What is Music Therapy
Music therapy is a form of therapy employing music and musical activities that encourages individual and group quality of life. It is suitable for people of all ages, regardless of whether they have musical knowledge or not. Now I offer my music therapy services in Bahrain.
As a music therapist, I strive to engage my clients in music making, socialization, and physical activation. I use music and musical experiences to work on non-musical treatment goals. These goals will vary depending on the needs of each individual or group. For example, I can sing with a client with aphasia to rehabilitate their speech. I can work through active music making to help children and teen with ASD communicate more effectively with his family. Use songwriting to assist clients who have difficulties with emotional expression and also I can work on developing musical rhythms to assist the mobile rehabilitation of clients recovering from a stroke.
Neurologic Music therapy
Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is an advanced form of music therapy that uses research-based techniques to treat the brain using music and rhythm. NMT uses these techniques to achieve non-musical goals such as speech, physical movement, cognition and other conditions of the nervous system. For example:
- Sensorimotor: Working in movement and coordination through therapeutically playing instruments with rhythmic support; using rhythm to prepare the motor system for movement.
- Cognition and Attention Control: combining instrument play or movement with musical elements such as melody and rhythm to train attention in the brain. Setting math facts, a phone number, or the steps to washing hands to a tune or chant.
- Speech and Language: using a steady beat to anticipate (supporting initiation) and organize (supporting sequencing) speech through speaking, chanting, or singing; using specific melodies and rhythms to simulate normal speech patterns.
Some of the clients that can benefit from with Neurological Music Therapy are people suffering from cerebral palsy, autism, brain injury, stroke, seizure disorder, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, memory deficits, depression, poor attention, decreased vocal projection, aphasia, communication, and physical function difficulties.
Neurologic Music Therapy Research
Neurologic Music Therapy has its foundation in different fields as neuroscience, rehabilitation, psychology, and music perception. The Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy cites studies conducted by doctors, physical therapists, neurologists, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, and music therapists to support the efficacy of NMT. Because NMT is a science-based approach to music therapy, the same body of research that supports NMT also supports evidence-based techniques used widely by music therapists.
Examples of research that supports both NMT and the broader field of music therapy include:
1. Research supports the use of musical stimuli as a mnemonic device or memory template to facilitate learning of nonmusical information. This application can be extended to learning of academic facts, personal information, communication scripts, etc.
2. Research supports that shared processes between speech and singing activate a neurologic response in a different way. Thus, melodic and rhythmic formatting of speech/language targets can provide a compensatory strategy and timing cue for speech acquisition.
3. Research supports the use of music to affect mood and physiological functioning, which in turn can affect motivation, memory, and emotional well being.
4. Research supports the use of rhythmic cueing and musical patterns to assist in functional movements such as gait, range of motion, endurance, and strength.
SMTA (Speech Music Therapy for Aphasia)
Speech-Music Therapy for Aphasia (SMTA) is a treatment programme for people suffering from aphasia and/or apraxia of speech. The treatment combines speech-language therapy and music therapy working in unison.