Exciting Developments in Music and Sound Therapy Research

Motion Detection Music by the Disabled

February 23, 2012

One of the great things about Social Media is that it can bring to

your attention amazing things about which you would have never

heard without

it. 

Such is the case with the work of Robert Wechsler and his team at Bauhaus University in Germany.  This diverse group of researchers, musicians and engineers are working with video and motion sensors to create an environment in which profoundly disabled people can literally make music.  It involves contracting muscles (generating motion) and then a device turns kinetic energy into sound waves which then feedback onto the creation of still more motion and still more sound.  The group is looking for musicians and therapists to work on their pilot study.  Visit their website and be amazed and inspired by the incredible healing sound of music made by those who were by this given the opportunity to make their own!

Music Healing by Composing

January 26, 2012

An article appeared in today’s issue of The Washington Post.

For those who have  enjoyed similar experiences, the healing that Kenneth Sargent experiences from music is not unusual.  But for many people who are suffering from PTSD, depression, or a myriad of other stress related illnesses, this amazing modality is largely unknown or ignored.  Whether it is by listening to the soft strains of new age music, experiencing the physical intensity of vibroacoustic harp music, or writing songs that purge one’s memories, there is no doubt that the healing power of music is a powerful tool available to virtually everyone.

To See the article on the Washington Post website, click HERE

Listening to Music makes Surgery Less Stressful

April 1, 2012

While this is certainly no news to

Dr. Alice Cash or to the thousands of

patients who have benefited from it

during surgery, a recent study conducted

at the John Radcliffe Hospital in England

confirmed that playing music to patients

while they go under the knife reduces their anxiety and may even aid healing.  READ MORE about the study published in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Music Therapy May Help Depression

April 6, 2012

Music therapy can be used to improve treatment

of depression, at least in the short term, say researchers

in Finland.  According to Dr Mike Crawford, who

specializes in mental health services at Imperial College

London,  "The results suggest that it can improve the

mood and general functioning of people with depression.

Music-making is social, pleasurable and meaningful.

It has been argued that music making engages people in ways that words may simply not be able to." READ MORE

In her experience as a teacher and healing music practitioner, Kate Kunkel has also seen the often astounding changes in students who have learned to play the harp or the piano.  In one particularly powerful case, a 30 year old mom, Amy, suffered terribly from agoraphobia.  She was so afraid to leave her home, her mother-in-law had to take her young children to school and to any extracurricular activities. 

On one of her rare outings, she met Kate.  Kate agreed to go to Amy’s home to give her harp lessons with the understood goal of helping Amy  shake her fear and depression.  Within a couple of months, Amy was feeling confident enough to leave her home and come to Kate’s studio for lessons.  It became increasingly evident that the more time she spent playing, the happier she became, and soon, she was able to leave her home for many other activities. 

Within two years, Amy had broken free of her fear, and had started a business baking cakes for special occasions.  When she moved to Colorado, she even began playing harp in a restaurant on the weekends.  In a note to Kate she said, “I don’t know where I would be without the harp.  It changed my life.”