Music Therapy

I've been looking into different majors for college, and yesterday had the opportunity to talk to and work with a licenced music tharapist with about 10 little kids. One of the most amazing things she told me about music therapy was about how they use it to help people who had taken severe injury to their heads to re-learn to talk. It takes the entire brain to process a music, between the rythem, words, and different frequencies of the notes. It has the capability to build neuron connections between the different sides of your brain, for increased and faster connection between your right and left brain. It can also rebuild broken connections, enabling people to relearn to talk. It makes sense then that listening to Mozart or Beethoven would be good for you. I know from experience that trying to play Bach is the musical equivalent of Chemistry, so it's definitely not easy. :) The therapist would sing or play a simple, repetitive song, like (for example) "I love you" slowly and in beat. There is a simple backround instrument also. They get the patient to mimic the words with their mouth, and then replay it again, leaving out the word "you." The patient's brain is by that time trained to finish the thought, and the person tries to say "you." They will slowly take out more and more of the song, until the person has rebuilt enough of the connections in the brain to speak again.
I never knew music therapy could do that. It's pretty amazing:)