Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence, which exist in time.Music is an art that, in one
guise or another, permeates every human society. Modern music is heard
in a bewildering profusion of styles, many of them contemporary, others
engendered in past eras. Music is a protean art; it lends itself easily
to alliances with words, as in song, and with physical movement, as in dance. Throughout history, music has been an important adjunct to ritual and drama and has been credited with the capacity to reflect and influence human emotion.
Popular culture has consistently exploited these possibilities, most conspicuously today by means of radio, film, television, musical theatre, and the Internet. The implications of the uses of music in psychotherapy, geriatrics, and advertising testify to a faith in its power to affect human behaviour. Publications and recordings have effectively internationalized music in its most significant, as well as its most trivial, manifestations. Beyond all this, the teaching of music in primary and secondary schools has now attained virtually worldwide acceptance.
But
the prevalence of music is nothing new, and its human importance has
often been acknowledged. What seems curious is that, despite the
universality of the art, no one until recent times has argued for its
necessity. The ancient Greek philosopher Democritus
explicitly denied any fundamental need for music: “For it was not
necessity that separated it off, but it arose from the existing
superfluity.” The view that music and the other arts are mere graces is
still widespread, although the growth of psychological understanding of play and other symbolic activities has begun to weaken this tenacious belief.
Music therapy
Is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and
all of its facets physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and
spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health. In some
instances, the client's needs are addressed directly through music; in
others they are addressed through the relationships that develop between
the client and therapist. Music therapy is used with individuals of all
ages and with a variety of conditions, including: psychiatric
disorders, medical problems, physical handicaps, sensory impairments,
developmental disabilities, substance abuse, communication disorders,
interpersonal problems, and aging. It is also used to: improve learning,
build self-esteem, reduce stress, support physical exercise, and facilitate a host of other health-related activities.
One of the earliest mentions of music therapy was in Al-Farabi's (c. 872 – 950) treatise Meanings of the Intellect, which described the therapeutic effects of music on the soul. Music has long been used to help people deal with their emotions. In the 17th century, the scholar Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy argued that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia.
He noted that music has an "excellent power ...to expel many other
diseases" and he called it "a sovereign remedy against despair and
melancholy." He pointed out that in Antiquity, Canus, a Rhodian fiddler,
used music to "make a melancholy man merry, ...a lover more enamoured, a
religious man more devout." In November 2006, Dr. Michael J. Crawford and his colleagues also found that music therapy helped schizophrenic patients. In the Ottoman Empire, mental illnesses were treated with music
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