World Music Therapy Day on March 1 every year is a day for people all around the world to celebrate the healing power of music. People have always known and spoken about the power and benefits of music. Music therapy exists as a clinical field. Music therapists use music to help people, especially children, people with disabilities, people with mental issues, and the elderly. Music therapy is an established health profession where music is used therapeutically to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs. Music therapy isn’t just about therapists playing or recommending certain types of tailored music to soothe their clients and meet their needs. Music therapy actually allows people who may find it difficult to communicate through words to communicate through music instead.
History
World Music Therapy Day was launched by the World Federation of Music Therapy (W.F.M.T.) in 2016. The W.F.M.T. defines music therapy as the use of music and/or its musical elements by a qualified music therapist with a client or group. The World Federation of Music Therapy was formally established in Italy in 1985 by 10 founding members from all over the world. They were from Argentina, Italy, France, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Germany, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Poland.
Music therapy has existed long before the formation of the World Federation of Music Therapy. In 5000 B.C., Egyptian priest-physicians used music for healing. Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle also argued about the benefits of music for emotions and highlighted its possible usage in treating mental disorders. Hippocrates played music for his mental patients as far back as 400 B.C. Music therapy has also been a part of many cultures. Aesculapius, son of the ancient Greek god of music Apollo, was said to cure diseases of the mind through music and songs. In the U.S., Native American medicine men used chants and dances to heal patients. The same can be seen in many other cultures where local medicine men and native doctors used incantations, musical chants, and dances to cure patients, especially those with mental disorders.
Over time, music therapy began to gain more standing in the field of medicine, especially with the works of 16th and 17th-century scholars like Ernst Anton Nicolai, Michael Ernest Ettmuller, and Robert Burton. These theories were also seen in practice during World Wars I and II, when musicians would go from hospital to hospital, playing music for soldiers suffering from emotional and physical trauma. By the 20th century, music therapy gained acceptance as a field of therapeutic medicine.
Credit: National Today