In his sixties he had struggled withhealth problems that affected his work and his sense of well-being. It was notuntil he was almost 80 that he decided tobegin violin lessons once again; he hadstudied briefly in his youth but hadn’tplayed in more than fifty years. He beganpracticing one hour each morning,another in the afternoon and scheduledlessons with his teacher once a week. Ashe became more comfortable with hisinstrument, he joined a string quartetgroup—that was when he seemed to com-pletely fall in love with music making. Hefelt challenged by the other members of the ensemble, and he progressed at aneven faster rate than before. More impor-tantly, he became inspired with his music,and the excitement seemed to pervadeother parts of his life.In Japan, the eighty-eighth birthday of a man’s life is considered a milestone. Asmy grandfather approached this impor-tant event, he decided to present his firstconcert to celebrate the special day insteadof hosting the traditional party. At theconcert there was not a dry eye in the hall.Those close to him had become aware of the impact music making had on thequality of his daily life, but on that day it was unmistakable to everyone present. Heplayed as a child plays, wholeheartedly, joyfully and with pure abandon.Sadly, he passed away seven monthsafter this event. His family and closefriends were deeply affected by the factthat this man was able to participate inmusic and enjoy living through his strongspirit and love for music until the lastdays of his life. The group environmentprovided by the other quartet members was an ideal balance of enjoyment, sup-port and challenge, where he was encour-aged to grow and learn. As he used to say,“This is keeping me young! I wake upeach morning happy to know that I haveso much to learn today.”Stories such as this are told in privatestudios, community music schools, musictherapy clinics and senior centersthroughout the world. While there alwayshas been this kind of anecdotal evidencethat active participation in music makinghas tremendous emotional and physicalhealth benefits, it was not until recently that researchers began specific studies inthis area. The Music Making and Wellness Project was designed as a study to look at the quality of life and the phys-ical and mental health benefits of activeparticipation in music making for healthy Americans over age 65.
The Researchers
In 1995, Frederick Tims of theMichigan State University (MSU) MusicTherapy Department assembled a multi-disciplinary team of researchers. JoiningTims were specialists from the AgingInstitute of the University of SouthFlorida; Department of Psychiatry andBehavioral Science at the University of Miami School of Medicine; KarolinskaMedical Institute, Stockholm Sweden;and from the Music Therapy Departments of Appalachian StateUniversity, Western Michigan University and the University of Kansas. During thecourse of the study, I was invited to jointhe team, as a member of MSU’s PianoPedagogy Department. My role was toreview the lesson curriculum, design sup-plemental rhythm, movement and listen-ing activities, and help train the teachers.Many members of the same team pre-viously had participated in another highly successful study from 1993–1995,measuring the effects of music making onthe biology and behavior of Alzheimer’spatients.
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The results were significant, andthe team reasoned that there were mostlikely equally positive benefits for
healthy
older Americans participating in regularmusic making activities. It was at thispoint that we set out in search of anappropriate study environment.
The Environment
Fletcher Music Centers of Clearwater,Florida, is a unique company offering free,lifetime music lessons to seniors purchas-ing organs from any of their stores. Afteropening his first music center in 1975,Robert Fletcher began receiving lettersfrom seniors participating in the lessonprogram. In those letters, students wrote of their gratitude to the company and teach-ers, telling stories of how much healthierthey felt, both physically and emotionally,as a result of the organ lessons.“It became clear to me that we weren’tsimply selling organs and providing freemusic lessons,” says Fletcher. “I began tosuspect that we were providing people with health, happiness and long life.”The philosophy and goals of the com-pany and its CEO were well matched with those of the Music Making and Wellness Project researchers. The FletcherMusic Center proved to be the ideal “real- world” setting for the study.
The Design
The study was projected over a five-year time span with three phases.
Phase I:
Phase I was a preliminary trialfrom January 1996 to September 1997.In this phase, eighty students of varyinglevels from Fletcher Music Centers wereinvited to become subjects of the study.In the beginning, all students completed written wellness inventory tests to assessgeneral physical health and self-perception of their mental states. Thedata were collected over fifty weeks; eachten-week period, students completed atake-home psychological assessment that
AMERICAN MUSIC TEACHER19
“Since we have learned together relaxation and breathing exercises, my anxiety has dropped many levels. So much so,the other night I played for some friends. Even thoughI told them to stay in another room, before you knew it,they were all around me singing and having a good time. They were so excited about my playing and the progression I have made.”
Midori Koga
isassistant professorof piano and direc-tor of piano peda-gogy at MichiganState University.She holds graduatedegrees from theUniversity of Michigan and theMozarteum Hochschule für Musik inSalzburg, Austria.
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