Background We aimed to determine and compare the effects of music therapy and music medicine on depression, and explore the potential factors associated with the effect. Methods PubMed (MEDLINE), Ovid-Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Clinical Evidence were searched to identify studies evaluating the effectiveness of music-based intervention on depression from inception to May 2020. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were estimated with random-effect model and fixed-effect model. Results A total of 55 RCTs were included in our meta-analysis. Music therapy exhibited a significant reduction in depressive symptom (SMD = −0.66; 95% CI = -0.86 to -0.46; P<0.001) compared with the control group; while, music medicine exhibited a stronger effect in reducing depressive symptom (SMD = −1.33; 95% CI = -1.96 to -0.70; P<0.001). Among the specific music therapy methods, recreative music therapy (SMD = -1.41; 95% CI = -2.63 to -0.20; P<0.001), guided imagery and music (SMD = -1.08; 95% CI = -1.72 to -0.43; P<0.001), music-assisted relaxation (SMD = -0.81; 95% CI = -1.24 to -0.38; P<0.001), music and imagery (SMD = -0.38; 95% CI = -0.81 to 0.06; P = 0.312), improvisational music therapy (SMD = -0.27; 95% CI = -0.49 to -0.05; P = 0.001), music and discuss (SMD = -0.26; 95% CI = -1.12 to 0.60; P = 0.225) exhibited a different effect respectively. Music therapy and music medicine both exhibited a stronger effects of short and medium length compared with long intervention periods. Conclusions A different effect of music therapy and music medicine on depression was observed in our present meta-analysis, and the effect might be affected by the therapy process.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the effect of music-based intervention on the aggressive behavior in children and adolescents, and made a comparison of music medicine and music therapy. Methods: We searched PubMed (MEDLINE), Ovid-Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) to identify relevant studies. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were estimated with random-effect model. Results: We included 10 studies and found a significant decrease of aggressive behavior (SMD = −0.99; 95% CI = −1.42 to −0.56) and a significant increase of self-control (SMD = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.93) in the music-based intervention group compared with the control group. The aggressive behavior was significantly decreased in the music therapy group compared with the control group (SMD = −1.79; 95% CI = −3.23 to −0.35); while, no difference was observed between music medicine group and control group. Sub-group analyses exhibited a more efficacious in reducing aggressive behavior in the children received ≥2 sessions per week, the children with a mean age > 10 years, the children whose behavior were reported by teachers, and the children with aggressive behavior before intervention. Sensitivity analyses yielded similar results. Conclusion: Music-based intervention seemed to be more efficacious for reducing aggression and increasing self-control in children and adolescents, especially music therapy.

With the arrival of the era of big data, mobile Internet, Internet of things, cloud computing, etc. are constantly changing our lives. The high-speed development of information technology is boosting the development of educational information, restructuring our classroom teaching and learning methods, which of course also includes vocal classroom teaching. This paper briefly introduces the relationship between the era of big data and vocal music classroom teaching, analyzes the factors affecting vocal music classroom teaching from the big data, and studies the new ideas of vocal music classroom teaching from the application of information technology. At the same time, this study also describes the role of information technology-based “singing situation” teaching in vocal music teaching, such as skill training, voice image shaping, blending scenes, etc., to guide students to apply the emotional characteristics of singing thinking to singing art activities, and strive to provide some new enlightenment for the current vocal music classroom teaching through the power of scientific and technological information. It also provides theoretical basis for the innovation and reform of vocal music classroom teaching.