Music can have a very powerful effect on people’s minds and emotions. They are often moved to tears at the movies by certain scenarios and the related musical accompaniment. Often in life we are not as aware of the music that generally surrounds us as we go from shop to shop or place to place, but often it is there subliminally in the background feeding into our subconscious.

Sometimes at the doctor’s surgery or at the dentist’s they have calming music playing in the background to facilitate the right mental response in patients. Even in China now in certain places they play music in the background as large groups of people perform various Tai Chi forms together, as a way of helping people relax and focus better.

We would have to admit that life without music would be a strange place.

Music therapists are often in great demand working with people who have disabilities, learning difficulties or in stroke recovery classes, helping their clients regain and develop their abilities. They often work in a one to one situation designing specific musical activities for the individual being worked with. These activities can range from singing to banging drums. In all cases there is the use of tonality and rhythm, which are two of the basic composites of music.

People with vocal problems have been helped by experimenting with singing and people with balance and coordination problems have been aided by the rhythmic challenges of drumming and playing with percussive instruments.

Therapy is often perceived by some people as something that only those with problems have to undertake. What they do not realise is that there is the therapeutic effect of whatever therapy is being tried, which results generally in a feeling of well-being and release, often having a calming effect on the mind. So it might be better to think of the process as the use of certain aspects of music as a way of developing individual potential within a person.

A friend of mine was grieving after her mother’s death six months earlier. She attended a music festival in her town (the Deal Festival) – a mixture of classical, jazz and world music – and went along to a live music concert almost every day for two weeks. To her surprise she found that by the end of the festival she felt so much stronger emotionally and had moved on in the grieving process, an outcome she puts down to the healing effect of the music she had experienced.

So, as you sit in another traffic jam, turn on the radio and put on some classical music to relieve some of the stress you may feel, or put on lively jazz or rock and roll to help you stay awake on those long car journeys.

Let’s use music in our everyday lives to formulate the environments that are the most conducive to being as creative and healthy as possible in all aspects of our life.

Tags: exercise for the elderly, music therapy, older fitness, Personal Trainers, Tai Chi