Sound and Science: Music Therapy as an Alternative

Medical Treatment for Colorado Residents

The healing power of music has been harnessed to benefit human

beings for thousands of years. Biblical scriptures and historical documents

hold evidence suggesting that music was used therapeutically in such

ancient civilizations as Egypt, China, India, Greece, and Rome. These

practices focused purely on patients’ emotional responses to sound,

though, and were rudimentary compared to the applications of music

discovered within the 20th century.

After the 1950’s, music therapists recognized the scientific

implications of their work and began to investigate beyond the externally

observable effects of sound. Not until the 1980’s, however, did a burst of

truly scientific information emerge (Thaut, 281). Much of the research

regarding music’s neurological effects conducted in the past few decades

has been based in Colorado, a state with one of the strongest communities

of music therapists in the nation, although this community is found in one

concentrated area. Facilities at Colorado State University are at the

forefront of innovation in musically geared cognitive science studies and

receive money from the state every year to continue research. Music

Therapy is a potentially promising asset to Colorado’s medical community,

but is it worth spending taxpayers’ money to fund the field’s progression?

 Contrary to popular belief, music therapy is not a clinical treatment

based on the loosely understood connection between sound and emotion.

The basic concepts behind its method are supported with scientific

evidence, and studies done within the last twenty years suggest more

room for progress than previously thought. Primarily, the emerging

research has evolved around the idea that music is, “a language of

cognition and perception that stimulates physiologically complex cognitive,

affective, and sensorimotor processes that are generalizable and

transferable to nonmusical brain and behavior function (pg. 406).” This is

how Michael Thaut, head professor in Music Therapy at CSU, describes

the phenomenon of a nonmusical brain function being rehabilitated by

exposure to music.

Neuroplasticity, which essentially refers to the brain’s ability to

change in structure, is the driving force behind the application of music in

treating neurological disorders. Patients with Parkinsons, Multiple

Sclerosis, or certain types of paralysis often respond physically to hearing

music in places they are otherwise unable to move. The areas in their

brain associated with rhythm and metric movement are separate from

those associated with everyday motor functions, therefore certain neurons

are activated when in the presence of a beat. Not only does this allow a

normally incapacitated person to feel movement for the short duration of a

song, but also the sensory-motor effects of music are potentially

transferable to regularly controlled movements through a rehabilitation

process (Sacks, pg. 257). Of course, rehabilitative success is dependent

on the severity of the patient’s condition. Merely discovering this notion,

though, opened up an array of opportunities for research in musical

cognitive rehabilitation.

The same concept of non-musical and musical parallel brain

structures is now applied to the treatment of disorders like Amnesia,

Aphasia, Dyskinesia, Tourette’s Syndrome, and Dementia. Through

research and clinical practice at Colorado State University, Michael Thaut

and his colleagues were able to provide observational data of the method’s

effectiveness on these disorders. He also was able to identify the biological

mechanisms responsible for those observations with the use of brain

imaging technology like PET or CAT scans.

Thaut and other neurologists have also begun to explore the

possibility of using music to help patients suffering from Alzheimers.

Certain songs elicit powerful emotional responses from people who usually

are unable to recognize their own children. In many cases, a person with

severe Alzheimers will remember song lyrics with astounding clarity, but

important life events are hopelessly nebulous. With PET technology, CSU

researchers isolated the structure accountable for this bridge between

music and memory. The amygdala is usually associated with strong

emotion, and the hippocampus is activated in a healthy brain during

memory recall. However, the amygdala does contain a portion of memory-

related neurons. When an Alzheimer’s patient cannot access his or her

hippocampus, the emotionality of music excites the amygdala and, in turn,

promotes the retrieval of memories (pg. 282).

