Music ranges in quality, tone, and style, from a Beethoven symphony to an Elvis Presley love song. Teenagers play it on boom boxes at volume levels high enough to challenge our sanity. And in the nursery, the new mom selects a lullaby as background music to help her baby sleep. It is no wonder then, that music is used in medicine for its therapeutic value. It is used to promote healing, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote an overall sense of well-being.
Music can be an active or passive therapy.
That is, it has great therapeutic value when we simply sit and listen to it, or when we participate actively in its production. It works for people of any age, every ethnic or religious background, every stage of illness of health. It has great value individually and in groups, with a teacher or therapist or by oneself. A music therapist may choose a particular type of music for a patient after reviewing the patient's condition. As a distinct and disciplined medical approach, music therapy began shortly after World War II when it was introduced in Veterans' Administration hospitals around the United States.