The Benefits of Music Therapy
Music therapy can be an invaluable aid for patients suffering from mental illness or physical impairments that impair their daily living. The therapist uses music to cultivate a relationship with the patient and help them progress in life; they may use singing, instrumental music, movement, composition or other methods to reach these objectives.
Music therapy’s success can be attributed to its unique effect on the brain. Music can provide a calming atmosphere and improve attention and concentration levels; additionally, it may aid in recovery from stroke or other injury.
Music has been shown to have physiological effects, such as elevating heart rate and blood pressure – both of which are related to mood. Furthermore, it can reduce muscle tension and enhance motor skills.
Music therapy has the potential to benefit a variety of disorders, such as autism and psychiatric illnesses. Patients can develop social, communication, and cognitive skills which in turn helps them build better interpersonal relationships.
Musical therapy has been employed to treat conditions such as ADHD, substance abuse, schizophrenia and paranoia. Studies have demonstrated its ability to promote reality orientation and social engagement, in addition to aiding with coping and stress reduction techniques.
It can also be used to improve communication and articulation skills, which could benefit a range of disorders including dysarthria and stuttering. Research has even demonstrated the efficacy of rhythmic speech cuing (RSC), which may be effective with Broca’s aphasia as well as other types of language impairments.
Therapeutic Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP) is a type of music therapy used for neurorehabilitation and sensory motor rehabilitation. It involves using rhythmically cued instruments during musical activities in order to improve upper limb movement trajectories and arm kinematics.
These TIMP playing patterns have been developed with home delivery in mind and tested and refined through pilot studies conducted by a clinical team at an academic rehabilitation research facility. They have been adapted from Jeong and Kim (2007), who sought to retrain upper limb movements within an organized rhythmic framework.
TIMP allows participants to play a range of musical instruments, including an interactive sound tablet with visual feedback and tactile input. The tablet allows therapists to physically guide arm movements when needed for therapeutic support. Programmable surface key squares on the tablet can display various movement parameters for each sequence which can then be recorded and played back remotely as required.
To guarantee high repetition rates of movements within TIMP activity, it is essential that therapists and patients become familiar with each instrument and their position while using a metronome when practicing sequences. This allows the therapist to adjust each instrument’s tempo accordingly, guaranteeing they use an appropriate rhythmic pace.
