In Saturday’s (11/30) Wired, Daniel Levitin writes, “Beliefs and practices about music’s ability to heal the mind, body, and spirit date back to the Upper Paleolithic period, about 20,000 years ago…. Only recently have we separated healing and music; we tend to see healing as the province of doctors and music as entertainment. Perhaps it is time to reunite two of the most intimate parts of our lives. Scientific advances in the past 10 years have provided a rational basis for this reunification. An emerging body of research allows us to take what had been anecdotes and place music on an equal footing with prescription drugs, surgeries, medical procedures, psychotherapy, and various forms of treatment that are mainstream and evidence-based. In the past two years alone, more than 8,000 papers have been published on the topic in peer-reviewed journals…. It was 2024 that saw the culmination of years of scientific research and conferences focused on a deceptively simple question: Is music capable of delivering proven medical effects? The answer is a resounding and artfully reverberating yes. We have now demonstrated the efficacy of music therapy and musical interventions for improving a variety of health outcomes and for promoting wellness.”
