Music is the cake
When meeting someone for the first time, often enough, I find myself in polite small talk.
And, I can guarantee you, 9 times of 10, the question “so, what do you do for work?” is asked within the first four minutes.
I struggle to answer this question even though I’ve given the answer hundreds of times.
Currently, I have a full-time job and I have a part-time career.
So, how do I answer this question of “what I do for work”? How do I use the words to eloquently describe that I have both a job and a career – a job in which my heart isn’t entirely invested and a career that fuels my every move?
Typically I start my response with the part that people grasp immediately, “I work in finance for a live entertainment company,” and that’s usually received with a polite smile and a nod, and then I lead into the part that makes one’s brow furrow and head tilt to the right a few degrees, “…and I’m also an Expressive Arts Therapist.”
Cue a confused “Ohh…well those are two completely different fields”.
Yes, yes they are.
And to be completely honest, I realize this every single day.
Monday-Friday, I show up to my desk and I am almost completely removed from any person-centered activity. I’m plopped in-front of my computer, and in a nutshell, I’m inputting financial data into a machine for eight hours a day.
Compare this to my experiences as an Expressive Arts Therapist, where I am solely focused on human interaction and person-centred work. In a session, I’m initiating human expression and creativity using the Arts.
Two completely different fields.
Now, if I focused on how different my two work experiences are, I don’t think that I could go into work and do either job very well. But, in my attempt to write with complete honesty, I have to admit that trying not to focus on how different my job and my passion are, isn’t easy. Some days, I did, and still do, focus on how out of place I feel working a corporate desk job.
I’m human, so sue me.
On March 31st, a few hundred people braved the unexpected snow and made their way into the JJR Auditorium at the University of Toronto. Dr. Michael Thaut, Dr. Nathan Churchill, Dr. Corene Thaut, and renowned singer and stroke survivor, Mr. Jonas Vaskas, join together for a lecture about ‘How Music Helps to Heal the Injured Brain’.
Dr. Michael Thaut opens the lecture with, “many people believe that music is always the icing on the cake, but what they don’t realize, is that music IS the cake”.
Now, I’m immediately intrigued because I love cake…
He continues, “the clinical neuroscience of music perception is the foundation for music in brain rehabilitation.”
In English, Dr. M. Thaut, is explaining, by listening to music today, we are creating healing methods that we can use in the future if our brains need to be rehabilitated. The science behind how our brain understands music is the same science used when incorporating music in healing.
When we listen and take in music, rhythmic auditory cues activate in the right-side of the brain. At the same time we’re sequencing words and lyrics which are activated from the left-side of the brain. This often leads to intuitive rhythmic movement, or as everyone else likes to call it: dancing.
As this is happening, memories are created and there is a feeling of enjoyment as dopamine is transmitted throughout our body and we start to move.
As Dr. M. Thaut is explaining this further, I’m having flashbacks of all of the memories I have where music is involved. I’m flooded with emotion as I think back to when I heard my favourite artist sing me my favourite song and I danced my heart out. Or when I went to concert and had the time of my life, and a few days later heard a song from that night on the radio. Hearing songs that my father sang to me as a little girl that I now hear as an adult. Suddenly I’m transported through a million different memories and I’m struck with a feeling of awe. I’m astounded at the capacity of my memory.
And then the lightbulb turned on.
I’m not only providing financial data entry at my job. My role helps to provide opportunities for people to create their own memories and discover live music. On the surface, this particular field of work can be superficial. As the layers are pulled back, I believe that concerts and live music provide experiential memories that will last a life time.
The human brain is constantly evolving and it is adaptable to constant change. Whether it is a physical or experiential change – our brains can handle it. If we are put in a situation where our most valuable muscle has been injured, listening to music that brings back a joyful memory will aide in the rehabilitation and healing process.
Throughout the lecture, there were examples of how people living with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other neurological complications have benefited by integrating music, rhythm, and song into their healing processes. When music was included with movement, patients were able to adapt to the timing of the music. This helps to initiate the injured part of their brain to plan their next physical movement, and in turn, implement a stable movement pattern.
Music involuntarily recalls access to memories. Therefore, people with aphasia (an impairment of language which can affect production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write) will have a better ability to sing than they would putting together a sentence. Music-based interventions create functional changes in sensorimotor domains of the brain. This allows for expression that wasn’t originally accessible by spoken word – it’s like magic, except it’s science!
The lecture concluded with Mr. Jonas Vaskas performing Elvis’, Can’t Help Falling in Love with You. And as 90% of the audience cried tears of joy and hope, I’m reminded that this concert is not much different than the concerts put on by the very company I work for.
And although my job and my career couldn’t be further from each other, the magic of music and the arts still finds its way to shine through.
Music is the cake, and everything else is the icing.
Expressive Arts Therapy combines psychology and the creative process to promote emotional growth and healing.