by Irene Chiang
Some said that human emotions affect human congnition itself and cognition toward behaviors as well. Therefore, once our emotions are transformed by creative and/or artistic expressions, everything within and around us will be transformed as well. There’s been several articles about dance/movement therapy and counseling in this blog, and now let’s briefly talk about another form of expressive art therapies: music therapy.
The story had started long long time ago. In 500 BC, Greek philosopher Pythagoras considered that certain rhythm and melodies were powerful in terms of educating people, cultivating the tempers and dispositions of human beings, and restoring the inner harmony. Aristotle, another famous Greek philosopher, believed that those who have lost control of their tempers will return to the normal emotional state after listening to ecstatic music.
In present day United States, there are nearly 80 universities offer music therapy program training undergraduate, graduate and doctorial students; about 4000 nationally registered music therapists provide services for psychiatric hospitals, general hospitals, hospitals specialized in gerontology, children’s hospitals, special education schools and various counseling centers. Music therapy, as an emerging multi-disciplinary subject integrating music, medicine and psychology in Asia, has enjoyed its prosperous development in this area for the past decade, espeically in Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Nowadays, there are music therapy associations in more than 200 countries worldwide, and the international conference is held bi-annually.
Currently, we are about to transform from the mere biomedical concepts (with single emphasis of organic diseases without concerning psychological and emotional needs) of the past into an equal emphasis of humanity and medicine. The aim of expressive art therapies, including music therapy, is to fulfill the various psychological and emotional needs of patients, so it is an emerging discipline of clinical application that concentrates on humanistic approaches. In some countries, music therapy is still on the stage of early development, which means it is an “emerging industry” with numerous and boundless opportunities for development. It is, like other expressive art therapies such as dance/movement therapy, deemed to become a highly developed profession in a country with large urban population.
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