By Henrylito D. Tacio

"WITHOUT music," Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "life would be a mistake." H.A. Overstreet has the same view in mind when he commented, "I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights; and you have yours. But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, in all times and in all places. Music is the only means whereby we feel these emotions in their universality."

The above observations are still true - even in these days of crass materialism and computers. In recent years, however, medical experts and scientists are singing a new tune that's probably unheard of by most people: Music heals.

When her husband died of a car accident a couple of years ago, Linda turned to music to help ease her grief. She found some solace in one particular song, "Someone To Watch Over Me."

It made the sudden loss a little easier to take for her and her family, made it feel as if her late husband were still close by. "We've always said ever since that time that he's looking out for all of us," was how she described it. "We've said, 'We have someone to watch over us.'"

Dr. Oliver Sacks, an American neuroscientist and author of Awakenings, reports that patients with neurological disorders who cannot talk or move are often able to sing, and sometimes even dance, to music.

"I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders," he says, citing Parkinson's and Alzheimer's as examples "because of its unique capacity to organize or reorganize cerebral function when it has been damaged."

Advocates of music therapy say music also can help ease the trauma of grieving, lessen depression and provide an outlet for people who are otherwise withdrawn. Dr. Clive Robbins, of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Clinic who uses music therapy to help 100 handicapped children learn and to relate and communicate with others, points out: "Almost all children respond to music. Music is an 'open-sesame,' and if you can use it appropriately, you can reach into that child's potential for development."

Dr. Barbara Crowe, past president of the U.S. National Association for Music Therapy, agrees. She says, "(Music therapy) can make the difference between withdrawal and awareness, between isolation and interaction, between chronic pain and comfort - between demoralization and dignity."

Mathew Lee of the Rusk Institute in New York contends, "Music therapy has been an invaluable tool with many of our rehabilitation patients. There is no question that the relationship of music and medicine will blossom because of the advent of previously unavailable techniques that can now show the effects of music."

"The healing power of music can be a powerful instrument to use during surgery, procedures or treatment," according to an Ohio State University Medical Center publication on the program. The publication goes on to say that music can relax the mind and body; decrease stress and feelings of anxiety; reduce distress from treatment side effects; reduce boredom and isolation; decrease pain, nausea, and vomiting; develop a more positive attitude; and increase emotional energy to deal with stressful situations.

By the way, aside from children, others who can benefit much from music therapy are adolescents, adults, and the elderly with mental health needs, developmental and learning disabilities, Alzheimer's disease and other aging related conditions, substance abuse problems, brain injuries, physical disabilities, and acute and chronic pain, including mothers in labor.

Ninety-year-old Ida Goldman can attest to this "Before I had surgery, they told me I could never walk again. But when I sat and listened to music, I forgot all about the pain," she was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Actually, the idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior is as least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The 20th century discipline began after World War I and World War II when community musicians of all types in the United States, both amateur and professional, went to veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars.

The patients' notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals. It was soon evident that the hospital musicians need some prior training before entering the facility and so the demand grew for a college curriculum. In 1944, the first music therapy degree program in the world was offered by the Michigan State University.

Studies have shown that music is used in general hospitals to: alleviate pain in conjunction with anesthesia or pain medication: elevate patients'
mood and counteract depression; promote movement for physical rehabilitation; calm or sedate, often to induce sleep; counteract apprehension or fear; and lesson muscle tension for the purpose of relaxation, including the autonomic nervous system.

Unknowingly, music can relieve stress, whether the stress comes from the workplace or something more serious - like a major illness. Now a leading pharmaceutical and healthcare company is distributing a video used in research done by a Loma Linda University researcher who has studied the role music plays in reducing bad hormones caused by stress and pain.

Dr. Lee S. Berk, an assistant research professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, recently told the Society of Behavioral Medicine about music's effect on psycho-neuroimmunology - or how physical and emotional states relate to the human immune system. "We know from our study that (music) ping the stress hormones, Berk said. "It's more than a distraction as in taking the patient's attention away."

By the way, can music therapy techniques be applied by healthy individuals as well? Healthy individuals can use music for stress reduction via active music making, such as drumming, as well as passive listening for relaxation. "Music is often a vital support for physical exercise,"
medical experts say. "Music therapy assisted labor and delivery may also be included in this category since pregnancy is regarded as a normal part of women's life cycles."

Of course, medical experts remain cautious until science can firmly establish the healing effects of music. Music therapy is not meant to replace standard medical care, only to complement it. "To our knowledge, there hasn't been any documented scientific research showing that listening to music will make you more healthy," admits Dr. Matthew Peterson of the Music Intelligence Neural Development (MIND). "But it certainly can't hurt."

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