Music’s Healing Power

We have used music to aid healing but only recently have we understood how it works. Music has always been intricately involved in cultures, from lullabies to dirges, work songs to war songs, entertainment to music’s profound role in spiritual expression. There is no culture without it. Thought to have the power to heal the “soul,” it also relaxes and energizes us, inspire us to dance, aids our rites of passage. We now know it can significantly lessen pain, soothe anxiety and increase well-being for the injured and ill. Music is used to unlock secrets of the brain, healing processes and learning. What potential benefits can this mysterious phenomenon have for you?

Janice Jarrett, a jazz singer, published lyricist, and arranger, is also an educator and journalist with a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, a Masters in World Music (Wesleyan) and a B.A. in voice and composition (Antioch College). She has taught and performed across the country and abroad and she currently runs her own music studio in Tucson while continuing to perform jazz with Tucson’s best. Besides having taught at the University of Arizona, she has written pieces for the Arizona Daily Star, the Tucson Weekly and the Phoenix New Times.