Music therapy

Music therapists have found music stimulates reactions in people that can change their mood, make sleeping easier and even create urges to spend money.

“Music therapy is when we use music to help people function better,” music therapy professor Frederick Tims said.

Music therapy has evolved over the last several decades and has become a significant form of personal therapy. The research done on MSU’s campus has proven significant benefits to the human mind can be achieved by utilizing music in some way.

Most research estimates 97 percent of the population responds favorably to music, and there are very few areas of interest that such a large amount of people respond favorably to, said Tims, who also is chair of MSU’s Music Therapy Area.

Since music has the opportunity to affect such a large segment of the population, professionals such as Tims have begun using music as an advantageous therapeutic tool.

MSU’s music therapy program began in 1944 to help soldiers returning from World War II who had to spend time in the hospital, Tims said.

Music can be used to promote health and make people happier, but choosing the right music is important. A music therapist must know when to select and perform certain music, Tims said.

“Sometimes the reactions of patients are more powerful when we use music the patient has listened to before,” he said. “Other times we don’t want to use music the patient is familiar with because we don’t want the pre-associations that are with the music.”

Music has several classifications — including happy and sad — that can affect the listener in different ways, Tims said.

“We even know that from the advertising research that when people are in a more happy mood, they’re more likely to purchase the product,” Tims said. “A lot of things are impulse buys, like which kind of sodas that you drink and everything and so the commercials usually put that in a happy mood.”

From that information, Tims said they use similar techniques in music therapy.

“We know that when someone is in a more pleasant mood, they’re more likely to be creative and to solve their problems, etc., instead of just ruminate on problems,” said Tims. “Other times we do want to use very sad music, to help people reflect on certain things. So we choose music for the person’s needs at that moment or they help us choose.”

Music therapy research has found music can increase melatonin, a major stress hormone, and helps people sleep at night, Tims said.

“Strangely enough, nearly always when people listen to music they produce more melatonin,” Tims said.

In addition to that research, Tims said music therapists have also been able to produce human growth hormone with music therapy.

“We know that music is stimulating people, even with Alzheimer’s disease, because we can measure norepinephrine and epinephrine,” he said.

Although there is a lot of neurological evidence to support the idea that listening can heal the brain, music therapy also can make people think in ways regular therapy can’t.

“Music therapists like to say that it used to be that in therapy you couldn’t discuss things like spirituality and music therapists kept saying, ‘If we make music with people they get into a spiritual realm. It’s just inevitable,’” Tims said. “So now I think we take advantage of that and use that as a therapeutic tool to help people get onto thinking about themselves.”

Working out

Many students use music as a way to make working out easier or more enjoyable.

“I honestly can’t think of times I haven’t worked out to music,” kinesiology and psychology senior Whitney Harrison said.

Harrison, who is a hip-hop instructor at IM Sports-East, said she’s been dancing to various kinds of music since she was 5 years old.

“As a dancer I tend to listen to the beat of the music instead of the words,” Harrison said.

“The beat and rhythm helps a lot when I’m trying to work out.”

Harrison said she uses different types of music for different parts of her workout.

“If you’re in an up-tempo mood and you want to get a good up-tempo workout to get your heart rate up, then I would say hip-hop,” she said. “For cooldown, you might have a slow song.”

It’s important to use a soothing song for a cooldown because it helps bring your heart rate down and relaxes you, Harrison said.

Microbiology junior Megan Hoban said she used to work out without music until she joined Harrison’s hip-hop class.

Hoban said she chose the class because she had never danced before and she likes hip-hop music. As a result, she said she has found the class to be a great workout.

Besides sharing an interest in dancing to Ciara, Harrison and Hoban both said they believe music can be used for more than just a good time.

“It takes your mind away from everything else going on and you focus on what you’re doing to that song,” Harrison said. “You are in a totally different world.”

Studying

In addition to using music as a tool for working out or for personal therapy, music also can help students study.

Microbiology senior Tim Stachelski said he listens to music all the time, especially when he studies.

“If I feel like I’m working through a problem, I’ll generally listen to classical, but if it’s retention stuff it’ll probably be more fast-paced, like beat-oriented, so like techno or rap,” he said.

“Alternative is if I’m just in a bad mood and I just want to rock it out in my head.

“I do know that it fills a void in the back of my head when I’m studying. It keeps my mind on the subject.”

Stachelski also has his electric guitar nearby to play during his periodic study breaks.

“I’ll just rock out, I’ll just I don’t know, release that energy that I can have while I’m studying, otherwise I’m going to end up on (YouTube.com or Facebook.com) or something,” he said.

When it comes to studying, Cliff Walker listens to jazz or R&B. He said that he does not care for the hard beat of hip-hop while he’s studying.

“Because that hard beat can be distracting you can start hearing the beat, the beat will take over your thoughts and you won’t be able to think about why you’re trying to get some homework done,” he said.

Among Walker’s favorite artists to listen to while studying are Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Al Green.

In his first years at MSU, Walker studied jazz saxophone, so making music was his homework.

“When I was playing, music helped me get my point across in ways that talking and body language and other forms of communication couldn’t,” he said.

Walker used music as a an outlet for his emotions and his creativity.

“Because I’m from the inner city, you’re surrounded by all these negative things and ‘inner city’ brings a negative connotation, but with music, you see music is a universal language,” he said.

“So it helps you get away from all the stuff … that’s affecting you back wherever you are. And it just puts you in a spot. It’s semi-euphoric.”