“Quick Fix” is a buzz phrase, and for good reason. Before antibiotics, people died of infections. Before aspirin, people had to take time to comfort and nurture a head in pain (although the latter option is coming into style again, thankfully). Now we can pop a pill and be 100% in 15 minutes. Not to mention, the advances western medicine has made in trauma and emergency is amazing. In fact, music therapy paired with trauma and emergency care is extremely effective, too.

But maybe if we could take some sort of musical pill to take all of our ailments away~ Emergency musical surgery? Take 2 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, 1 Jimmy Buffet, and call me in the morning?

I’m not saying that doesn’t work for some people. But the professional practice of music therapy is quite a bit more involved than taking a quick listen to cure your ailments. Let me preface my post by acknowledging that there are some decent, effective, quick, individualized ways to reduce stress and clear the mind. Some recordings of guided meditation, relaxation exercises, calming music, and music for entrainment have gotten great reviews by listeners. Some music therapists recommend certain recorded music to effect stress and the mind, entrain brain waves, etc. I constantly see on Twitter “Oh Justin Bieber #musictherapy to ease my mind during traffic.” I say YES to that! (Well, I would prefer a nice Prokofiev symphony or Babatunde drumming, but to each their own.)

Music therapy, the profession~ The difference with the profession of music therapy is that it’s an allied health profession based upon 60 years of quantitative research with Standards of Practice and a Code of Ethics regulated by our national association. Music therapy is more like physical therapy or occupational therapy. When you go in for physical therapy, you know it’s going to take time to heal. You know that you’ll need to go through a thorough assessment so the therapist can make good decisions about interventions to put into your treatment plan. Then you’ll have follow up visits, where the therapist documents your progress, and possibly modifies the treatment plan. Eventually you will have made enough progress to be discharged from the treatment plan.

Treatment and documentation~ It’s true that music therapists occasionally provide single-session treatments, but keep in mind that the entire process above fits into that session as well. The key is documenting progress of the individual or group. In addition, we know from the research from birth to end of life, that live music is more effective than recorded. So, more often than not, music therapists use live music whether to facilitate music-making, music-listening, song-writing, relaxation exercise, or another creative strategy to accommodate the needs of the group or individual.

Impressive claims~ I’m always looking for products in addition to the regular practice of music therapy to help my clients. I recently stumbled upon a website through Twitter. The site claimed that their research-based, clinical-tested, neuro-technology music entrained your brain waves to reduce stress, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. Basically, “Take two tracks of our specialized mp3′s and call us in the morning.” I listened to the music, and I actually liked it. It sounded like a mashup between classical and techno. As an open-minded music therapist, I would like to know whether I would recommend their products. I emailed them and asked for the specific research article(s) that backed up their claim. Here’s how our communication went:

Me: Hi there, Will you please let me know in which peer-reviewed research journals [your music] research is published? I’d love to get a full copy of some of your [music]-specific studies.

Them: I believe the main journal is Nature.

Me: I need the exact reference, including journal name, edition, volume, month, year of publication.

Them: I’m sorry but I don’t have access to those details, I’m sure the journal allows for easy search based queries.

Me: I have already searched the journal Nature to no avail. Please send me the details as soon as possible so that I can decide whether or not to recommend your product to my clients.

Them: [no answer after several weeks]

This product was a gimmick. In order to establish some integrity with a potential customer, you’ve got to give her what she asks for, and this doesn’t cut it. Interestingly enough, their marketing had gone viral on Twitter and probably other social medias for a week or so. If they do in fact help some customers, that is wonderful, and I wouldn’t stand in the way. However, I’m not sold, personally, and I would not recommend their products.

Point being~ Trust a music therapist when it comes to the topic of music and health! Ask a music therapist, or do some research yourself before jumping into a product with impressive claims.

Comments? Ideas? Feel free to share below. I’d love to hear from you!

Here are some more MythBusters:

#9 Music Therapy is Therapy for Musicians, Right?
#8 Making Music is Just for Kids and Professionals
#7 Drumming is for Hippies Only
#6 Mozart Makes Your Kid a GENIUS
#5 You Either Have Rhythm or You Don’t

Image above courtesy of Carlos Porto.