How Music Can Heal Our Brain and Heart | Kathleen M. Howland | TEDxBerkleeValencia

Summary

The script delves into the ancient origins and modern applications of music therapy, highlighting its integration with neuroscience for treating various disorders. It underscores the innate human response to music, starting from the fetal stage, and its role in language acquisition and cognitive development. The narrative explores music's impact on conditions like dyslexia, Parkinson's, and stroke, emphasizing music therapy's efficacy in facilitating neural changes for functional improvements. The power of music to induce relaxation, motivate, and provide comfort in challenging times is also discussed, showcasing music therapy as a compassionate clinical practice with scientific backing.

Takeaways

• 🎵 Music therapy has a long history, with Pythagoras being one of the earliest known to use music for emotional and physical well-being.
• 🧠 Modern music therapy is now integrated with neuroscience to enhance interventions for a range of diseases and disorders.
• 👶 Human responsiveness to music starts in the womb, with babies in the last trimester able to hear and respond differently to familiar music.
• 👶🎶 Music can be used to identify potential dyslexia in three-year-olds, providing early interventions to support language development.
• 🧑‍🎓 Newborns can detect the beat in music, which is an innate ability that persists throughout life and can be used therapeutically.
• 🎶 Music was historically used to facilitate collective tasks, such as sea shanties helping sailors coordinate their efforts.
• 🧬 The brain's arcuate fasciculus, which is involved in processing melody, is thicker in nonverbal children with autism, suggesting music could be a key to communication.
• 💊 Music therapy can be used to help repair speech and language networks in stroke patients, aiding in their recovery.
• 🤗 Music therapy is non-invasive, fun, and familiar, making it an inviting and effective treatment for a variety of conditions.
• 🛌 Music can induce a relaxation response, beneficial for patients preparing for surgery, childbirth, or dealing with chronic conditions like cancer.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Music is used to motivate during physical activities, such as in gym classes, and can be similarly motivating in rehabilitation settings.

Q & A

What is the historical origin of music therapy?

Music therapy has ancient roots, with Pythagoras being the first known to use music prescriptively for emotional and physical ailments.

How has music therapy evolved with modern science?

Modern music therapy is now conjoined with neuroscience to advance music-based interventions for a wide variety of diseases and disorders.

At what stage of fetal development do humans begin to respond to music?

Human responsiveness to music begins in the womb, specifically in the last trimester of fetal life.

What implications does a baby's ability to detect musical elements have for their later language learning?

The ability to detect musical elements allows the child to learn speech and language, and for those born tone-deaf, it can impair their reading abilities later in life.

How are studies in Boston identifying potential dyslexics at an early age?

Studies in Boston are identifying the ability of three-year-olds to tell the difference between certain sounds, tagging those who struggle as potential dyslexics.

What does brain imaging technology show about newborns' response to music?

Brain imaging technology shows that newborns can detect the beat in music.

Why is the ability to define and describe the beat of music challenging for students?

Students often find it difficult to define and describe the beat because it is an innate ability that they inherently know but struggle to articulate.

How does music therapy address movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease?

Music therapists use the organizing element of rhythm to help facilitate better walking for those with strokes and to sustain the functional mobility of people with Parkinson's disease.

What role does the arcuate fasciculus play in music therapy for children with autism?

The arcuate fasciculus, which is thicker in the right hemisphere of nonverbal children with autism, may serve as an entry point to facilitate sound discrimination and speech and language development.

How can music therapy be used to support patients with cancer?

Music therapy can induce a relaxation response, helping patients cope with anxiety and stress, and potentially enhancing their ability to endure treatments.

What is the primary goal of music therapists when working with patients?

The primary goal of music therapists is to create neural changes that result in functional outcomes, addressing issues such as stress, pain, fear, speech, language, cognition, and movement.