News

AddToAny

Google+ Facebook Twitter Twitter

Under the microscope: musical paracetamol

This month: 'Musical paracetamol'

Good grief! Whatever next? Witty cough medicine?

Very funny. It’s actually a metaphor for the effect that music can have to lift your mood and improve your mental health and wellbeing.

So, why is this relevant now?

It’s been in the news because the first “song surgery” has opened in the Lake District town of Ambleside. An opera singer will tailor songs to the person seeking help and it’s hoped the trial will result in an app featuring musical prescriptions for anyone to access.

I hope she doesn’t sing Justin Bieber. That could make you feel worse…

Typically, the singer takes very old poems and sets them to classical music. So, if you’re feeling depressed, the prescription might be an uplifting poem about spring, set to music by the composer Gabriel Faure. Both the poem and the music aim to tap into something fundamental in the person – something you wouldn’t necessarily get with Bieber…

But why pay for an opera singer? I’m a karaoke king.

With the greatest respect, you would never be able to cover the vocal range required to fully encapsulate the wealth of human emotions found in these particular poems. The opera singer’s voice also creates an “element of wonder” that can have a dramatic effect on the listener and their emotional needs.

OK. Tell me more.

It’s all part of a trend to prescribe arts treatments to people with psychological and cognitive problems. Recently, the world’s largest study of the impact of arts intervention on physical and mental health was launched in an attempt to find out whether arts prescriptions can and should be rolled out across the NHS.

Hmm. Not sure a dose of ballet will improve my sciatica…

You might mock but it’s been shown that music helps dementia patients. The study will also research movement and music sessions for stroke patients, dance for people with Parkinson’s and singing for women with postnatal depression.  

Related Articles

Top