Music accompanies us throughout his life. It is difficult to find a person who would not like to listen to her - either classical, or modern, or folk. Many of us like to dance, sing, or even just whistle a melody. But do you know about the benefits of music for the body? Probably not everyone thought about this.
But the pleasant sounds of melodies are used as a treatment technique without drugs. This method is called music therapy, and its use has a positive effect on the body, both adults and children.
A bit of history
The fact that music has an impact on the human body, was also pointed out by philosophers of the ancient world. Plato, Pythagoras and Aristotle in their writings spoke of the healing power that the melody possesses. They believed that music serves to establish harmony and proportional order throughout the universe. She is also able to create the necessary balance in the human body.
They used music therapy in the Middle Ages. This method helped in the treatment of diseases that caused epidemics. At that time in Italy, this method was widely used in the treatment of tarantism. This is a severe mental illness caused by a bite of a tarantula (poisonous spider).
This phenomenon was first attempted to be explained only in the 17th century. And after two centuries, scientists began to conduct extensive research on this phenomenon. As a result, it was established that the twelve sounds in the octave have a harmonious connection with the 12 systems of the human body. With the directed influence on our body of music or singing, amazing things happen. The organs are brought into a state of increased vibration. Such a process allows you to strengthen the immune system, improve metabolism and activate recovery processes. As a result, a person gets rid of ailments and recovers.
Thus, music therapy is considered not only the most interesting, but also a very promising direction. It is used in many countries of the world for health and medical purposes.
Music and children
Kids living in the modern world spend most of their time playing computer games and watching TVs. Most often, parents are not against such an occupation of their child. Indeed, at this time silence reigns in the house, and adults can calmly go about their business. However, mothers and fathers should remember that frequent communication with a computer and TV can adversely affect their baby. Indeed, cartoons often radiate outright aggression, and in the plots of films there is a lot of violence and murder. All this negatively affects the fragile psyche of the child. But it happens that the relationship between parents also does not quite go well. In this case, the baby receives a real psychological trauma. He becomes insecure and withdrawn. Often these children experience a sense of fear and guilt. They are afraid that nobody needs them, and no one is able to protect them. In addition, these children develop bad habits.
All this has a negative impact on the relationship between children. But at a young age, contacts with peers play an extremely important role. It becomes difficult for a child to enter the team because of self-doubt and fear that they simply will not accept him.
Music therapy for children can help in this case. It is a psychotherapeutic method that allows the correction of emotional states. The use of this therapy leads to the rapid elimination of mental stress.
The great benefit of music therapy for children lies in its ability to eliminate behavioral problems, as well as survive age-related crises that are associated with the development of the baby.
The harmonizing effect of melodies on mental processes is used in working with preschoolers. At the same time, a huge number of methods can be used by a teacher. Regardless of which one is chosen, music therapy classes for preschool children have only one purpose. It consists in making the baby aware of himself and his existence in the world around him.
The importance of conducting classes
Music therapy for young children is a special form of work with babies. In this case, the teacher uses various melodies, which can be either recordings on a tape recorder, or playing musical instruments, singing, listening to disks, etc.
Music therapy in kindergarten is a great opportunity to activate the child. Thanks to this, he begins to overcome the unfavorable attitudes in his mind, builds relationships with people around him, which improves his emotional state. In addition, music therapy for preschool children is also necessary for the correction of various emotional deviations, speech and motor disorders. This technique helps to correct deviations in behavior, eliminate communicative difficulties, and also cure a variety of psychosomatic and somatic pathologies.
Music therapy also helps in the development of the child. It creates optimal conditions for the education of a small person of taste and aesthetic feelings, helps him discover new abilities.
The use of music therapy for young children helps to establish their standards of behavior and character, and also enriches the inner world of a small person with vivid experiences. At the same time, listening to songs and melodies allows us to solve the problem of forming the moral qualities of a person, the aesthetic attitude of the baby to the world. In this case, children are fostered a love of art.
