"Wait that is a good song,"" you say to yourself while your sitting at the long-lasting stoplight that seems to be miles away in the midst of a never-ending, 5:00 traffic jam. Suddenly, your calm, bobbing your head like a deranged maniac as your foot seems to have a mind of its own, keeping time with the beat. You feel good inside, forgetting the day of problems and worries you just had. Everyone has their time of complete solidarity when the music starts the guy in the corner of the bar tapping his foot, happy to be where the good music is the ballerina practicing for her big audition and even the stressed college student listening to soothing Beethoven as he crams for finals. Music can make sad people happy, lonely people outgoing, and bored people exited to be alive. It, alone, is amazing what a simple tune can do to a person who is alive and well. Music Therapy, given its known effect on the mind by music, should be used to help people with problems dealing with the mind.
Anesthesia is the act of rendering a localized part of the body "senseless- for the hindrance of pain felt by the patient during a surgical procedure. Simplistically, this procedure numbs your body so you don't feel anything bad. Studies in the Art and Science of Music Therapy handbook found that when paired with anesthesia, or alone, music reduced anxiety felt in the patient, and reduced pain felt by the patient. It was also recognized that this helped to " reduce the amount of medication required, duration of use, and aversive side effects (to the anesthesia)."" (Wigram 11) Music, in time and with careful study, could take the place of anesthesia.
"Hardly a day goes by that a music therapist is not asked the inevitable What is music therapy?'- (Bruscia 1) Given that music therapy is ever changing, like any other newly introduced medical treatment, there are numerous definitions for this process. Katherine Lindberg, a renown music therapist, defines music therapy as " the prescribed use of music and musical interventions in order to restore, maintain, and improve emotional, physical, physiological, and spiritual health and well-being.