Soul Life: Special celebration of world's pioneers of music therapy

Bawaba News celebrates music therapy professors, coinciding with the World Music Therapy Day, which the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) first launched in 2016 to be observed on March 1 of each year. The World Music Therapy Day sheds light on music therapists all over the world and shows how music provides a way to make life better and more fulfilling. Many people refer to music as a universal language, as the treatment is rooted in history and many civilizations have utilized it and believed in its healing effect on humans.

As history has developed, music therapy has proven to be an effective way to meet the physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs of children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. People who have cerebral palsy, autism, learning disabilities and many other types of disabilities experience benefits from music therapy. Music therapy often includes singing, listening to music, creating music, transitioning to music, and using instruments. Research has proven that music therapy is effective in enhancing movement, providing ways of communicating, and providing ways to express feelings. Music therapists provide this type of therapy, which they hope to increase interest in. Music therapists need a bachelor’s degree, and they provide their services in a variety of settings, including schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and even the client's home.

The success of music therapy has even contributed to some schools implementing music therapy in special education programs.

Music helps children in special education to develop rhythm and movement skills, in addition to increasing memorization skills. Music therapy also encourages children to behave appropriately and distracts from discomfort and anxiety.

Rihab Jebali

Dr. Rihab Jebali, president and founder of the Tunisian Association of Music Therapy, said that music therapy is “a form of therapy that uses all types and components of music to improve the mental, physical, psychological and spiritual health of the individual.” (Jebali, 2020). This field has received the attention of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists in Tunisia since 1970.

Jebali also established the first experience of music therapy in the Department of Oncology for Cancer in a clinic specializing in this field in Tunisia and presented a new method of music therapy with people coming for chemotherapy, which was based on relaxation techniques, sound and guided imagery. (Jebali, 2012). Then, in 2014, Jebali and Dr. Ashraf Kamoun established the Tunisian Association for Music Therapy to enhance its techniques, such as alternative medicine and complementary therapy, to develop research and frame researchers in this field, work to promote music therapy in Tunisia at home and abroad, and provide music therapy for those with special needs. The Tunisian Association for Music Therapy has many conferences, seminars, training courses and practical workshops in music therapy for people with special needs, in cooperation with national and international institutions and through the exchange of experiences of those with different specialties, such as psychiatry, psychology, music sciences and arts.

The Tunisian Association for Music Therapy has contributed to consolidating the basic principles of music therapy in Tunisia through training and university supervision of researchers in this field.

In January 2020, the Tunisian Association of Music Therapy signed a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Health to integrate music therapy into all public and private care services and hospitals in the country.

In March 2020, the first music therapy and curative services center in Tunisia, the Harmony Center for Music Therapy and Curative Services, was established.

Jebali said that they are currently teaching music therapy as a specialty after researching the first professional master’s at the Faculty of Medicine and the Higher Institute of Music in Sousse, which was previously only a unit studied at the Higher Institute for Specialized Education directed to students, specialized educators, and students who wish to obtain a professional master’s degree in disability and rehabilitation or a master's degree in specialized education.

In recent years, with the increase in psychological pressures, the Arab world has become aware and believing in the value of music therapy as an alternative treatment. Jebali hopes that the field of music therapy will develop more and more in the Arab world.

Hamda Farhat

Dr. Hamda Farhat, president of the Lebanese Association for Music Therapy, said, “Our goal for the human being, wherever we are, is to improve the quality of life for all ages through music, this blessing gifted to us, and to develop treatments and strive to cure the illnesses and psychological, physical and relational disorders, rehabilitate those in need, and solve learning problems.

“I started working as a music therapist as a mediator in my private clinic in the village of Beit Shama in 2006 during training, which was under the supervision of Professor Dr. Yves Morhain at Université Lumiere Lyon 2 and Professor Dr. Christine Nassar in Lebanon, entitled La Musique Comme Médiation Thérapeutique dans le Traitement de la Dépression Music as a therapeutic mediator for depression,” she added.

Farhat is a professor at Lebanese University’s Faculties of Arts and Health in the Departments of Psychology, Speech Therapy and Nutrition, and she is a master’s supervisor and also a certified coordinator and training supervisor for psychology students seeking permission to practice the profession from the Ministry of Health. She holds a doctorate in clinical and patient psychology, a degree in psychiatric diagnosis from Harvard Medical School and the World Health Organization (WHO), a BA in Music Education, and a study in the Lebanese National Conservatory. She also has artistic musical experience as a member in the musical troupe of composer Professor Salim Fleifel and Dr. Salim Saad, as well as the establishment of a special band composed of university and high school students and professional musicians, which participates in many official activities such as Environment Day, Red Cross Day, Liberation Day, Independence Day and graduation celebrations at Lebanese University. Some members of the band even performed with Sami Clark on his Pele Mele TV program.

Farhat has also worked with music therapy as a kind of revolutionary psychological therapy in multiple fields and centers, including rehabilitation, hospitalization, and training for therapists, doctors and educators, locally and with well-known international organizations. All of this has been documented in digital encyclopedias, in addition to seminars and media interviews.