Music Therapy Programs
Experts note that a combination of traditional means and teaching methods with listening to melodies and songs can significantly increase the level of development of preschoolers. This is proved by research. Music therapy for preschool children can be applied not only for psychological and pedagogical correction, but also for therapeutic and preventive purposes. The possibilities of this method are quite wide. In this case, a specialist can choose a specific program of music therapy for preschool children from the extensive list that is available today.
K. Schwabe, one of the founders of this type of treatment, pointed out that there are three directions in the use of melody sounds:
- functional (preventive);
- pedagogical;
- medical.
Musical influences, which are components of these directions, in turn, are:
- indirect and non-mediated, based on the scope of application;
- group and individual, differing in the way they organize classes;
- active and supportive, with a different range of action;
- directive and non-directive, indicating the type of contact of the pupils with the teacher;
- deep and superficial, which characterizes the alleged final contact.
Consider some of these methods in more detail.
Individual music therapy
This type of exposure can be carried out in three versions:
- Distinctive communicative. With this type of exposure, the child listens to the musical work with the teacher. In this case, the melody is able to improve the interaction between the adult and his pupil.
- Reactive. This effect helps to cleanse.
- Regulatory This type of exposure allows you to eliminate the child's neuropsychic stress.
These forms in the class of music therapy in kindergarten can be applied separately from each other or in combination.
Group listening
This type of music therapy classes in kindergarten should be built so that all participants in the process can freely communicate with each other. Only in this case, the classes will become quite dynamic, because within the group relationships of a communicative and emotional nature will certainly arise.
Organization of creative activity is one of the best ways to relieve stress. This is especially important for those children who can not talk. It is much easier for them to engage in creativity, where they will find the expression of their imagination. The stories are very complicated for them.
Passive music therapy
This receptive form of exposure, the difference of which is that the child does not take an active part in the lesson. In this process, he is a simple listener.
During classes using the passive form of music therapy in kindergarten, preschoolers are invited to listen to a variety of compositions or listen to sounds that are selected in accordance with the state of the baby’s health and with the stage of treatment. Such events aim to simulate a positive emotional state. All this will allow the child to get out of his traumatic situation through relaxation.
Consider the options for conducting passive classes in music therapy in working with children.
- Musical pictures. In this lesson, the child perceives the melody together with the teacher. In the process of listening, the teacher helps the kid to plunge into the world of the images proposed by the work. For this, the child is invited to focus on the musical picture. Within 5-10 minutes, the preschooler should be in the world of sounds. Communication with music will have a beneficial effect on the preschooler. To conduct such classes, the teacher must use the instrumental classical works or sounds of the wildlife.
- Musical modeling. In such classes, teachers are encouraged to use the program, which includes fragments of works of various nature. Some of them must meet the mental state of the preschooler. The action of the second works neutralizes the influence of the previous fragment. The third type of music is necessary for recovery. At this stage, the teacher should be selected melodies that have the greatest emotional impact, that is, positive dynamics.
- Mini relaxation. Carrying out such classes of music therapy in kindergarten contributes to the activation of muscle tone of pupils. The child should feel and understand his body well, learning how to relax it in case of stress.
Active music therapy
During classes of this form, the child is invited to sing and play the instrumental:
- Vocal therapy. Such music therapy classes are held in kindergarten and at home. Vocal therapy allows you to create an optimistic mood in your baby. And for this, he must sing songs that will bring the inner world of the child into a harmonious state. The text “You are good, I am good” must certainly sound in their texts. Vocal therapy is especially recommended for egocentric, inhibited and depressed children. This method is also included in the compilation of a music therapy program for school-age children. With group vocal therapy, all the children present in the lesson are involved in the process. But here the specialist needs to take into account the moment of secrecy in the general mass and anonymity of feelings. Participation in vocal therapy will allow the child to overcome contact disorders by confirming his own feelings for a healthy experience of bodily sensations.
