Music therapy is the use of music to address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of a group or individual. It employs a variety of activities, such as listening to melodies, playing an instrument, drumming, writing songs, and guided imagery.
Two fundamental types of music therapy are receptive music therapy and active music therapy (also known as expressive music therapy). Active music therapy engages clients or patients in the act of making music, whereas receptive music therapy guides patients or clients in listening or responding to live or recorded music. Either or both can lead to verbal discussions, depending on client needs and the therapist's orientation.
Evidence suggests that music therapy is beneficial for all individuals, both physically and mentally. Benefits of music therapy include improved heart rate, reduced anxiety, stimulation of the brain, and improved learning.
Music therapists use their techniques to help their patients in many areas, ranging from stress relief before and after surgeries to neuropathologies such as Alzheimer's disease. One study found that children who listened to music while having an IV inserted into their arms showed less distress and felt less pain than the children who did not listen to music while having an IV inserted.
Studies on patients diagnosed with mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia have shown a visible improvement in their mental health after music therapy. According to a 2013 Cochrane review, listening to music may improve heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure in those with coronary heart disease. Music has played an important role in the research of dealing with autism, mainly in diagnosis, therapy, and behavioral abilities. Music interventions may have positive effects on psychological and physical outcomes in people with cancer.
Music has been used as a healing implement for centuries. It is very possible that music therapy has been used for hundreds of years in Indian culture. In the 1990s, another dimension to this, known as Musopathy, was postulated by Indian musician Chitravina Ravikiran based on fundamental criteria derived from acoustic physics.
Some institutes run a course on Music Therapy - is a Certificate level Music course. Music Therapy is a process of using music and musical elements by a music therapist to maintain and restore the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health of a grieved person. The certificate program is based on extensive research and it takes students to the grassroots level and equips them to use an unconventional method of Music Therapy to cure ailments. It includes basics of music, rag, taal, Ayurveda and Indian Classical Music, Basic principles of Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Anatomy and Physiology, Ayurvedic Pathology and Music Therapy. The first part is common and the rest is according to the area of the background you came from.