Music therapy is a branch of alternative medicine that has only been marginally researched. Music therapy was introduced into medical practice in the United States as early as the 1950s and caught on quickly, even before randomised, double-blind studies could demonstrate its benefits.
Music therapy has now been shown to treat a wide range of conditions [1], as it :
- reduces depression,
- improves mood,
- reduces anxiety,
- improves quality of life,
- allows for the expression of feelings,
- facilitates positive associations,
- facilitates socialisation.
What does this discipline consist of, how can instruments such as tongue drumming accompany this medical revolution, and why should it even replace flowers in hospitals? These are the questions we are going to clarify with the most recent studies.
What is music therapy?
Music therapy is a form of psychotherapy that addresses not only a sick patient, but the individual in general [2]. Thus, music therapy plays a dual role:
- Therapeutic,
- psycho-pedagogical.
However, musical harmonies are numerous and the question of what kind of music to listen to quickly arose. The ARATP (Association de recherches et d'application des techniques psycho-musicales) was the first to specify that the style of music should be adapted to the affective state of the person [3].
Thus, a depressed person will tend to prefer sad music, while an euphoric person will prefer much more rhythmic music. This cathartic or sedative music, aimed at achieving this divine or universal harmony, was already sought after by the ancient Greeks [4].
In the Middle Ages, the tarentaise did not appear by chance. Stung by a tarantula, the sick person, the taranti, was asked to dance alone or in a group to the rhythm of wild music [5]. The taranti remains the archetype of cathartic music.
It is therefore a question of finding the instrument that can be placed in these two musical modes: cathartic and sedative. With its soft and deep tones, the tongue drum seems to be this instrument.
The Tongue Drum as a therapeutic instrument
The tongue drum is not a difficult instrument to handle. As a percussion instrument consisting of two metal elements that originally consisted only of gas cylinder parts, it has shaken up the music scene.
The tongue drum, a new instrument that emerged from the hands of American Dennis Havlena in 2007, is the instrument of the 21st century. With its extremely soothing sounds, the Tongue Drum, when played as percussion, can unite all harmonies.
From soft and fundamentally soothing music to fast and even energetic music, the tongue drum can accompany catharsis. It thus becomes the equaliser of passions, the vehicle of music therapy.
After all, the interesting thing about music therapy is precisely that it assists the sick, the suffering or simply the anxious. The positive effects of music have attracted the attention of scientists time and again, and the evidence is mounting.
Well-being through music therapy
One would think that, with 50 million people suffering from dementia worldwide and an expected increase to 75.6 million by 2030 and 135.5 million by 2050 [6] - and that's without taking into account depressive conditions, which affect up to 280 million people worldwide [7] - music therapy would have been the subject of in-depth studies.
However, this is not yet the case. Therefore, a team of researchers from the University of Heidelberg studied the subject more intensively [8]. They found that music therapy resulted in more relaxation and less fatigue in palliative care patients.
Although it has no effect on acute pain, it is still effective, to the extent that it is even used in operating theatres. It can reduce both postoperative pain and the use of analgesics [9].
Don't give flowers anymore, give a tongue depressor
Little is said, but serious studies question the pathogenic potential of flowers and the nosocomial diseases they can cause [10]. In this respect, intuition leads researchers to the water in flowers, which can contain a large number of bacteria [11].
This came to such an extent that hospitals started to ban flowers in the hospital because contagion could come from the hands of the medical staff touching the flowers and then from the patients [12].
Therefore, when in doubt about the reflex we all have, which is to give flowers, the tongue depressor is to be preferred. It is certainly not the same price, but neither is it the same result for the patient.
While flowers can worsen the patient's condition, the tongue depressor can bring the benefits of music therapy to the bedridden person. Even if the patient is not a musician, the tongue drum can be played without false notes, so the musical harmony is only limited by the patient's imagination.
So don't hesitate to buy such an instrument for your loved one in hospital. It will do him or her a great favour and accompany him or her on the road to recovery, allowing him or her to relax and better control his or her exhausted state.
Buy a tongue drum now by clicking here.