The article “Soul Therapy” illustrates the attitude and perspective of someone who works with music therapists in a hospital setting. The author, Chafic Karam, is a doctor in the oncology department of a hospital and from the very beginning he states his skepticism and uncertainty of music therapy sessions. For example, he writes, “According to him, the vibrations transmitted from the harp would relax the spastic muscles (In my head I was thinking, ‘Have they not heard of Baclofen or Botox’?).” However, after bringing one of his patients to a music therapy session and watching how the patient reacted to the music, he said, “What I failed to give my patient was being provided by the music therapists.”
The music therapy session helped the patients accelerate the healing process and not think about the pain. I have personally experienced times when I am feeling down. After I have been able to listen to an upbeat song, I feel much better and my attitude towards life in general has changed. For example, when I am exercising I listen to very rhythmic and energetic music because that motivates me to run faster and sometimes even longer than if I was exercising without music. It is appreciated that the author realizes that music and music therapy can change your mood because his attitude towards music therapy at the beginning of the article was very negative.
My favorite part of the article was when the author described his curiosity and doubts of music therapy sessions with, “I imagined myself in a room with wannabe musicians, banging my head on the wall.” After talking to a music therapy intern, he decided to take one of his terminally ill patients to the session. The author describes his experience step by step through the session. At the beginning, he states, “I actually felt embarrassed to go to music therapy” and half way through the session he realized that his patient had been given something by the music therapists that he could not provide, happiness. “He was dying and he knew it; but he was still happy.” The display of happiness the patient showed made the author realize how important music therapy is to patients. As a music therapy student, I have experienced many different sessions with different types of populations. At the end of the session, I have realized that the client/client’s attitude has changed and changed for the better. That is why I have chosen this profession.
Much like the response from another music therapy student, Amethyst Jamieson, it is always great to hear that an intelligent person has grown to believe that music therapy really works and helps patients in a way that sometimes medicine cannot. In my own life as a music therapy student, I am always confronted with the question “What are you doing now?” my response is usually always “I am in school for music therapy.” The reaction I get is, “Oh really, what is that?” or “is that like art therapy?” This article reassures me that even though some people don’t believe or know what music therapy is, choosing to pursue a career in music therapy was the right choice for me because it does truly help people in many different ways.
About Catherine E Larson
Biography
Equivalency student at the University of Louisville
The article “Soul Therapy” illustrates the attitude and perspective of someone who works with music therapists in a hospital setting. The author, Chafic Karam, is a doctor in the oncology department of a hospital and from the very beginning he states his skepticism and uncertainty of music therapy sessions. For example, he writes, “According to him, the vibrations transmitted from the harp would relax the spastic muscles (In my head I was thinking, ‘Have they not heard of Baclofen or Botox’?).” However, after bringing one of his patients to a music therapy session and watching how the patient reacted to the music, he said, “What I failed to give my patient was being provided by the music therapists.”
The music therapy session helped the patients accelerate the healing process and not think about the pain. I have personally experienced times when I am feeling down. After I have been able to listen to an upbeat song, I feel much better and my attitude towards life in general has changed. For example, when I am exercising I listen to very rhythmic and energetic music because that motivates me to run faster and sometimes even longer than if I was exercising without music. It is appreciated that the author realizes that music and music therapy can change your mood because his attitude towards music therapy at the beginning of the article was very negative.
My favorite part of the article was when the author described his curiosity and doubts of music therapy sessions with, “I imagined myself in a room with wannabe musicians, banging my head on the wall.” After talking to a music therapy intern, he decided to take one of his terminally ill patients to the session. The author describes his experience step by step through the session. At the beginning, he states, “I actually felt embarrassed to go to music therapy” and half way through the session he realized that his patient had been given something by the music therapists that he could not provide, happiness. “He was dying and he knew it; but he was still happy.” The display of happiness the patient showed made the author realize how important music therapy is to patients. As a music therapy student, I have experienced many different sessions with different types of populations. At the end of the session, I have realized that the client/client’s attitude has changed and changed for the better. That is why I have chosen this profession.
Much like the response from another music therapy student, Amethyst Jamieson, it is always great to hear that an intelligent person has grown to believe that music therapy really works and helps patients in a way that sometimes medicine cannot. In my own life as a music therapy student, I am always confronted with the question “What are you doing now?” my response is usually always “I am in school for music therapy.” The reaction I get is, “Oh really, what is that?” or “is that like art therapy?” This article reassures me that even though some people don’t believe or know what music therapy is, choosing to pursue a career in music therapy was the right choice for me because it does truly help people in many different ways.