How Music Affects Us: A Medley  -  Part 3


    taken from "Music Advocacy Action Kit," provided
    by The Selmer Company for School Reform sessions
    presented by Tim Lautzenheiser and Michael Kumer at
    the 1999 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago


* Researchers at Michigan State University concluded that listening to one's "preferred" music may elicit a profound positive emotional experience that can trigger the release
of hormones which can contribute to a lessening of those factors which enhance the disease process. - Dale Bartlett, Donald Kaufman, and Roger Smeltekop, "The Effects of Music Listening and Perceived Sensory Experiences on the Immune System as Measured by
Interleukin-1 and Cortisol," Journal of Music Therapy 30 (1993): 194-209.

* Music can help migraine sufferers reduce the intensity, frequency, and duration of the headaches. - Paul Chance, "Music Hath Charms to Soothe a Throbbing Head," Psychology Today, February 1987, p. 14.

*  Music therapists working with Alzheimer's patients have found that rhythmic interaction or listening to music has resulted in decreased agitation, increased focus and concentration, enhanced ability to respond verbally and behaviorally, elimination of demented speech, improved ability to respond to questions, and better social interaction. - Carol Prickett and Randall Moore, "The Use of Music to Aid Memory of Alzheimer's Patients," Journal of Music
Therapy 28 (1991).

* Researchers in Colorado found that stroke patients who were given rhythmic auditory stimulation a half hour a day for three weeks had improved cadence, stride, and foot placement compared with a control group. - Marwick, "Leaving Concert Hall for Clinic."  In "The Mozart Effect" by Don Campbell.  (New York: Avon Books, 1997), 273.

* Music making makes the elderly healthier.  There were significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and loneliness following keyboard lessons.  These are factors that are critical in coping with stress, stimulating the immune system, and in improved health.  Results also show significant increases in human growth hormones following the same group keyboard lessons.  (Human growth hormone is implicated in aches and pains.) - Dr. Frederick Tims, Michigan State University.  Music Making and Wellness Project, 1999.