Research notes more ways music affects brain

Published:	February 21, 2010
Source:	News Chief
Category:	Research

Music to our ears not only affects our mood and, if too loud, our hearing, but actually reaches into many different parts of our brains. Tunes - especially those we perform ourselves - have a big influence in how our brains organize to process and filter sound, researchers have been finding. Playing a musical instrument appears to both improve our ability to hear and our ability to focus and remember, according to two recent studies.

In one experiment, neurobiologists at Northwestern University in Chicago found that musicians have a perceptual advantage for being able to communicate in noisy environments. Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Lab, said the 16 highly trained musicians tested were better than 15 non-musicians at picking out key elements of speech from background noise made up of babble from six different speakers. The study was published in November in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Organization(s) Referenced:

Northwestern University Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory

McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind

University of California, Davis

Person(s) Referenced:

Nina Kraus

Laurel Trainor

Petr Janata

Modality:

Music Therapy

Therapeutic Music

Health Condition:

Alzheimer's/Dementia

Heart Illness

Parkinson's disease

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Music therapy reduces requests for meds

Published:	February 11, 2010
Source:	KXAN
Location:	United States (Texas)
Category:	Business
Media:	Photo(s), Video

Leave it to an Austin businessman to figure out a way to make music more than just entertainment, but an alternative medicine for physical and emotional pain. “I was inspired by a family who had a baby in the neo-natal intensive care unit” said David Schofman, CEO of Coro Health. “While their child was in the hospital, they couldn’t touch him but they were able to connect with him through music.”

Schofman said he then started doing research into music therapy and realized that though there were proven benefits, there were no viable business models that could incorporate it on a large-scale basis in hospital or nursing facilities. That’s when he created Music First, a program that aims to reduce a patient’s pain, both physical and emotional.

Organization(s) Referenced:

Coro Health

Person(s) Referenced:

David Schofman

Service(s) Referenced:

Music First

Modality:

Music Therapy

Related links:

Manor Oaks Nursing Center

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At Cunningham Creek Elementary, music therapy makes difference for special-needs students

Published:	February 25, 2010
Source:	The Florida Times Union
Location:	United States (Florida)
Category:	Health
Media:	Photo(s)

Amanda Hunter, 11, is a typical middle-schooler, sporting a Jonas Brothers backpack and gushing over the group. But for Amanda, music holds more meaning than a simple boy-band crush. “Music helps me with multiplication,” the wheelchair-bound Amanda said with a proud smile. “Music is awesome. I learn a lot from it.”

Amanda is one of 250 special-needs students at Cunningham Creek Elementary School in Northwest St. Johns County. She is also part of the music therapy program at Cunningham Creek, the only school in the county that offers it, said Principal Betsy Wierda. Music therapist Minda Gordon said this is the fourth year since she began the program at the school and she has seen drastic changes in students such as Amanda. “There were students who we didn’t even think could talk. Now they dance and sing,” Gordon said. “We found that if you raise the bar for these students, they’ll jump it.”

Person(s) Referenced:

Minda Gordon

Modality:

Music Therapy

Health Condition:

Autism/Asperger's

Cerebral Palsy

Down Syndrome

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Conductor explores music’s healing touch

Published:	February 24, 2010
Source:	Boston Globe
Location:	United States (Massachusetts)
Category:	Event
Media:	Photo(s)

As a concert violinist and Newton Symphony Orchestra conductor, James Orent knows how music can lift an audience’s spirits. But while watching too many friends and family members battle life-threatening diseases, he came to wonder about another possible impact: music’s power to heal. This weekend he shares his fascination via a health fair and a concert that take a look - and a listen - at music and the mind-body-spirit connection.

The Newton Symphony Orchestra Wellness Fair will start at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, with the day’s offerings including talks by music therapists, medical researchers, and stress management experts, as well as alternative therapy demonstrations and exhibition. And at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Rashi School in Newton Corner, Orent conducts the orchestra in “The Healing Power of Music,” a concert that presents 14 short selections that helped others through illnesses or emotional difficulties or simply to relax or meditate.

Organization(s) Referenced:

Newton Symphony Orchestra

Person(s) Referenced:

James Orent

Event(s) Referenced:

THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC: The Mind/Body/Spirit Connection

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Healing Music to benefit Relay for Life

Published:	February 9, 2010
Source:	Orangeburg Times Democrat
Category:	Event
Media:	Photo(s)

On Sunday, Feb. 14, a local cancer survivor will present a concert to demonstrate the healing power of music and benefit the 2010 Orangeburg County Relay for Life. Healing Music II, set for 4 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, will feature Sylvia Trimmier, director of music at First Presbyterian Church; soprano and 2008 Orangeburg Idol winner Eden Graves; and cellist and former INine band member Bryan Gibson.

