Why I Want to Change the World with Music Therapy | Erin Seibert | TEDxUSFSP

Im currently going through music therapy. Im been in the military for many years and was recently diagnosed with TBI. I have severe headaches most days, and short term memory loss. Along with reduced motor functions. I was very skeptical about music therapy but I thought if nothing else I'll learn how to play instrument and check that off my bucket list. My first session I ended up picking a piano and progressed a lot more than I thought I would in one hour. The aha moment came later that day when I was going in for another treatment and was asked how I felt. I didn't realize that I left music therapy with no headache having no anxiety and feeling completely happy. This is not a normal thing for me so I'm a Believer and I'm going to keep on playing music

I am just going into high school and am really into music. I play multiple instruments and gig around my area. This year I was asked what I wanted to do with my life and I told everyone music therapy. I want to help people with what I love to do. This gave me so much inspiration. Thank you.

Erin, I have started music therapy for my 96 year old mother that has both dementia and aphasia. This is one therapy that has worked wonders for her. I hope that Medicare will eventually accept and pay for this therapy so that more people can afford to incorporate it into the health care of an elderly person they care for.

I just read the book Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. It opened my eyes to the power of music in healing. Thank you 🙏🏼

Unfortunately, in Romania music therapy is even more unknown; this is why i'm doing my best to become a quality music therapist, which means I have to continue my studies abroad and then come back here. My main motivation is that i really want to help, to find personal fulfillment especially by helping my autistic cousin:)

I'm studying Recreation Therapy and I believe our professions share similar problems in that the public does not know who we are, what we do, or see our significance. As noted by Erin, people are turning toward holistic approaches, I hope that Music Therapy and Recreation Therapy can become more well-known. Recreation Therapists use evidence-based practice, psychology theories and a holistic way of thinking in our approach. We look at the individual as a whole and assess what can be done to encourage the best functioning of the person. I hope we can move forward together toward creating a meaningful life.

I am a music teacher. Honestly, not trained to be a school music teacher, because my music degree was meant for a different purpose. However, I enjoy the challenge of a new goal, so I took up this challenge. I am beginning to enjoy it. I was overwhelmed by the response of a child with special needs to beat boxing. We had been trying hard to get him involved with our activities and singing, etc. but to no avail. It was unintentionally that I started to beat box one day while standing next to him, and to my pleasant surprise he started to imitate me. Most of the times he is still lost in his own world. But every time I start to beat box, he joins in. Pretty amazing for me who doesn't see this stuff often. Thanks Erin for this. Is there any way I can have access to more resources that'll be helpful for school kids?

Really glad to see someone advocating music therapy so passionately. Please keep doing what you are doing and one day soon the world will understand that music is the answer. Thank you!

Tonight, I took my second class of Introduction of Music Therapy and this video basically resumed my class in its entirety.

Thankyou Erin for being one of the growing number of Music Therapists. It's great to hear Paul Worley and so many others in this post that have also benefited, same as I have been having Music Therapy for several years now. My TBI was from being severely rear-ended in a car accident, morethan 10 years ago. Several treating specialists said, that by learning a language, it would help reconnect the damaged neural pathways in my brain. PTSD, Anxiety, Memory challenges and the Headaches all added to my life changes. My head was in fog for many years. After my accident I saw some photos of me with an Alto Sax. It took some time for my brain to realise that was me in the photo, and that I had played in a community band, seeing some of my music folders. That's when I realised that Music is a Language. I bought another Alto Saxophone, and I could only do so much. It was slow going as I had to literally go back to the basics. The concentration increased the Headaches. My Speech Therapist heard of Music Therapy, and gave me the contact details. I was on the waiting list for about a year, and was delighted to finally start having therapy. The first one played guitar and she actually jammed some music to one of my published poems. That was a wonderful boost to lift me further from my depression. She heard me play my sax, and was very encouraging. I've had several more therapists each helping me more and more. When I am playing, my Headaches are no longer as debilitating. I find myself in a 'zone', and it is so uplifting. My current therapist constantly asks me what I would like to do, rather than telling me what to do. She has recorded me playing a few bars of "In The Mood" for my ring tone. Hearing that Sax riff, helps reinforce that it is me playing. I said that I had to write the note names above the notes, so that when I couldn't remember the note by the position on the bar line, I could refer to the name and play the note. The therapist downloaded a program that allows notes to be written on the barlines. She has transposed all the scales I had long since written in pencil, using that program writing the notes into barlines, with the notes and names also. She sends it to me and I print it up for practising. Once I learn the notes of each piece of music, it then takes many as 6 months to GET the rhythm. The speed is not there yet. I'm still having fortnightly sessions with my therapist, and she has noticed I am slowly improving. Before covid at the appointments she would record my playing, so that future sessions we could both see the improvements. I highly recommend everyone to music Therapy. Some people don't play an instrument, and just prefer to listen. That is the nature of music Therapy.

Very well said. I'm considering MT as a career path when I graduate in 2 years and already I have been asked at least 20 times what a music therapist is and feel the same struggle as to whether I should give the long or short explanation. Next time I will know exactly what to say to them. I'll be spreading the word around about music therapy the next time somebody asks me c:

I want to study music therapy and what this woman is saying it’s 💯 right !!!! She is seriously inspiring

MTs should to be recognized and implemented in treatment/recovery/rehabilitation of various diseases just as much as PTs, OTs and SLPs are and in combination with those therapies.

I just finished watching this video. I have recently started looking into the possibility of a Music Therapy profession. Like Erin, I don't expect to change the world. But I fully endorse the application of music to our health, for it's complex and deeply rooted powers. I really liked it when she said that music is a part of human nature. I've thought this myself when thinking how no habitable world in the universe could ever not have music. It's such an innate thing that manifests itself into this wonderful tool of expression that can be used in a way I didn't ever think of before.

So great! I am in the process of getting my license to practice occupational therapy, but want to continue school to become a music therapist as well! I am a passionate musician that wants to learn more and more about music therapy! Thank you!!

Hi Erin, I watched your lecture on music therapy as guidance for my Mental health nursing dissertation essay. I'm very passionate about music and try to promote the use of music to service users within my profession as a way of expression and release. This video has been so motivational. Thank you for sharing it.

This is truly inspiring Erin! I am a musician from India and I really want to pursue MT as my career now! Let's change the world together!

i`ve been focussing on music & neuroscience for a few decades now, it's truly miraculous how she (music) can heal us. It's becoming my mission to heal the world with her, so i am in the process to create a plan to create the biggest impact i can which will probably go with building a community of music therapist an healer to synergize hour effort. Thanks Erin, your talk is amazing.

I love music therapy, music definitely makes you feel better.

Wow! I am blown away! One of the best TED talks I've seen.