Indian Music Therapy
Music Therapy is one of the most effective and non-invasive treatment procedures today. Indian Music has the potential to work on simple to complex brain functions and is applicable for people at all ages and stages.
Music Therapy is one of the most effective and non-invasive treatment procedures today. Indian Music has the potential to work on simple to complex brain functions and is applicable for people at all ages and stages.
Music Therapy is an allied health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, psychological and cognitive needs of individuals. Music Therapy is a research based health care profession that uses music to help clients reach their therapeutic goals.
In the Indian context, music has always been used for health benefits and spiritual upliftment. Music therapy in India is primarily based on realizing the non-musical as well as the musical goals of people. There are different techniques in Indian Music Therapy.
Indian Music Therapy in Education & as a Subject
Participation in a music activity can lead to focus and attention, thereby resulting in improved academic outcome and mental well-being, specially in these times when COVID 19 has managed to instill fear and restlessness in people’s minds. Researches conducted on this has proved that applying Music Therapy enhances children’s cognitive skills and ability thereby resulting in improved academic abilities. Different musical models can help children become better person and hence including these models as part of the curriculum will be a very significant step.
Today’s children are exposed to unsafe environment , increased screen time due to the pandemic and hence lose direction very easily. So empowering them with better education where music is included as a therapeutic element will do wonders to their growth and development.
What needs to be done is, educators need to facilitate, formalize and broaden the scope of Music Therapy as subject in schools, colleges and universities. Different models need to be assessed and evaluated. This needs to be an iterative approach to be employed through and creatively designed therapeutic music models.
In India, Music Therapy is more or less informal and authentic research is limited. There are no universities that offer Music Therapy courses. The need of the hour is to propagate traditional knowledge. Just as Yoga and Naturopathy are listed in the Ayush ministry, Indian Music therapy also needs to be listed. The new National Education Policy(NEP) brings some hope in this direction.
In this context, it is worth mentioning the contributions of a few people; Ruma Chakravarty is one of them. She is a Music Therapy professional who spends her time researching on Indian Music Therapy. As a practicing Music Therapist, she is working on to bring Music Therapy (Indian Music) to people’s benefit for the past 14 years. She is helping to bring forward the rationale of including Indian Music Therapy in Education.
Her project “Propagate Indian Music Therapy” was launched in 2019 with a view to develop books and research papers on Music Therapy, seek support and collaboration from organisations, and promote quality experimental work. More research and collaboration is needed between music therapists, medical practitioners, scientists to propagate Indian Music Therapy.
In order to bridge some gaps and provide the understanding of the basics and essentials of Indian Music Therapy, Factorize has launched certification courses in Indian Music Therapy. https://music-therapy.factorize.in/.
Talks and discussions are being held to raise the awareness and work towards giving Indian Music Therapy its due recognition.
For more information, refer to-
On the versatility of Indian Music as Therapeutic Implement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTaKT9etozU&t=56s
On why Indian Music Therapy should be introduced as a subject:
Note – The technical aspects of this write-up has been verified by Ruma Chakravarty. To know more about her work, please visit https://rumachakravarty.factorize.in/
Ruma’s book can be purchased at: https://www.amazon.in/MUSIC-THERAPY-INDIAN-ESSENTIALS-SOURCES/dp/164783077X
And here is the link to the book discussion conducted by IGNCA – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4lM_MBCRgY
DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.
