Listening to music can affect your life. Amira El-Noshokaty is all ears "Music therapy classes for children with special needs" read the sign hanging on the main gate to Helwan University's Faculty of Music Education located in Zamalek. The classes, part of the courses the faculty gives via the Arab and International Music Centre (AIMC), are the first of their kind in the faculty. A similar sign will soon be hanging on the walls of the psychology research centre at Minya University by the beginning of the second semester as part of the new methodologies addressing children with special needs. Can music really cure? Music has always played an essential part in human civilisation. From holy rhythms in ancient temples to nursery tunes, the sound of music has always resonated in our heritage. However the therapeutic effect of music was not scientifically approached until the 1950s, specifically at the opening of the first school of music therapy in Europe in 1959. It was only in 1985 though that the World Federation For Music Therapy (WFMT) was established at the fifth world congress of music therapy in Genoa, Italy. According to WFMT, music therapy is "the use of music and/or its musical elements (sound, rhythm, melody and harmony) by a qualified music therapist, with a client or group, in a process designed to facilitate and promote communication, relationships, learning, mobilisation, expression, organisation and other relevant therapeutic objectives in order to meet physical, emotional, mental, social and cognitive needs." Music therapy, it adds, aims at developing potential and restores functions of the individual so that he or she can achieve better intra and interpersonal integration and, consequently, a better quality of life through prevention, rehabilitation or treatment. "We aim to positively enhance the behaviour of children with special needs through the use of music," Sherif Hamdi, professor of solvage, choreography and improvising at the AIMC, said. Such a goal is not far away. Earlier research studies, in collaboration with fellow professor Adel Abdallah, head of the special education unit at the Faculty of Education in Zaqaziq University, focussed on the effectiveness of music therapy in alleviating communication disorder in autistic children. Research on music therapy and children with special needs were also discussed at a conference on upbringing and caring of the Arab child, at Zaqaziq University, in May last year. A pilot programme followed. The response to music by children with special needs was positive throughout the three-month programme. Through learning and imitating simple tunes, playing their favourite instruments and expressing themselves, children became more focussed and showed greater self-confidence as they started to play their own tunes and recited their favourite songs. The ability to communicate is a breakthrough especially in the case of autistic children, for their illness dictates isolation from the outside world. Indeed, music has a positive effect on children with special needs. In fact it is one of the few communication channels that autistic children have. Children with special needs often suffer from the malfunctioning of the corpus callosum, which connects the right and left brain hemispheres, and damages the communication between both hemispheres. Usually the left hemisphere is not functioning as efficiently as the right one which is in charge of music perception. This explains the positive response such children have to music. But the trick is to try to utilise this response by giving children logical or mathematical information in the form of a song, explained Abdel-Salam El-Sheikh, clinical psychology professor at Tanta University. On a parallel note, in the Psychology Department of Minya University, Said Abdel-Salhin, coordinator of music therapy for children with special needs and creativity programmes at the Faculty of Arts, has done equally interesting research. Abdel-Salhin's Masters and PhD degrees were in the aesthetic appreciation for visuals and music as diagnostic and treatment for behavioural disorders. In addition to being a registered member of the Psychological Research Centre (PRC) at Minya University, in his doctoral research in 2002, Abdel-Salhin examined the effectiveness of reinforcement by using music in forming some of the desired behaviour of 120 university male students between 18 and 21 in age. The study tried to link music to enhancing intellectual performance (eg. arithmetic education and perceptual speed), reducing tension, high blood pressure and rebalancing the heart rate. The results showed musical enhancement of intellectual performance in accuracy and speed. Also, music reduced high blood pressure, heart rate and biological tension. El-Sheikh, who is also conducting research on the proven effect of music therapy since 1965, notes that music has a scientific and measurable effect on human beings in accordance with their personal tempo. The personal tempo is the rate of spontaneous behaviour of a person's audio, visual, speech, sense relation and response to the music tempo one is subjected to. Music can have three effects on human behaviour. The music tempo that matches personal tempo stimulates the right hemisphere of the brain which is in charge of holistic functioning -- processing multi- sensory input simultaneously to provide a holistic picture of one's environment like visual spatial skills. This evokes temporary forgetfulness while giving an opportunity to slip away from life's problems. On the other hand, the music tempo that is faster and deviates from the personal tempo stimulates the left hemisphere of the brain which affects reasoning, creating tension, stress and tires the outer nerve receptors, opening the door to hallucination and partial dreaming. A song tempo evokes relaxation and pleasure while being conscious of one's surroundings as it stimulates both sides of the brain. But doesn't nostalgia and memories play a role in our music of preference? "It all depends on how one relates to the music tempo," explained Abdel-Salhin. "If it is a soothing tune, once a person reaches ecstasy, then the mind starts to develop nice memories to associate it with the feeling. The face of our beloved, birds humming, all these memories we evoke whenever we listen to such melodies. It is not our happy memories that soothe us; it is the music tempo that does the trick." On a national scale, music is considered a key tool in treating addiction as well as psychotic illnesses. El-Sheikh has been practising behaviour modification therapy for the past four years. "Almost 100 per cent of my patients were completely cured after using music as part of therapeutic treatment," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. After assessing psychotic patients, and through the use of music tempo in accordance with the illness, which side of the brain to stimulate and the complementary treatments required, the patient gradually improves. The type of music is not limited to slow or classical, but to the personal taste of the patient. Thus, through the intervention of music therapy, therapists manage to question negative behaviour and try to alter it in order to solve the problem. Listening to music tops the exercises used in complementary therapy in addition to standard exercises, meditation and relaxation. Seventy per cent of addiction treatment depends on music. The rest is how to control withdrawal symptoms and practising meditation and relaxation. Why do addicts get addicted in the first place? "Because they have a life problem they can neither face nor solve. The result is hiding from the outside world by losing consciousness through the use of drugs," explained El-Sheikh. He uses the varying different effects of music tempos as an alternative to drugs. The idea is to use music as a means of empowerment to help the addict face up to the root problems behind his/her addiction and solve them. Gradually and through music's soothing effects, as well as meditation and relaxation exercises, addicts are cured. After two sessions of personal tempo assessment which resulted in the analysis of 23 different sentiments, comes music intervention. Stimulating either brain spheres or sometimes both depends on the exercise the patient needs. In addition there are exercises and listening to the prescribed music tempo at home as often as required that enable the addict to control withdrawal symptoms such as sweating, excess heartbeats and headaches. When asked about the effectiveness of music therapy in standard psycho therapy, physiatrist Khaled El-Iraqi confirmed it is one of the most popular and successful methodologies in relaxation therapy because it reduces the anxiety and depression of psychotic patients. "I refuse to call such technique 'music therapy' for music alone cannot cure disease. I provide my patients with skills to face their problems and solve them. Music is one of the most powerful tools," El-Sheikh said.
