How To Become a Music Therapist

Step one: Get a music therapy degree You can get a Bachelor’s or Equivalency Degree, but it has to be music therapy specifically. A combination of music and psychology is not enough, because there are required courses specific to the practice music therapy that you won’t get anywhere else. Step two: Complete an internship Most internships take … Read more

Learning with Music Can Change Brain Structure

Using musical cues to learn a physical task significantly develops an important part of the brain, according to a new study. People who practiced a basic movement task to music showed increased structural connectivity between the regions of the brain that process sound and control movement. The findings focus on white matter pathways — the … Read more

National Institute of Health Teams Up with Music Therapy

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, Deborah Rutter, Director of the Kennedy Center, and renowned soprano, Renée Fleming, serving as an artistic ambassador for the Kennedy Center,  sponsored an historic research workshop, “Music and the Brain: Research Across the Lifespan,” on January 26-27, 2017.

Attended by some 100 participants, the NIH workshop included 25 panelists, of whom eight were music therapists: Joke Bradt, Christian Gold, Deforia Lane, Sheri Robb, Ed Roth, Elizabeth Stegemoller, Michael Thaut, and Connie Tomaino.

Dr. Robb’s opening keynote, “Advancing the Science of Music Therapy in Healthcare,” established a strong foundation about music therapy as a profession and provided an overview of the state of music therapy research. A second keynote was presented by Dr. Nina Kraus, “Making Sense of Sound for Communication and Brain Health.” AMTA national office staff, Dr. Andi Farbman, Barbara Else, and Judy Simpson collaborated with planners to provide a comprehensive picture of music therapy research.

Dr. Collins summed up the meeting by stating that it was an “amazing outpouring of information and a wonderful body of knowledge on music therapy and the neuroscience of music.” He acknowledged that music therapists and neuroscientists have been working on parallel paths; it is now time, however, for them to work in much closer proximity and collaborate to advance the science. A trans-NIH working group, which is quite unusual, to explore the topic of music and the brain on a variety of questions including therapeutic applications and music therapy, is a possible next step.

source: musictherapy.org

How Drumming Relieves Stress

Click Here to Register for our Drumming Group Saturday, July 22nd at 5:30pm in Mission Viejo $15.00 (address provided with RSVP) Email meghan@playyourpartmusic.com to RSVP!   Dr. Barry Bittman, MD and his collaborators from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California tested the blood chemistry of 111 healthy men and women. The participants … Read more

Spatial Awareness & Rock Music

Music and movement are very intimately connected, not just in society but also deep within the very structures of our bodies. The urge to rock out to loud music at a concert has specific correlations to structures in our ears and neck muscles that create reward responses. Our hearing and structures in the ear are associated … Read more

Musician Sting’s brain scan gives more insight into expertise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqXWIxj4_Y0 In a study published in the journal Neurocase, Daniel Levitin, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, scanned the brain of famous Police frontman Sting. This scan took place while Levitin would play two different pieces of music, for example The Beatles “Girl” followed by a tango by Astor Piazzolla. To the untrained ear, … Read more

Video: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale

This classic video from the World Science Festival in 2009 is an eye-opening experience if you’ve never seen it. I highly recommend singing along! It seems that the pentatonic scale, which he demonstrates in his interactive performance, has a universality that we don’t quite understand. This is particularly amazing because every culture has their own unique … Read more

Why do you get chills when you listen to a great song?

Chances are you know the feeling, as research tells us anywhere from 55-86% of the population experiences “frisson” (free-sawn), or the full-body chill induced by an emotional sound or image. A movie trailer, a power ballad, or even a particularly moving photograph can trigger this response. The reason why is still being investigated, but research … Read more

Music Therapy and the Brain

This infographic from imamusictherapist.com shows how music therapy enables and contributes to neuroplasticity, or a fancy word for your brain’s ability to grow and change. Music has been shown time and again through research to be a powerful tool for rehabilitation, learning, and development. There’s a reason why you learned your ABCs with a song!