“I think most cancer survivors feel a need to give back in some way, and this is the best way that I know how to give back,” Trimmier said. “A lot of people are saying, ‘Why are you calling it healing music?’ As I was getting over the cancer and the treatments and getting my strength back, practicing music became a very healing thing for me. It can be a healing agent not just physically, but mentally, psychologically and emotionally.

Modality:

Therapeutic Music

Related links:

First Presbyterian Church

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Pleasant music overcomes the loss of awareness in patients with visual neglect

During the past 20 years there has been much research into the factors that modulate awareness of contralesional information in neurological patients with visual neglect or extinction. However, the potential role of the individual’s emotional state in modulating awareness has been largely overlooked. In the current study, we induced a pleasant and positive affective response in patients with chronic visual neglect by allowing them to listen to their pleasant preferred music. We report that the patients showed enhanced visual awareness when tasks were performed under preferred music conditions relative to when tasks were performed either with unpreferred music or in silence. These results were also replicated when positive affect was induced before neglect was tested. Functional MRI data showed enhanced activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and the cingulate gyrus associated with emotional responses when tasks were performed with preferred music relative to unpreferred music. Improved awareness of contralesional (left) targets with preferred music was also associated with a strong functional coupling between emotional areas and attentional brain regions in spared areas of the parietal cortex and early visual areas of the right hemisphere. These findings suggest that positive affect, generated by preferred music, can decrease visual neglect by increasing attentional resources. We discuss the possible roles of arousal and mood in generating these effects.

Modality:

Therapeutic Music

Website

• Therapeutic Music

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VVS students fight cancer with the power of music

Published:	February 14, 2010
Source:	Oneida Dispatch
Category:	Education
Media:	Photo(s)

Students at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School will be working with the KEYS program to provide comfort through music to young people with cancer. The students from an entertainment industry course will be working on all aspects of putting together a music therapy CD. Students can contribute music or lyrics for the songs. They will be able to work with professional musicians to record the music or may record it themselves.

“KEYS was founded after losing my dad to cancer back in 1993,” said Colleen Bennett, founder and executive director of the program. “We founded KEYS in memory of my dad because music had such a powerful effect in helping him through his cancer battle. “We decided to help kids who are going through the same battle,” she added. “To teach them and their parents how powerful music can be to help them through their cancer battle.”

Organization(s) Referenced:

KEYS Program

Person(s) Referenced:

Colleen Bennett

Modality:

Music Therapy

Health Condition:

Cancer

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Music therapy for anti-suicide movement

Published:	February 17, 2010
Source:	The Times of India
Location:	India
Category:	Product
Media:	Photo(s)

Much has been said about the increasing number of student suicides that the city has witnessed recently, but very little has been done. And it is this very apathy of the system that resulted in an anti-suicide movement on one of the most popular social networking site.

Now, the ‘I Pledge to Stop Student Suicides’ movement, a common man’s initiative which is working actively towards finding a solution to this persistent problems is launching an album titled Follow Your Dreams. The album is a compilation of inspirational songs by artists giving out messages that life is beautiful and that one must never give up on life. Songs about the exuberance of youth and one which even talks about channelling teenage aggression in the right direction.

Modality:

Therapeutic Music

Health Condition:

Depression

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An artist’s healing session for women

Published:	February 18, 2010
Source:	The Register Citizen
Location:	United States (Connecticut)
Category:	Event

Dr. Leesa Sklover, a musician, therapist and artist, is offering A Women’s Circle at the Litchfield Community Center starting this month, and hopes to build a community of women focusing on their strengths and dreams, healing therapy and global awareness. Sklover, who runs a practice in nearby New Preston, says A Women’s Circle will provide “encouraging tools for inspiration, strength and creativity in personal and global, dreams and goals. We focus on lifestyle, community and world change.”

The first session of the women’s group will be held on Feb. 23, with subsequent meetings on March 23, April 27 and May 25, all from 7 to 8:30 p.m. She has scheduled inspiring guest speakers for each month’s meeting and plans to use inspirational teachings, writing, poetry, art, music therapy, art therapy and yoga as well as lifestyle coaching to help participants find their focus.

