like to establish a common understanding of music therapy throughout the Plymouth community. To achieve this goal we will research and observe courses on campus that relate to our mission. We will also interview and analyze different faculty members’ experiences with music therapy to obtain a more well rounded understanding of Music Therapy as a valuable contribution to quality education.
Music Therapy at PSU 