Music Making and Wellness
|
| Print This Coupon |
The Music Making and Wellness Project was an unprecedented study exploring the effects of music making on healthy, active older adults. The multi-disciplinary team, made up of nationally and internationally known experts in the fields of medicine, biochemistry, psychology, psychiatry, keyboard pedagogy, aging, and music therapy, studied how music making affects the brain and immune system of healthy older adults from a variety of perspectives. The specific aims for the older students learning to make music were as follows:
- To improve quality of life and well-being
- To help participants become more relaxed, feel better, and respond in positive ways to stress
- To enhance immune system function or resistance to disease
To accomplish these aims the lessons were enhanced with teaching methods designed to encourage more participation and active music making by all students. A major component of the lessons was the incorporation of wellness assignments and homework for each lesson. The students were given exercises on using music to deal with stress each week, and they discussed how this worked for them between lessons.
Music's Positive Potential Documented
The Music Making and Wellness Project study followed various
health measures in 130 people during 1998. Two groups of seniors-one in Florida
and a control group in Michigan allowed researchers to measure how
wellness-enhanced group keyboard lessons taught in a supportive, socially
enjoyable setting might enhance both physical, as well as emotional, wellness
in healthy older adults.
Significant quality of life changes were discovered in the group which took wellness-enhanced group keyboard lessons, but no change occurred in the control group, even accounting for differences in life events and social support.
- On the Mental Health Inventory (MHI) Anxiety scores, anxiety decreased in the keyboard group, but not in the control group. This decrease, evident after only 10 weeks of lessons, remained after 20 weeks of lessons. Decreased anxiety helps improve cognitive performance, and enhances learning, decision-making, and general feelings of well-being.
- On the Profile of Mood States (POMS) Depression/Dejection scores, depression scores decreased in the keyboard group, but again, not in the control group. With decreasing depression, people report a brighter mood; and since depression is a major problem for older adults, these findings are especially uplifting.
- On the UCLA Loneliness Scale, loneliness scores in the group of keyboard players decreased, while scores in the control group stayed the same. Results indicated that students changed their perception of loneliness, or sense of being alone, and that this feeling most likely derived from the music lessons. Loneliness, a major problem among older people, has a profoundly detrimental effect on overall health and well-being.
- Participants in the wellness-enhanced keyboard classes showed a 92% increase in human growth hormone. Human growth hormone positively affects such aging phenomena as energy levels, wrinkling, osteoporosis, sexual function, muscle mass, and aches and pains.
| "It is an established fact that the adult brain is capable of learning and remembering music throughout its life span" |
Generally speaking, both the music teaching profession and the music products industry have largely been focused on the youth market. However, these findings clearly indicate music making can be extremely important for adults. Music teachers wishing to serve the needs of the adult market will need to learn how music lessons merged with wellness-enhanced techniques and activities can enhance their adult keyboard classes. Clearly, there is a need for music educators and the music products industry to work together to develop well-researched materials and programs in order to serve the unique needs of the burgeoning adult market.
Music Programs That Understand and Serve Adults
Today more and more older Americans are exercising, watching
their diets and seeking out lifestyle enhancement programs and activities that
are not only enjoyable and rewarding, but also ones that will help them manage
stress as well as provide a sense of sharing and belonging. It is widely known
that good nutrition and exercise are important wellness ingredients. It is not
as well known that active music making has the potential to enhance wellness
and quality of life.
The March 1997 issue of American Demographics points out
that a high number of adults get involved in group activities for
"personal and social reasons." Music teachers need to understand that
performance for many adults simply may not be a high priority. As one member of
the Music Making and Wellness Task Force said, "Sure, they (the students)
want to learn to play, but it's also important that classes be fun and social
because seniors will stop taking lessons when they feel the class expects more
from them than they are willing to give."
Far too often adults don't take up music because they are under the mistaken belief that they are "too old to learn to play an instrument" Writing in MuSICA, Research Notes, Dr. Norman M. Weinberger, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, University of California at Irvine, is quick to point out that it is "never too late" for music. He goes on to say, "It is an established fact that the adult brain is perfectly capable of learning and remembering music throughout its life span." The capacity to learn music remains viable throughout life and often remains strong through the seventh, eighth and ninth decades.
Humans have the need to belong, to be part of a group of individuals who share interests, and who come together for a common purpose. Such needs are as important to children and teens as they are to people in mid-life and to senior adults. In fact, it is increasingly being understood that this need for connection with others may be one of the most important components contributing to quality of life. That's just one reason why learning to play a musical instrument in a supportive, socially enjoyable organized group setting can be so beneficial.
Participating in group music lessons and learning to make one's own music appeals to people of all ages. However, it is often especially appealing to older adults who value wellness and prevention of disease, because involvement with music tends to promote physical and psychological well-being. When people have success with music, boredom is relieved and efforts are directed toward personal productivity and pleasurable results. In addition, people experience positive emotional results and report that generally they "feel good."
Adults Benefit When They Learn To Play Their Own Music
The research is clear! Adults can benefit significantly when
they learn to make their own music in a supportive, socially enjoyable setting.
If that's the case (and it is!) then why is it that so few adults take up music
making as a hobby in later life? Perhaps it's because they have been programmed
from an early age to believe that learning to play a musical instrument is
"hard work and lessons aren't fun." However, learning to play a keyboard
instrument, especially one with all of the easy-play features now available,
doesn't have to be hard work. It can be fun and richly rewarding.
Perhaps there's another reason. Generally speaking, music teachers were taught to teach a subject, not a whole human being. They recognize the need to use age-appropriate materials (i.e. pre-school, age 6-10, and teens, etc.) for young students. However, adults (i.e. boomers, the old, the older old, and the oldest old) are more different than any other portion of the population. Both music publishers and music educators need to learn more about how to serve this market.
When it comes to the adult market it's not just a matter of developing new curriculum and materials. What is really important will be a willingness for music educators the world over to recognize the importance of recreational music activity as an ongoing segment of music education.
Historically both the music products industry and the music teaching profession have mainly marketed the benefits of music making for children and young adults as "fun," or "part of a well-rounded education," and all of the other reasons with which we are familiar. However, the most basic principle of music therapy practice is that music is a powerful tool that can improve the quality of life for a wide variety of people. By working together, developing, implementing and promoting the right programs and activities, we may be able to improve and expand the public's perception of the value and benefits of music and music making and increase active music-making at all ages.
