Music Therapy is a different practice than music lessons, however the therapeutic qualities of music lessons cannot be denied. When I first began teaching, the studio offered free music lessons to the children of active duty military. I witnessed first-hand some of these parents struggling with PTSD. It affected their whole family. But I also saw how much the students brought joy to their parents when they would perform their songs, or conquer their fears and give a grand performance at the annual recital.

This I found interesting for many reasons, and apparently so did the US Military in 1945. At that time, the U.S. War Department issued Technical Bulletin 187, which introduced a program that used music for “reconditioning among service members convalescing in Army hospitals.” Today, these initiatives have been further expanded so that they range from a program for active duty airmen to “foster coping and stress management around deployment, to programs that center on the use of songwriting to address issues associated with symptoms of PTSD, to programs that address the needs of service members and veterans with polytrauma in rehabilitation.” Personally, I have had students that used the activity of playing an instrument to lesson anxiety, deal with insomnia, and also cope with the depression and isolation that PTSD produces.

Music Therapy has been proven, over many decades, to help those suffering from many maladies. If you, or someone you know, could benefit from the therapeutic qualities of music lessons, please reach out for a personal consultation at info@nashvillemusicacademy.org.

Citations found HERE.