Music and Healthiness
Health promotion is a socio-political cross-sectional task – in which music plays a particularly effective role!
Sounds can promote physical and mental health and be healing – in early childhood developmental phases as well as for teenagers, adults or in old age and illness. But a life with and for music can also cause physical and psychological suffering: keyword performance anxiety or tendonitis. The interactions between music and health, for example in the areas of developmental psychology, prevention and dementia, but also music physiology and musicians' health, are as diverse as they are fascinating.
It is long overdue to accentuate the positive potential of music for a healthy society more strongly in terms of cultural policy and to establish appropriate support measures, for example for health insurance companies to cover the costs of music therapy services. This is what the German Music Council is committed to!
Symposium about „Music and Healthiness“
On October 18, 2024, the German Music Council, in cooperation with the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, is organizing a symposium on the topic of "Music and Health" at the Catholic Academy Berlin. The conference will be streamed live. Within the framework of keynote speeches, practical examples, panel discussions and discussions, the focus will be on health promotion through music, music therapy, music physiology and musicians' health.
Among others, Prof. Dr. Dirk Mürbe (Head of the Clinic for Audiology and Phoniatrics at the Charité Berlin), Prof. Dr. Alexander Schmidt (Head of the Berlin Center for Musicians' Medicine, Society for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine), Prof. Dr. Lutz Neugebauer and Volker Bernius (German Music Therapy Society), Prof. Dr. Kai Koch (University of Karlsruhe), Prof. Dr. Jan Sonntag (Medical School Hamburg) and Dr. med. Isabel Fernholz (Hanns Eisler School of Music, Berlin).
The conference will take place in conjunction with the General Assembly of the German Music Council. The aim is to bundle the results of the conference in a cultural policy position paper of the German Music Council, which formulates health promotion as a socio-political cross-sectional task with a view to the potential of music. The program of the conference can be found here.
The conference will also be broadcast live online. You can find the stream HERE.
Contributors
Dr. rer. medic. Antonia Bendau
Volker Bernius
AC Coppens
Prof. Dr. med. habil. Philipp P. Caffier
Bernhard Deutz
Dr. med. Dipl- Mus. Isabel Fernholz
Katja Frei
Jan-Christian Hübsch
Prof. Dr. phil. Kai Koch
Dr. Kirsten Kappert-Gonther, MdB
Prof. Dr. Martin E. Kreis
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Claudia Männel
Prof. Dr. med. Dirk Mürbe
Prof. Oliver Peters
Cordula Reiner-Wormit
Prof. Dr. Alexander Schmidt
Prof. Dr. sc. mus. Jan Sonntag
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Claudia Spahn
Dr. med. Gert Tuinmann
Music is Medicine!
More and more scientific studies prove the positive effects of the arts on human health - whether in the field of prevention, therapy or rehabilitation. Music can promote the healing powers of the human being and accelerate the healing process. Music can increase concentration, motivate people to exercise, help them fall asleep or contribute to more serenity and resilience. Making music together promotes social and cultural participation and thus also well-being. One possible consequence: stress and anxiety can be reduced.
The fact that the use of music can also have concrete effects from a medical point of view is proven above all by findings from the field of neurological and psycho-pathological disease fields. For example, side effects of cancer treatment such as drowsiness, loss of appetite, shortness of breath and nausea can be reduced by music. A WHO/Europe Report from November 2023 therefore provides suggestions on how art can be successfully integrated into health systems to complement the prevention or treatment of diseases.