A miniscule percentage of government funding goes towards the

type of studies occurring at CSU’s school of neurology, but the

pharmaceutical industry is able to invest multi-millions every year towards

researching treatments for the same disorders. The word “industry” is key

in comparing the difference between pharmaceuticals and cognitive

rehabilitation. Pills are manufactured in mass quantities, distributed

everywhere across the nation, and are in high demand because of their

immediately recognizable effect. They get the job done and there is

already an enormously profitable market established, so it is only logical

that money is constantly being invested in pharmaceuticals. Everyone

knows about the laundry list of side effects and chemical dependency that

accompanies pills, but a drastic change would be detrimental to our ever-

unstable economy. Developing new medical techniques is similar to the

attempted implementation of more efficient energy sources. Common

knowledge dictates that oil is harmful, both economically and

environmentally, yet the standards are so deeply set that a change would

be problematic.

Music Therapy is not necessarily the answer to alternative medicine,

but it certainly has that potential. However, even if it were a viable option

the distribution and efficiency of supplying treatment would be difficult to

organize. Like other cognitive and physical rehabilitation techniques, music

therapy is a long process that sometimes requires a hefty amount of

personal attention from a therapist. One on one musical sessions are time

consuming, but so are the weekly or monthly appointments patients attend

to receive new pharmaceutical scripts from a psychiatrist. The real problem

with providing Colorado residents a musically therapeutic option stems

from the scarce population of therapists available. For a hospital to have

music therapy in its program is very rare, but almost all modern day health

centers have multiple psychiatrists at their disposal (Buckstein, pg. 1). One

contribution to this discrepancy is that most Universities in the state, with

the exception of CSU, do not offer intensive courses or degree programs in

music therapy. Students paying college tuition should be offered the

opportunity to learn about the science and practice of cognitive

rehabilitation.

Focusing a portion of Neurology students’ curriculum on musical

cognition could spark an interest in the field, but it would take more than

that for aspiring doctors to consider musical neurology a professional

option. In the midst of a capitalist society, who could blame an ambitious

and intelligent scientist for losing enthusiasm after looking up a music

therapist’s s average salary on Google?

“Earnings for an entry-level music therapist with a bachelor's degree may

run from $15,000 to $25,000, depending on the area of country you

practice in.”

-Dr. Andrea Farbman, executive director of the National Association of

Music Therapy

The lowest 10 percent of Psychiatrists in Colorado make $65,950 a year,

more than double the amount of music therapists in the highest salary

range across America (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Psychiatry).

Music therapy is currently recognized by the Joint Commission on

the Accreditation of Health Care Associations, the largest non-

governmental health care organization in the United States (Buckstein, pg.

2). Being considered a valuable treatment by the Joint Commission on the

Accreditation of Health Care Associations is a definite sign of progress

from the mid 1980’s when research first began. However, Colorado needs

to educate and draw attention to the idea of music therapy as a treatment

option for certain disorders. Michael Thaut explains the state of music

therapy in an interview with the Denver post.

“Music Therapy hasn't caught on in Colorado as it has on the East Coast

and West Coast and parts of the Midwest. Still, the state's only music-

therapy educational program at CSU is the focus of international attention

because of its graduate-level research.”

There is already a huge research program dedicated towards

musical cognitive rehabilitation already established in Colorado, but it only

exists within the realms of Colorado State University. Instead of receiving

extra funding from the state government to boost its popularity, a real step

forward would be the mere inclusion of music therapy as a concentration in

all universities and as an option for patients at any hospital.

Buckstein, Carol. “Patients in step to music- stroke victims get the therapy beat.”
The Denver Post. 7 September, 1999.

CSU College and Departmental Supported Research. Local Discovery, Global

Impact. Web. 4 April, 2011.

Sacks, Oliver. Musicophelia. Random House Publishing, Inc. New York, 2007.

Thaut, Michael. “Neurologic Music Therapy Improves Executive Function and

Emotional Adjustment in Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation.” Annals of the
New York Academy of Sciences, July 1, 2009.

Thaut, Michael. “Neurologic Music Therapy in Cognitive Rehabilitation.” Music

Perception, 27.4. 1 april, 2010.

U.S. Government Bureau of Labor Statistics. Health Care Salary Online. Web. 4
April, 2011.