She has developed and innovated many techniques. Her triple method of music therapy and was applied to many samples and with other researchers as part of their university theses.

In 2017, the first training center in Lebanon was established at the Tayouneh Medical Center in Mount Lebanon Governorate, where Farhat trained many psychotherapists studying music and students in masters and professional prep programs, and they joined the World Federation of Music Therapy.

In 2019, Farhat founded an association for specialists in the fields of clinical psychology, education and music to train those seeking a specialty in music therapy, along with Dr. Eliya Francis, a musician and brother of the famous artist Wadih El Safi, and Dr. Antoine Al-Chartouni, a professor, author and musician.

Nabila Mikhail

Dr. Nabila Mikhail, professor at the Faculty of Music Education, said that there is no contradiction at all between music and science, explaining that scientists were the first to discover the potential of music and its various effects on humans. She added that music therapy includes the regulation of the rhythm of movement within the living body by means of music waves, whether as a means of beneficial relaxation for many pathological conditions or to achieve a certain breathing rate and pulse, as both people and music depend on rhythm. If the rhythm is disturbed, chaos occurs, and if it is organized, balance is achieved.

Researchers have discovered the effectiveness of music in stimulating the secretion of endorphins, which are natural substances similar in composition to morphine. Endorphins, which were discovered in 1972, are a type of peptide hormone secreted by the pituitary gland. The tonsils and lymphatic system are the most prominent centers of their collection, as they contain a large group of cells that secrete them. These researchers also say that once this discovery is complete, a radical change will be expected in the known views on the “chemistry of pain”, as there is no longer any doubt that pain, pleasure, and emotion will occur. Many diseases have a connection to the action of endorphins, and music helps to increase their secretion, which can be utilized to treat the body and cure it from diseases.

Because endorphins are a natural substance that the body secretes, and so far no side effects have been discovered for them, music could be used as a simple, cheap treatment that has no complications at all and is practiced at all times and everywhere.

In an interview with Nabila seven years ago, she said that Ghada Abdelrehim would be her successor in this field in Egypt.

Ghada Abdelrahim

Dr. Ghada Abdelrahim, president of the Egyptian Society of Music Therapy, professor of music psychology at Cairo University, and member of the British Association of Music Therapy (BAMT), said that she played the violin and piano from a young age, and then her talent was enriched by studying music at Cairo University’s Faculty of Special Education. Because she loved to be different, she rebelled after graduation from working as a music teacher and instead opened new horizons for herself in other fields.

Influenced by Beethoven, Mozart and others, Ghada realized the true meaning of music and its role in reforming societies, and she was able to invent new methods of art therapy through music.

“I read about the role of music in influencing the human soul, and I was surprised that it has had an effect on humans since the beginning of creation. Primitive man was influenced by the sounds of nature, and the ancient Egyptians possessed sophisticated art, which was evident in their murals depicting harps and drums. When kings became sick, musicians were brought to them, because they believed that music expels evil from the body,” Ghada said.

“With the passage of time, especially in the Middle Ages and then in the Islamic era, the Arabs used to play the oud to expel negative energy and sadness. Then zar exorcism gatherings appeared, and after World War II, street performers visited hospitals to relieve the calamities of war. It is from here that the idea of ​​music therapy began, and an association was created for this purpose,” she added.

Ghada believes there is a firm relationship between psychology and music, as music psychology is derived from music therapy. She continued, “I discovered that there are 400 universities around the world that include this specialization, including Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, where music therapy is used for animals, plants and humans, and the latter type is used in schools, homes for the elderly, orphanages and charitable institutions.”

Ghada contributed to treating depression, blood pressure, Alzheimer's and cancer patients, as well as treating hyperactivity, reading and learning difficulties, and autism. She has also succeeded in saving groups of refugee and street children, and studies have shown that music cured Alzheimer's patients and refugee children.

Ghada explained, “We started with Dr. Nabila Mikhail, a professor of music education, who challenged her husband, an internal medicine doctor, in treating patients with music. She prepared a study on that and succeeded in proving her point of view. As for Professor Amal Sadiq, she prepared translations to measure the ability of music to the creativity of the child, and she also proved that, but all of these efforts did not fall under a specific name in Egypt at that time.”

“After I graduated, I refused to work as a teaching assistant and got a master’s in education. Due to my insistence on specialization, a list of new specializations was issued, including Psychology of Music Education, and I was the first researcher to obtain a doctorate in this field. My dream came true,” she added.

Over time, Ghada corresponded with professors from Harvard to deepen this study in Egypt, and she founded the Arab Association for Music Therapy, in which many participated from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia and some Gulf countries such as Kuwait, with the aim of persuading people to treat through music.

Regarding her future projects, Ghada said, “I am thinking of communicating with the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood and UNICEF to use music to treat bullying and to provide psychological support with music to discipline behavior.”

Ghada is also working on launching the first website that talks about this science to convince people of the importance of music in treating various diseases and improving behavior, and she dreams of establishing a supplementary academy for this science.