- Instrumental therapy. This type of treatment with music also helps to shape an optimistic mood. At the same time, children are invited to play a musical instrument.
- Kinesitherapy. The general reactivity of the body can be changed under the influence of various means and forms of movement. Such a process will allow to destroy the pathological stereotypes that often arise during the period of the disease. At the same time, new attitudes arise in the child’s mind that allow him to adapt to the surrounding reality. In such classes, children are taught the technique of expressing their emotions using body movements. This allows them to achieve relaxation. This type of music therapy is used in correctional work with children. Such classes contribute to the normalization of psychological and communicative functions. The method of kinesitherapy includes a plot-game process, rhythmoplasty, corrective rhythm, as well as psycho-gymnastics.
Integrative Music Therapy
In a similar technique, in addition to listening to melodies, the teacher uses other types of arts. He offers children to play a game of music, draw, create pantomime, compose stories or poems, etc.
Important in such classes is active music making. It increases the child’s self-esteem, which helps to overcome the ambivalence in behavior. In order for children to perform simple plays, the teacher can give them the simplest instruments, such as a drum, xylophone or triangle. Such classes, as a rule, do not go beyond the boundaries of the search for simple harmonic, rhythmic and melodic forms, representing a kind of impromptu game. Children involved in such a process develop dynamic adaptability and are fully prepared for mutual listening. Due to the fact that such classes are one of the forms of group music therapy, during their conduct all participants must actively communicate with each other. This will allow the process to be as dynamic as possible, which will lead to the emergence of communicative and emotional relationships between children. The most important thing is the child’s self-expression through playing the musical instrument offered to him.
Dance and motor therapy
This form of activity serves as a bridge between the conscious and unconscious worlds. Dance-physical therapy allows the child to express himself in movements. This will allow him to maintain his own personality and establish contact with his peers. Such classes are the only type of music therapy requiring significant free space. During the dance, the child's motor behavior expands, which allows him to become aware of conflicts of desires and helps to live out negative feelings. Such an impact leads to the release of negativity.
The combination of dance with singing or improvisation of movements to the sounds of classical melodies is especially valuable for a child’s health. The therapeutic value is also possessed by oscillatory rhythmic movements, which are performed to music that has three measures.
Treatment for Speech Disorders
Musical rhythm helps to eliminate some speech therapy problems. Among them, a speech disorder such as stuttering. Music therapy for children with speech impairment is carried out in the form of subgroup exercises. At the same time, the specialist offers his wards rhythmic games, breathing exercises and playing the melody in a slowing, as well as at an accelerating pace.
They use music in the process of independent work. At this moment, there is no any verbal communication. The exceptions for such music therapy are exercises for children in the form of reading to music. The specialist ensures that the sound volume of the melody is strictly dosed. The sounds that children hear should not be too loud, but at the same time too quiet.
The development of correctional programs for music therapy and their further use for the treatment of children with speech impairments require the joint participation of music educators and psychologists.
It is worth noting that the use of this technique to eliminate speech pathologies is considered a very effective and promising business. This became possible due to the strong influence of music, which it has on the emotional state of a person. During such classes, as practice shows, correction and development of sensations of perception takes place, which allows stimulating the speech function and normalizing the prosodic side of speech, that is, timbre and rhythm, as well as the expressiveness of intonation.
For children with speech therapy problems, special programs are developed in which only those works that will certainly appeal to all small patients should be used. These can be pieces of music that are familiar to children. The main condition for choosing a work is the factor that it should not distract the child from the main thing, attracting him with his novelty. The duration of listening does not exceed 10 minutes during one lesson.
Autism treatment
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- The ritual of greeting.
- Regulatory exercises that promote the activation of motor, auditory and visual attention.
- Corrective developmental exercises.
- The ritual of farewell.
Music therapy for children with autism is a highly effective means of resolving many problems.