Music Therapy for Healthy Children and Families
by Jamie Blumenthal, MA,MT-BC
What is Music Therapy?
Over the last 20 years, I have frequently been asked the question
“what is music therapy?” People are familiar with music and therapy
but somehow when you combine the two words “music therapy”, it seems
to challenge, confuse, fascinate and motivate people to ask that
question.
Have you ever felt more relaxed when listening to music? Have you
ever listened to music that instantaneously brought up strong feelings
or brought you back to a special time from the past? Have you ever
felt a sense of inner strength or spirituality when listening to
music? Have you ever sung a lullaby to help comfort a crying baby
or sung the alphabet song to a young child who is just learning
the alphabet?
If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions, then you have
experienced the power of music. Music can evoke emotions, memories,
and spiritual or social connectedness, as well as provide a means
of expressing feelings and a sense of safety, security and comfort
to young children. Music especially provides a fun way for children
to learn. It is the one medium that cuts through the boundaries
of age, culture, disability and disease.
Traditionally music therapists have worked in institutions such
as hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, state hospitals, and schools
for children with special needs. But as the public has become more
interested in “alternative” health care, the benefits of music for
relaxation and stress reduction have been recognized and promoted.
As more research is demonstrating the benefits of music on brain
development, music therapists are now bringing their work and expertise
into the mainstream.
There are endless ways you can bring music into your child’s life
(and your own life) to enhance well-being and quality of life. Let’s
begin with pregnancy.
Music Therapy for Pregnancy
Music Therapists are specially trained to teach pregnant women
how to use music for relaxation and as a reminder of visual imagery.
Music can be a means of changing a woman’s perception of pain during
labor and delivery, thus eliminating or reducing the amount of anesthesia
that is used during the birth process. The music therapist can often
accompany the pregnant woman through labor and delivery.
During pregnancy, music can also be used for the baby. Prior to
birth, babies may respond to music while in the womb. From personal
experience, my son always kicked the exact spot on my abdomen that
my guitar was touching. He would kick to each strum that I played
on the guitar. It seemed that he became more active when he heard
and felt the music. My daughter had a different response. She became
quieter, less active when she heard and felt the music. They both
continued their same womb responses after birth. Thus my son needed
quiet to go to sleep and my daughter needed quiet music.
Lullabies
It is no mistake that lullabies from around the world all have
a similar tempo. The tempo of a lullaby matches the tempo of the
human heartbeat. Lullabies can be used to comfort crying babies
and help them feel secure when going to sleep. When we sing lullabies
to our children, we are nurturing them and communicating our love.
Incorporating lullabies into a bedtime ritual can help children
make the difficult transition into sleep. Lullabies can also be
used if a child wakes up at night, has a nightmare or is sleeping
away from home. With a lullaby in the background, babies and children
can feel even more emotionally secure and safe when being held close
to your body while you gently dance around a room or rock slowly
in a rocking chair.
Crying is Musical
As parents, we become “in tune” with the sound of our baby’s cry.
We know when it is our baby crying and if the cry is communicating
hunger, a wet diaper, feeling tired or feeling pain. A baby’s cry
is the beginning of speech and language. As amazing as it may seem,
the cry is quite musical and the beginning of singing and discovering
our voice. Each cry has a specific musical pitch and is held for
a specific length of time (like singing). Eventually the cries become
vocal sounds, squeels and babbling. Parents have often found that
by exactly imitating their baby’s vocal sounds the baby will begin
to make more vocal sounds. Before you know it, you’re having a conversation
with your baby in “nonsense” sounds. Even very young babies are
aware that you are communicating with them. They love the attention.
This is the beginning of learning how to talk and how to have a
conversation. Eventually the sounds become familiar - da, ba, ma
etc. These sounds can be incorporated into familiar songs. Instead
of singing the words to a song, you can sing ba ba ba, or da da
da or ma ma ma, or that old standby, la la la. You might be surprised
to find your baby singing along because the “words” are familiar.
Soon your baby will combine these syllables into words that will
be used to communicate thoughts and feelings.
Drumming for Children
In my experience of working with children as young as 6 months,
I have yet to come across a child who is not able to play an instrument
to the beat of a song, even if it is for only 2-4 beats. The drumbeat
is the human way of imitating the heartbeat. Remember that a mother’s
heartbeat is what a baby has heard and felt for the first nine months
while in the womb. We never lose our response to this comforting
sound. Even Alzheimer’s patients will respond to the beat of a drum
when nothing else will reach them.
Children love to move to the beat of a drum. You can use different
rhythms to indicate how to move. Play fast and children can run.