Person(s) Referenced:

Leesa Sklover-Filgate

Modality:

Sound Therapy

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Music therapy, the best form of healing

Published:	February 20, 2010
Source:	Sunday Observer
Location:	Sri Lanka
Category:	Health
Media:	Photo(s)

Have you ever noticed how you immediately relax after a hard day’s work when you listen to soft music? After a strong bout of negative emotion, haven’t you found yourself listening to easy music to calm your senses? If you’re one of those people who is ‘healed’ by good music, then don’t you think that doctors should use it to treat patients?

For many diseases or health conditions, music therapy is now becoming a valuable tool in healing and aiding in the healing process internationally. Taking this type of therapy forward in Sri Lanka is Dr. Samith Siritunga of the National Health Institute, Kalutara who has been researching into this area for some time.

Modality:

Music Therapy

Therapeutic Music

Health Condition:

Heart Illness

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Healing with Sound: An Interview with Christine M. Grimm

Published:	February 20, 2010
Source:	Santa Barbara Independent
Location:	United States (California)
Category:	Interview

As I drove through the morning rain to meet Christine Grimm in her cozy cottage in Montecito, I was picturing a standard sit-down interview: me asking the questions, her answering them. Instead, in the two hours I spent with her, I found myself drumming, dancing, speaking into a voice analysis microphone, “toning” my voice to RA frequencies, and experiencing the healing harmonies of tuning forks. At the end of the session, I had the opportunity to ask this sound healing pioneer some questions about her practice.

Person(s) Referenced:

Christine M. Grimm

Sharry Edwards

Elaine Thompson

Fabien Maman

John Beaulieu

Steffan Heydon

Modality:

Sound Healing

Cusco Healing Center

Contact Us

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Phone: (84) 974-292 739 (84) 974-287069

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Music Therapy Gives Voice to the Voiceless

Published:	February 21, 2010
Source:	Science Now
Category:	Health

It’s an impressive video. An elderly man in thick eyeglasses and a blue shirt sits in a wheelchair. A therapist sits across from him, off-camera. She tries to get him to say he’s thirsty, but he can’t produce the words. Several years ago, the man had a stroke that damaged the part of his brain that lets him talk, a condition known as aphasia.

Then, slowly, things begin to change. The therapist starts humming a simple, haunting melody: two notes at the same pitch, a third a bit higher, then back down. “I am thi-i-rsty,” she sings. Resting her hand on the table, she taps the man’s hand in time, encouraging him to sing along. “I am thirsty,” he sings, in harmony. She sings the sentence; he sings it back. She says the sentence. He says it back. What would you say on a hot day like today, she asks. “I am thirsty,” he answers. In a matter of minutes, a stroke patient who’s been unable to speak for years has learned to express a basic human need.

Organization(s) Referenced:

Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory

Person(s) Referenced:

Gottfried Schlaug

Modality:

Melodic Intonation Therapy

Health Condition:

Aphasia

Neurologic Disorder

Additional Coverage:

Wall Street Journal

CNN Health

Discover Magazine

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Music on the mind: CSU department connects music to brain activity, healing

Published:	February 25, 2010
Source:	Rocky Mountain Collegian
Location:	United States (Colorado)
Category:	Health
Media:	Photo(s)

In a windowless room of the University Center for the Arts Tuesday sat patients of a group meeting to undergo a less common form of physical therapy. Everyone in the group shared a common trait; they all have Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills, speech and other functions of the brain.

Group members stood next to a wall, just in case they lost their balance, and turned their heads from side to side to the rhythm of a song being played on a piano in the corner of the room. The therapy session, headed by department research associate Ruth Rice and clinical coordinator Sarah Johnson, takes place every other Tuesday in the Center for Biomedical Research in Music in the UCA.

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Local jam session allows teens with disabilities musical outlet

Published:	February 23, 2010
Source:	MSU State News
Location:	United States (Michigan)
Category:	Health

When Jamie Rahrig’s 5-year-old son Jackson was born with Down syndrome, she realized there were many opportunities offered for young children with disabilities to participate in interactive learning programs, but not many options for teenagers. Rahrig experienced firsthand the benefits of how enriching musical therapy was by getting her son involved as a baby. After brainstorming many ideas with MSU music therapist Cindy Edgerton, the monthly event Together…Let’s Jam! was born.

“My son loves music and a lot of people with Down syndrome do too, so we thought having a type of rock ‘n’ roll session for people with disabilities would be a good way for people in the community to come together and have a fun, unique experience,” Rahrig said. Although MSU has put a moratorium on the music therapy program, the MSU Community Music School, or CMS, will continue to offer music therapy services to the community, Edgerton said.

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Phone: (84) 974-292 739 (84) 974-287069

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