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Music... Therapy! Part 1
Mrs. Donna - North Canton
Think of a time when music moved you. It stirred something deep inside. It transported you to a different place and time or even brought you to tears.
Maybe it was at Heart Strings class...
May there always be sunshine/ May there always be blue skies/
May there always be Mommy/ May there always be me....
 I can’t count the number of times I’ve sung that simple song and someone, or nearly every adult in the room (myself included!) had tear-filled eyes. Music has a power unmatched by any other earthly medium, and throughout history, music has been noted as a source of healing.
Consider words from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Though the main purpose of the character Peter is to provide comic relief, Peter is onto something when he pleads, “O, play me some merry [tune] to comfort me.” At the end of a scene of bantering and wordplay with the musicians, Peter exhorts, “Then music with her silver sound, with speedy help doth lend redress.”1
Think about Israel’s young David. Whenever a troubling spirit would come over King Saul, “David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the [troubling, injurious] spirit would leave him.”2
Today, we understand that MUSIC’s healing power is in part due to the way our brains process music. You may know or have heard stories about Alzheimer’s patients or stroke victims who cannot remember names or speak clearly but who recognize and/or can sing words to songs they knew long ago.
Jenny Bunnell, MT-BC (WeJoySing’s board-certified Music Therapist) states, “The brain processes music in both hemispheres; therefore, music can stimulate cognitive functioning and speech and language skills all at once. There is a wealth of research to support the effectiveness of music therapy...”
By frequently singing to babies and young children, parents help to establish more brain interconnections between the right (music) and left (language) hemispheres. One benefit of such interconnections is that “if ever a stroke or other injury to the brain should reduce or eliminate language ability, a [therapist] may employ singing to redevelop some degree of language ability. The more prior singing, the better the chances...for redeveloped vocabulary.”3
Find out more about Jenny Bunnell’s work with WeJoySing in February’s Music Notes. We look forward to sharing with you success stories from WeJoySing’s Music Therapy staff, as well as testimonials from WeJoySing parents regarding the benefit of music therapy and the powerful healing that music regularly brings to the lives of these families.
For more information regarding WeJoySing’s Music Therapy services and benefits, call our office at 614-868-0107 or toll free 1-877-299-8138.
A Note from Mrs. Jo
WeJoySing provides music therapy in the private home setting as well as in our Heart Strings program where both typical and special needs children play, sing, move, and learn together. Our well-trained staff meets and greets every child with open arms and celebrates together with you as early intervention skills are developed.
We...Sing! at WeJoySing. The benefits are far-reaching, and music simply makes life.....better.
Resources:
1) Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, scene v.
2) The Bible, 1 Samuel 16: 23.
3) Thurman, Dr. Leon, HeartSongs: A Guide to Active Pre-Birth & Infant Parenting Through Language and Singing.
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