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NARR
Music, not just laughter, may be the best medicine. The same areas of the brain are stimulated when a person is having a strong emotional response to music or is using cocaine. Both experiences trigger areas of the brain associated with intense pleasure or reward.
SOUND: Piano playing in the distance. Waterfall.
NARR
Mari O'Neal, a jazz pianist who lives in the East Village, plays on a grand piano next to a waterfall in the atrium of Beth Israel Hospital. She smiles shyly from under her gray newsboy cap at a group of children watching nearby. But O'Neal isn't here to play a concert. She's here for a Tuesday morning appointment to see her music therapist.
ONeal01 TIME 0:10
Just being in an atmosphere of music and musical instruments around… you know… all music.. they just have a calming effect. It helps me go through the day.
NARR
O'Neal is scheduled for kidney surgery. Her doctors recommended she see a music therapist to help her cope with her anxiety, manage stress and lower her blood pressure. The session begins with some breathing exercises.
SOUND: Ocean Drum
Music therapist Joanne Loewy moves a plastic container filled with beads, creating a sound like waves crashing on a beach.
Loewy01 TIME 0:10
(ocean drum) And feel your body start to relax…
NARR
Loewy then asks O'Neal to sing. She's self-conscious at first, but quickly improvises a version of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."
ONeal02 TIME 0:26
ONeal: I will walk out of this hospital and… go shopping, because that's one of my favorite things to do. And I know in myself, it's going to be a wonderful day.
NARR
Music therapy covers the wide spectrum between active music making, such as O'Neal's singing, to playing drums, to passive listening for relaxation. A patient doesn't necessarily need musical ability to benefit from therapy. Some studies suggest music can reduce the threshold of pain, making music a practical treatment for many ailments.
But the effectiveness of music therapy is debated in the medical community. Some skeptics say it's a type of mind control and lacks a scientific foundation, such as reliable clinical trials.
Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center and author of the book Muiscophilia, says music therapy is gaining acceptance.
Sacks 01 TIME 0:13
Music therapy will be seen as something real and important which can truly alter the physiology of the nervous system and mood and movement, and not as something kooky or irrational.
NARR
He cites cases where patients suffering from sleeping sickness suddenly became animated when classical music was playing. When the music stopped, they fell back into their statue-like poses.
Al Bumanis from the American Music Therapy Association says gaining wide recognition in the medical field is a challenge, since success in this area is hard to define quantitatively. But, Bumanis says, that shouldn't matter as long as the patient feels better.
Burmanis01 TIME 0:07
One of the goals, or I think the most important goal, is… well… will this work. And in some cases it won't, and that comes through in the responses.
NARR
For Mari O'Neal, the benefits are obvious. Her self-expression has grown, she says, as well as her ability to speak out about her fears. She practiced music therapy for over a year now and credits the weekly sessions for helping her deal with depression and work through her pain. Or to put it more simply…
ONeal03 TIME 0:05
It's helping me to open up more and love life more through music.
NARR
O'Neal is scheduled for multiple surgeries. She doesn't know how long her recovery will take.
SOUND: O'Neal singing "What a Wonderful World"
But until that day comes, she says she will keep singing.
SOC
Euna Lhee, Columbia Radio News.