Play very slow steady beats for big steps, softly for tiptoeing,
silence for stopping, or make up your own. Doing this type of activity
with children helps to develop listening skills, sound discrimination,
awareness of starting and stopping (this could become part of safety
awareness), as well as develop gross motor skills. You can do the
drumming and have your child do the movement or better yet reverse
it. Children don’t have a lot of opportunities to be in control.
Let your child have the drum and you can do the movement. They quickly
become aware of their “power” in a very positive way. They also
learn about rhythm by doing this. This is a great activity for rainy
days.
Music for Relaxation
Calm, quiet music can be used to reduce stress and enhance relaxation.
The relaxed state induced by music is reflected in changes in brain-wave
patterns. Simply having relaxing music in the background can change
the way you feel. You can play relaxation music in the morning to
reduce the stress of the morning routine. I sometimes like to play
it around dinnertime when I’m tired, hungry and stressed. I find
it helps to calm the children as well as me. Relaxation music can
be used to reduce anxiety prior to surgery or in a medical situation
where you feel anxious. Studies have shown that blood pressure is
more stable when this kind of music is used before, during and after
surgery. Relaxation music can be used when you have difficulty falling
asleep or staying asleep. There are relaxation and guided imagery
tapes for children who feel stressed or are having difficulty sleeping
Music for Education
Music can be used to teach and improve speech and language. Music
incorporates rhythm, pitch and words, which are all part of speech
and language. Both sides of the brain are used with music, so information
can be learned through music and eventually transferred into speech
and language.
Popular songs can be used to teach children different skills. I
taught my children how to spell their names by changing the words
to the song “BINGO” For example: There is a boy who has black hair
and Tyler is his name T Y L E R (repeat) etc. As you already know,
most children learn the alphabet by singing the alphabet song.
Learning to play an instrument can provide a sense of self-esteem
as well as help to develop important skills. Reading music helps
develop reading skills, eye hand coordination and math skills. Playing
an instrument develops fine motor coordination, and if the instrument
is a wind instrument, oral motor skills can become more developed.
A recent study of preschoolers showed that private piano lessons
enhanced their spatial-temporal reasoning.
Listening to music helps to develop the brain. Research conducted
by a group of neuroscientists found that listening to Mozart enhances
spatial-temporal reasoning in college students. A recent article
in the New York Times revealed a proposal by the governor of Georgia
to spend over $100,000 of state money to provide every newborn a
CD of classical music, due to the positive effects on brain development
and spatial and mathematical skills.
See Music
for Babies, CDs that have developed to enhance brain development
in babies.
Music to Enhance Relationships
Singing or playing music together as a family or with friends can
be a fun way to enjoy being together. There are many songs for young
children that have hand motions or movements. You can do the motions
hand over hand with your child. They love the physical touch, the
play, the eye contact and most of all the love that comes from being
with their parents. As a family, you can go to concerts or other
performances together or make your own music at home.
Music to Express Emotions
As children grow older and listen to more music, they begin to
have preferences for certain kinds of music. Music may become part
of a person’s identity during adolescence. We all have favorite
songs that we identify with. These songs may express an emotion
that we feel or talk about an experience that we are coping with.
Music is an expression of emotion and the words an expression of
thought. Keep in touch with the music that your child listens to.
Periodically join your child in listening to his or her favorite
music. Ask why the song is important, what are the favorite lines
of the songs. This is a way to communicate with your child and get
a sense of things that you might not know about your child otherwise.
Music for Special Needs
As mentioned, music therapists are now providing services for the
general public. Children with special needs utilize a large portion
of our services. Music therapy uses music as a vehicle to achieve
nonmusical goals. When a child has special needs, music may be one
of the most powerful ways to reach her and to help her to function
at her maximum potential.
Jamie Blumenthal provides music therapy services to schools, agencies
and private individuals. She also provides in-services to parents,
organizations and health care professionals. For questions about
music therapy or for more information, Jamie can be contacted at
Family Music Connection: North Bay Music Therapy Services, PO Box
869, Windsor, CA 95492 (707) 836-8358 or
Gblumen401@aol.com.
F. H. Rauscher et al., “Music and spatial
task performance,” Nature
365 (1993): 611
F. H. Rauscher et al., “Listening to
Mozart enhances spatial-temporal reasoning: towards a neurophysiological
basis,” Neuroscience Letters
185 (1995): 44-47.
F. H. Rauscher et al., “Music training
causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal
reasoning.” Neurological Research
19 (1997): 2-8.
K. Sack, “Georgia’s governor seeks
music start for babies,” New
York Times January 15, 1998.
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Use the information provided on this site as an educational resource for determining your options and making your own informed choices. It is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific illness.