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Dossier - The power of music therapy
ArtEZ offers both a bachelor’s and master’s course in music therapy and features a Professorship: Music-Based Therapies and Interventions (MTI). Research plays an important role in all three and cooperation between the courses and the Professorship is pervasive. This dossier displays the impact of music therapy, with examples from both the Professorship and the courses.
Music stimulates all areas of the brain and has a great effect on emotions, behaviour and cognitive development. According to ArtEZ professor Artur Jaschke, it can be of significance to all sorts of people: “Babies in incubators, psychiatric patients and people with Parkinson’s disease, for instance. We don’t use music as an end, but as a means. It’s not a medicine that you administer and causes complaints to disappear. It needs time. Often, it’s more about improving a sense of well-being. We cannot cure Alzheimer’s, but we can connect a patient with the world and his or her childhood through music.”
Research diversity
The studies within the professorship are very diverse. Jaschke himself, together with a team, explores what music therapy can mean for babies in incubators. There’s also a student who deals with processing grief in the Greek refugee camp Moria. Jaschke: “Education and research are inherently intertwined. The master’s and bachelor’s in Music Therapy play a leading role in this. Students come up with ideas for research themselves. They follow their heart and a supervisor supports them. We teach them how to do research.”
Recognition needed
Music therapy is gaining more and more ground as a treatment method, but there still is a lot of work to be done. Recognition for this form of therapy is still lacking. “It’s still not a part of basic health insurance. We must persevere and continue our research. The results are already speaking for themselves.”
Parki Party: music therapy for people with Parkinson’s
The Music Therapy bachelor’s course educates students to become professional therapists and a career in healthcare. Christian Maliy made a theater performance with Parkinson’s patients during his Music Therapy bachelor’s. The performance, named Parki Party, was a party for both the audience and the people on stage. Christian’s project demonstrated how much people with Parkinson’s can benefit from music, dance and theater.
The key to this special kind of collaboration?
“Using a basis of equality in how you treat people. Do not place yourself on a pedestal above the client but recognise how every form of existence is dignified and worthy. It’s about offering opportunities!” In addition, Christian saw opportunities to innovate healthcare. “I get guidance from school to work on these innovations. They think along and stimulate me — for which I’m grateful.”
Sabine, who has Parkinson’s disease and is a member of the Parki Party, shares: “I’m certain music therapy can slow down or even halt the process.” ■
Through music Korsakov patients become the old rockers they once were
The master’s in Music Therapy offers professionals a place to further develop their musical and therapeutic competences as well as their research skills. Thanks to a collaboration with nursing home Domus Nostra in The Hague, students can conduct research into the effects of music therapy on Korsakov patients. Monique van Bruggen-Rufi, researcher and music therapist at ArtEZ: “It’s both painful and beautiful to discover the person behind the condition.”
Music therapy improves self-reliance and helps to create a positive self-image. “More research can advance music therapy for Korsakov patients”, Monique explains. “It starts with wonder. As a researcher you look for whatever fits. What does a person respond to? A rhythm perhaps? What are the effects? The best studies are based on practical experience.”
Farid Benkmil of Domus Nostra agrees: “There’s result in the little things. You see these people for a longer period, which makes noticing small changes very valuable.” “Through music they become the rockers they once were”, says Monique. “We can’t repair their brain damage, but we can improve their quality of life.”
Docent: Marijke Groothuis Cliënt bedient de eye-harp dossier
Foto: Marlies Bosma
