The use of music to re order parts of the brain was first offered in the States at the end of World War II, at Walter Reade Army Hospital. Veterans who were too injured and traumatized to respond to traditional therapies were exposed to music-all kinds of music-along with talk therapy. Today, Music Therapy has expanded into a profession treating autistic children, Alzheimer's patients, accident victims and as a tool for pain relief. No where has music therapy become so important than in the treatment of combatants returning from the middle east. Did your father fight in Vietnam or World War II? If so, you know that soldiers are generally taciturn about their war-time experiences. My own father would answer a direct question about the D-day landing and the Battle of the Bulge, but his answers would be cryptic and he was not one to bring it up himself. That's true today without returning soldiers, women and men. Music allows an expression of pain, fear, loneliness, suffering and terror that words can't describe. Singing in a band is not for wusses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ4hyIxA6dY Music in this context provides healing through expression, the physical sensation of singing and playing instrument, and community. The profession seems to be entering a new, richer phase in its work with veterans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6y-mglsxZU
Christopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.