Inan article entitled, “Using Music as a Therapy Tool to Motivate Troubled Adolescents,” the author, Alexander Keen, a clinical social worker, argues against the traditional methods of the therapy of teenagers that include the cognitive-behavioral approaches of psychotherapy. He feels that these methods are futile in the healing process. He suggests a new approach, using music as a therapy tool, and performs experiments on clients to prove that music is a useful technique and offers positive results. For example, Keen records his therapy sessions with a thirteen-year-old girl named Tracey who has emotional problems with herself and with her family, particularly her mother. Standard therapy offers negative results. He then introduces music. During sessions he would play Tracey's favorite music and discuss her favorite artists. She quickly becomes comfortable around him and tells him of her traumatic experience of being in an almost fatal car accident with her mother. Keen concludes that her depression is a result of Post ‘Traumatic Stress Disorder. He advises Tracey to listen to soothing sounds such as the sounds of the ocean in order to calm herself. He records that it helps her mind from wandering and forces her to relax. The results of music therapy show positive changes in her behavior toward her mother and herself. This experiment proves Keen's theory that music is beneficial in therapeutic ways because after its use his client is more open and insightful. Keen states in his conclusion, “Music may prove to be a unique tool to open up new perspectives and insights as we gently guide them through the therapy process on the path of personal healing and development” (373). He suggests that familiar music provides comfort to teens and subconsciously allows them to feel comfortable around their authority figures; in this case Tracey is comfortable around her shrink and therefore tells him more about her personal life. Keen is not suggesting that this method should be the standard therapy tool. He is, however, creating awareness about a possibly successful tool for therapy, especially with teenagers, given his successful experimental results. Keen hopes that the use of music will be a popular therapy tool used by shrinks for clients of especially young ages. ‘Asa social worker Keen describes how traditional treatment is unsuccessful because it does nothing to break the block of the clients’ communication bases. In his introduction he states, “This paper describes and discusses my use of music as a therapy tool with troubled adolescents...thi tervention technique... has yielded positive initial results, lending support to its continued use” (361). Therefore, the detail and clarification of the author's work createsinsightful thoughts in the reader's mind. I find Keen’s hypothesis and analysis intriguing; the idea that music is powerful enough to be used as a psychotherapy tool successfully gives way to the fact that music is extremely beneficial and essential to a healthy mind, Leonid Perlovsky, a research physicist of Harvard University, writes a very detailed scholarly journal on the function of music and the mind. In his journal, “Cognitive Function of ‘Music. Part J,” he proves that the function of music is to help create less dissonance or incongruity created by language and that music is essential to the survival of human beings. Within his research, he discovers that language evolved from symbolic music and that music is a natural need. He suggests that without the use of music the evolution of language, cognition, and culture is not possible and that musi 's the most important function in the evolution of minds and cultures. Perlovsky writes that Darwin has stated how music is ranked amongst the most mysterious abilities and that it plays with the senses. He moves deeper into his hypothesis and discusses the basic mechanisms of the mind. He explains that the mind understands the world in terms of concepts and that concepts are considered neural representations that operate as mental models of objects and situations. He also defines instincts as mechanisms of survival. Perlovsky concludes these ideas with a theory that our concepts and instincts evaluate our emotions. He writes that music is the cornerstone of our higher cognitive abilities as he states, “Our higher cognitive abilities involve a virtual infinity of ‘continuous’ emotions, which are not described by specific words and include emotions in the prosody of voice, emotions of cognitive dissonances,... as well as musical emotions, the main topic of this review. Conceptual-emotional understanding of the world results in bodily actions and actions within the mind” (133). He believes emotions that evaluate satisfaction or dissatisfaction of this instinct are felt as harmony or disharmony between knowledge and the world. As soon as our perception and understanding. s. He beli of the world around us does not work we feel disharmoniou yes music is what keeps the parts of our mind in harmony. Perlovsky discovers that language gives the mind the culturally-evolved means to differentiate reality in great detail. Language contributes not only to differe ion of our conceptual ability, but also to differentiation of psychic functions ofconcepts, emotions, and behavior. Therefore, differentiation is the very essence of cultural evolution. After Perlovsky explains the details of the cognitive functions of the brain he ties music into it. He suggests that music balances differentiation and synthesis. With this he supports his theory on the importance of music and the human mind. “...originally language and music were one. In this original state the fused language-music did not threaten synthe: vocal sounds directly affected ancient emotional centres, connected the semantic contents of the vocalizations to instinctual needs and to behavior... and to this very day the voice affects us emotionally directly through ancient emotional brain centres” (138). These statements explain the origin of vocal sounds and reasons why they trigger certain emotions. Our ability to feel emotions given certain sounds dates back to when vocalization tied with fulfilling our instinctual needs. Perlovsky concludes that while language has differentiated the human self into pieces, music has restored the wholeness of the self, defining music as an essential part of life. Psychologists have recognized music as a cultural universal of tremendous power. Perlovsky states that in the face of contradictory knowledge and confusion in communication, musical emotions help maintain a sense of purpose in one’s life and he hopes his readers grasp a better understanding of music's abilities. According to Perlovsky, language evolved from symbolic music; therefore, itis a natural need, He explains the basic mechanisms of the mind, knowledge instinct, the hierarchy of the mind and of cognition and language, and differentiation and synthesis to explain the fundamental function and importance of music. ‘This article is extremely detailed and informative and successfully provides an idea that music is more than just a comfort hobby. It is essential to humans with its ability to create less confusion in our minds due to uncertainties in symbolic language. Perlovsky first wisely explains the basic functions of the mind before brilliantly providing evidence of how music is connected to it. For example, before explaining how musi has the ability to create a balance between differentiation and synthesis, he first explains that language gives our mind the culturally-evolved means to differentiate reality in great detail and ty to put concepts together to better understand the world, Promoting athesis with evidence in a way Perlovsky executes is a sure-fire way to successfully prove a point that music has so much more potential than many people might think. Its origin shows that it is fundamental in the process of developing language, an answer to why it has such an emotional effect on humans.Works Cited Keen, Alexander W. "Using Music as a Therapy Tool to Motivate Troubled Adolescents." Sccial Work in Health Care (2004): 361-373. Academic Search Complete. Print. 2004. Perlovsky, Leonid. "Cognitive Function of Music. Part I." Interdisciplinary Science Reviews (2012): 131-144, Academic Search Complete, Print. June 2012.