Hi
lovely readers, hope everybody is having a fabulous week! Today you get to meet
a girl from one of the cuuuuutest blogs around. Kira from "Tales of Garden
Gnomes." She is a great writer and today she is taking over my blog, enjoy!
Hi y'all! My name is Kira!
I
am a Sophomore at Utah State University (Go Aggies!), an avid musician, devout
Latter-Day Saint, would-be runner (no tiiime), lover of Lifesaver Mints and
indie music, enthusiastic reader, music critic, picture snapper, and watcher of
Netflix. I write a little blog called Tales of Garden Gnomes. It’s basically a
menagerie of posts about whatever I feel like writing at the moment, ha. I
guess you could call it a lifestyle blog! Really, most of what I post consists
of things I discover (for myself, anyway) like videos, stuff from Pinterest,
great quotes… Mostly music, though, which sort of brings me to what I’m
actually talking about today!
I feel about music the way
that George Eliot spoke of it: “I think I should have no other mortal wants, if
I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs
and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled
with music.” When I am stressed or angry, I head to the
piano and play, or pick up my guitar and learn a song, or sing along to the
radio for a while. Every time I do any of these things, I feel a calm come over
me that I cannot obtain by doing almost anything else.
Because
of my passion for music and the healing that I believe it is capable of, I am
studying Music Therapy. Unless you’re a special case, you’ve probably either
never heard of Music Therapy or, if you have, you’ve got questions about what
exactly it’s used for. I am here to tell
you a bit about it, and maybe clear a few things up. :)
On
the official American Music Therapy Association website, music therapy is
defined as “the clinical and
evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals
within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has
completed an approved music therapy program.” I
like to explain music therapy as the application of music’s
healing power to help patients with physical, social, cognitive, and/or
emotional needs. This is done in several different ways: letting the individual
create, listen to, play, sing, or otherwise feel or connect with music. It is
used to help people of all ages, but is used most often in nursing homes and
hospitals, where the elderly, developmentally challenged, troubled or ill
youth, and even infants and others benefit from it. Music therapy helps to
promote their general welfare and mental health, as well as even their physical
health in some cases.
Confused yet? Here’s a video that shows
music therapy in action!
Super neat, right? If you want to see
more, watch Awakenings, with Robin
Williams. It’s got a bit in it. Also, Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (one of my
heroes, and also the man that Awakenings is based on) is an incredible book about music
and the brain.
Music is a universal language. Most
people, if not all, have a special connection with an instrument, a melody, a
genre, a lyric. Things can be said through music that would be much harder to express
otherwise! The more I learn about music and the human brain, the more intrigued
I become. With every music therapy class I take, I see further indication of
its effectiveness, and am more convinced that I am meant to be a part of it!
Well, I hope that did a semi-decent job
of explaining what music therapy really is, and you aren’t too terrible
confused. If you would like to know more about music therapy (or anything else!), feel
free to contact me! I love answering questions! Peace out, lovely people!
Click here to read more from Kira's cute blog.
