Music As Medicine

By Cara Artman, River Blenders Chorus, Region 5

We’ve all had them. Those days when you don’t want to go to rehearsal but you do. You’re tired, cranky, worn out, stressed and the last thing you want at the end of a long day is to have your director tell you that you are singing flat, sharp, too fast, not fast enough, with no feeling or expressing the wrong feeling.

But then three hours later, you are relaxed, energetic, happy and wishing rehearsal could go on for another three hours because that is how revved up you are!

Why do you think that is? Sure many of us say it is seeing our friends and that we are doing something away from work and the family. These are definite factors, but we are forgetting one thing: THE MUSIC!

Just think about it … the music we produce and how powerful it really is. German poet Heinrich Heine once said, “Music is a strange thing. I would say it is a miracle. For it stands halfway between thought and phenomenon, between spirit and matter, a sort of nebulous mediator, like and unlike each of the things it mediates — spirit which requires manifestation in time and matter that can do without space.”

Many cultures throughout history have thought that music has healing powers, and the idea of music as medicine has been around as long as there has been music. Ancient Greek philosophers found music a necessity for the preservation of mental and physical health and as a way to restore areas of the body that were afflicted with disease. Plato believed, “musical training is a more potent instrument than any other because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful.”
Those beliefs still hold true today for many in the medical community. Studies show that music creates changes in metabolism, circulation, blood pressure and moods.

Music is also used to treat forms of mental illness including depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. Even when the mind is closed to everything else, music can become the means of communication and break down barriers.

The benefits of music only increase when you are an active participant. (Aren’t you glad you are a Sweet Adeline?!) Musical participation, such as singing, provides an escape from everyday problems, helps improve concentration and quickens the senses. It also fulfills our creative urge and creates a sense of accomplishment and overall pride.
Whether you realize it or not, “the voice is a powerful instrument, physically, mentally and emotionally,” says professional singer and teacher Nikki Slade. “In singing you are communicating with a higher intuitive awareness that we all have.” It’s been proven (and I think we can all attest to the fact) that singing can strengthen our self-confidence and self-evaluation of social worth. Psychiatrist Dr. Larry Culliford says, “There are hidden reserves of strength and hope, and indeed happiness, that singing somehow spontaneously helps people to find. It may be that this is one of the ways in which mind and body are interrelated.”

More and more, doctors are learning what we should already know: singing is valuable aerobic exercise (I knew I didn’t need to go running!) and it promotes better posture and breathing (thank you Betty Clipman for the Vocal Production Series). They are also realizing that singing releases endorphins in the body which relieves pain and reduces stress (even though it may not feel that way after practicing your contest set for three hours!).

If being an active member of Sweet Adelines isn’t multi-tasking, I don’t know what is. In one rehearsal without even realizing it, each of us is lowering our stress level, boosting our self-confidence and improving our breathing, all by ringing chords with our friends. The best thing is we can’t wait to do it again at the next rehearsal!

So the next time you are having a bad day, do your best to remember how rejuvenated you feel at the end of rehearsal, the encompassing benefits of singing and that the music you make truly is a potent and healing force.

“Music is in the air, music is all around us. You have only to reach out and take as much as you need.” — Sir Edward Elgar, composer

Cooper, P. (1999). Music and health. The Pharmaceutical Journal, 263, 990-991.

Moore, W. (2001, February 11). Good Vibrations. The Observer.

Staying in tune with music-impact of music on mental & physical health-includes related article on music and appetite. (1992). Vibrant Life.

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