The idea of music as a healing influence that can influence health and behavior is as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The 20th century profession officially began exploration after World War I and World War II, when communities of musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, were sent to hospitals and veteran dormitories across the country to play for thousands of veterans who were suffering from physical and emotional trauma. Patients' noticeable physical and emotional reactions to music have led doctors and nurses to request hospitals to hire musicians. It soon became apparent that the hospital's musicians needed prior training before entering the facility, so the demand for curriculum increased. Below is a brief historical introduction to this fascinating profession of music therapist.
In the teachings of Pythagoras, his school developed the concept of "eurythmy" as a person's ability to find the correct rhythm in all manifestations of life: in singing, playing, language, gestures, thoughts, actions, birth and death.
Earliest known publications on music therapy
The earliest known publication on music therapy appeared in 1789 in an unsigned Columbian Magazine article entitled Music with a Physical Calculus. In the early 1800s, texts on the therapeutic value of music appeared in two medical theses, first published by Edwin Athley (1804) and the second by Samuel Matthews (1806). Utley and Matthews were students of Dr. Benjamin Rush, a physician and psychiatrist who was a strong advocate of the use of music to treat disease. The 1800s also saw the first record of music therapy in an institutional setting (Blackwell Island in New York), as well as the first recorded systematic music therapy experiment (using Roots of music to alter sleep states during psychotherapy).
The evidence for sound and music healing dates back to the prehistoric past. In ancient China, the hieroglyph for music also signified joy and well-being. The Vedic scientists of ancient India and the philosophers of the Pythagorean school in classical Greece considered all physical forms as a manifestation of music. Cosmology and musical theory developed on parallel principles that underlie the development and manufacture of musical instruments, the composition of music, its performance and the listener's attitude towards it (Brele-Ruef K., 1995). According to ancient doctrines, life and health depend on a continuous spectrum of relationships and harmonious connections that unite the body and mind with society and the natural world. These same earthly harmonics and relationships, analogs of sound and music, were perceived as an echo or resonance of cosmic music. At the same time, the reflection in the earthly sounds of the divine laws of harmony was identified with the possibility of alleviating suffering, healing, recovery (Goldman D., 2003; Shabutin S.V. ta spivavt., 2006). In Ancient Greece and Rome, music carrying such a harmonious beginning was carefully selected to preserve health, purity and firmness of character (Dewhurst-Maddock O., 1998; Petrushin V.I., 2000).
The theme of music as a metaphor for divine order and charm permeates the mystical literature of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Gnosticism. In medieval Europe, the art of music was interpreted primarily as a means of moral and religious education. Thomas Aquinas argued that the essence of the specifics of the beautiful lies in the "pacification" of desires during its contemplation or comprehension: the beautiful is complete, it has numerical harmony (Pythagoreanism). The statements of theologians are indicative of the characterization of the attitude towards musical art in the Renaissance and Modern times. In particular, M. Luther noted that music "alone after theology is able to give what only theology gives, that is, peace and joy of the soul." The satirist F. Rabelais, the playwright V. Shakespeare, the composers F. Salinas and J. Tsarlino are among those who raised the question of the sanogenetic (sano from Latin health) influence of music as a mechanism for harmonizing the soul with the surrounding and inner world (Draganchuk V. , 2010). A prominent representative of the musical art of the Baroque era G.F. Handel pointed out that he does not want to entertain the audience with his music - he wants to "make them better" (Dewhurst-Maddock O., 1998).
In the XVII-XVIII Art. the development of scientific thought about the use of music for a therapeutic purpose ("iatromusic") begins. A. Kircher became the author of the mechanistic theory, the essence of which was that music, causing physical and chemical processes in the body, promotes healing. In one of the works of the thinker - "Phonurgia nova" (1673) - ideas similar to the theory of the harmony of spheres are put forward: musica mundana creates harmony of heavenly bodies, while musica humana is designed to harmonize the soul and body of a person. Representative of the German school MT XX century. H. Schwabe notes the progressive for that time statements about MT E. Nikola, who “regarded the therapeutic effect of music as a mental reaction, which, in our understanding, causes physiological reactions of sanogenesis by the type of catharsis ”(Draganchuk V., 2010).
In the XIX century. the physiological effects of music began to be studied scientifically, measuring its effect on heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure. At the end of the XIX century. in Great Britain, a tradition of using music in the complex of health technologies has taken shape. In the XX century. in the USA, in European countries and in Russia MT became a professional specialization (Shusharjan S.V., 2005a).