The Healing Magic of Music - Hardcover

The magic of music is all around us and within us. Music enlivens and connects people, stimulates parts of the brain, sparks recollections of past experiences, and excites or soothes the emotions. It has become more and more clear to the health sciences during the past fifty years that music can supplement traditional therapies for physical and emotional health. Music can be used as a means for physical, psychological, and spiritual health. This observation rests in ancient wisdom and is also shown time and time again in contemporary scientific discoveries and practice, as is noted here. The Healing Magic of Music will offer you some ideas on how you might make use of music listening or music making to add joy and energy to your life and to support your overall wellness. This gathering of techniques, stories, and research is intended to assist you in making music one aspect of your own program for a healthy, harmonious, and well-balanced life. Music connects with feelings and associations, providing an opportunity to think through tensions and to release them. One adjusts to the music in a relaxation response. The Healing Magic of Music will direct you to some of the ways you can make use of music for relaxation, exercise, recalling memories, working with your moods, and making your life happier. Here you will learn how: v Music can be used to exploreself-esteem and personal insight.vMusic can create positive changes in mood and emotional states. vMusic enhances awareness of self and environment.v Music helps one in developing coping and relaxation skills. v Music supports healthy feelings and thoughts. v Music helps one to express oneself non-verbally as well as verbally. vMusic improves concentration and attention span. v Music making can support social development with one's peers and v enhance community relationships. v Music develops cognitive skills, problems solving skills, and learning. v Music can relax

Robert McParland is an award-winning poet, songwriter and "community musician." He directs SING-the Suburban Interarts Non-profit Group, which is dedicated to bringing arts performances and arts education to a wide spectrum of people. He is a founding member of The Outpost, a popular concert series and community service organization in northern New Jersey. A professor of literature and the humanities, he has also taught music to people of all ages. He holds graduate degrees in history, literature, and arts administration and is the author of "Music to Their Ears" (Scholastic 2000), as well as numerous journalistic and academic articles. The healing power of music is in evidence all around us. As a "community musician," the author has witnessed this in many settings: at coffee houses, clubs, festivals, residential care facilities and children's hospitals. There are many special people who are at work in the field of music therapy, who take this connection of music and healing quite seriously. The author welcomes them and you who have read this to contact him concerning the ways that music has been valuable to you in your life. He can be reached atmcparlandr@msn.com