Music in a hospital setting: a multifaceted experience

Abstract

The article offers an explanation of the effects of music on children within a hospital setting and points up the multifaceted nature of this experience. The nature of the client group allows the musical experience to work on many different levels, such as modifying the child's perception of pain and reducing stress, whilst at the same time having an integral educational element that supports musical development. The evidence base is drawn from an extensive review of the music/medicine literature, interfaced with the first author's experience over many years as a participant musician in a paediatric oncology ward.

Daily Singing in a School Severely Affected by Earthquakes

“…Yet as they reflected more deeply on the work they were doing and as their confidence grew, they recognised the ways their informal music making linked to Key Competencies, and to music education objectives. Informal learning such as learning songs and developing rhythmic skills can occur without educational planning (Bunt, 1997;Preti & Welch, 2004) and the various elements involved in musical participation-the music, the setting, the participants-can all contribute to musical, social, inter or intrapersonal learning (Preti & Welch, 2004). Children respond enthusiastically to informal learning pedagogies that draw on their inherent learner agency (Power, 2014).…”

The incidental impact of music on hospital staff: An Italian case study

“…Moreover, the children's subjective experience of illness -rather than its severity -is one of the main factors influencing their psychological reaction to hospitalization (Ryan-Wenger, 1990;Cooper, Smaje & Arber, 1999;Kazak et al, 2006). These findings have implications for the analysis of the impact of musical interventions on the targeted population, as the effect of the music on the child cannot be isolated from the impact that the music has on the carers and, to some extent, on the hospital staff, because their interactions are mutually influenced by the presence of music (Preti & Welch, 2004.…”

The rhythm's gonna get ya’ – background music in primary classrooms and its effect on behaviour and attainment

“…Recent research in the field has shown that the genre and even composer and speed/ tempo of music are important factors in achieving intended outcomes of any music being played, and should thus be taken into account (Wakshlag, Reitz and Zillman 1982;Wolfe 1983;Mayfield and Moss 1989;Salamé and Baddeley 1989;Furnham and Allass 1999;Nittono, Tsuda and Nakajima 2000;Chebat, Chebat and Vaillant, 2001;Thompson, Schellenberg and Husain 2001;Husain, Thompson and Schellenberg 2002;Furnham and Strbac 2002;Cluphf and MacDonald 2003;Haynes 2003;Ivanov and Geake 2003;Preti and Welch 2004;Ziv & Goshen 2006).…”