The Development of Music Therapy in China

From 65438 to 0980, Professor Liu Bangrui, an expert in music therapy at Arizona State University, taught at the Central Conservatory of Music, and introduced music therapy to China for the first time. Since then, music therapy has gradually grown up in this fertile land of China. Since then, some medical institutions have tried music therapy in some psychological and physiological clinical treatments and achieved good results. For example, huilongguan hospital began to apply music therapy to clinic in 1980s. Shanghai Mental Health Center has also made gratifying achievements in music therapy for mental patients.

From 65438 to 0988, the major of music therapy was established in China Conservatory of Music. Since then, China has officially started to train music therapy professionals. Music Therapy Society was founded in China 1989. After that, many experts in musicology, psychology and medicine spontaneously participated in the academic research of music therapy, and learned to become a link between domestic music therapists, which promoted the development of music therapy. At the end of 1990s, a group of music therapists who studied in the United States returned to China to teach, bringing many advanced music therapy methods from abroad back to China, gradually shortening the development distance between China and the world. Throughout the current domestic music therapy academic circles, there are two views on the development of music therapy in China.

One view is that music therapy originated in the west, and the systematic discipline construction also began in the west. Western music therapy has been developed for more than half a century. They not only summarized a set of technical theories, but also collected a lot of clinical data. It is very serious to treat diseases with music. We should systematically and comprehensively accept western methods for music therapy in China, and we should not "mess around". Most people who hold this view are music therapists who have returned from studying abroad.

On the other hand, we can see many examples of music treating diseases and promoting physical and mental health in China's historical documents, and the author also expounds these examples in this paper, which shows that China has its own music therapy methods since ancient times. Many music therapists have also made meaningful development on the basis of traditional music therapy methods in China. For example, music nourishing viscera is a music therapy combining traditional Chinese medicine and qigong; Music color light therapy is a kind of music therapy combining five tones, five elements and five colors of traditional Chinese medicine, and so on. They think that the development direction of China music therapy should be to inherit and develop the traditional history and culture of China and the valuable native music therapy in the field of traditional medicine.

We know that although there are sayings about music therapy treating diseases in China and the West from ancient times to the present, these methods are not systematic methodology, so they can't be called science. They are just the brewing or germination of music therapy in history. Scientific music therapy originated in western countries in the mid-20th century. These countries not only have systematic methods and techniques, but also have their own research directions for different schools and different breakthrough points of music therapeutics. These scientific and systematic researches on music therapy have been applied in the clinical treatment practice all over the world and have been widely recognized. Therefore, in China's music therapy, it is absolutely necessary to learn advanced western scientific theories and methods.

However, we must note that in music therapy, especially in music psychotherapy, different cultural backgrounds and different social connotations are the key to the success of treatment. The main factor that has been widely recognized by music therapy for a long time, that is, the treatment methods suitable for westerners may not be suitable for China people. For example, because China people have been influenced by Confucianism and Confucian culture for thousands of years, China people are unwilling to expose the feudal and introverted national character, so some western music therapy theories and music therapy methods and techniques related to psychoanalysis are not easily accepted by China people.

Therefore, when we study western music therapy theories, we should consider which methods and techniques of the academic schools of music therapy are more suitable for China people's personality characteristics, cultural background and social connotation, and learn from and develop their theories selectively, instead of accepting them completely. In fact, there are many music therapy methods in China's history and traditional culture, which are also very valuable and worth studying. These views come from China and are based on the deep foundation of China traditional culture, which is more suitable for China people's own cultural background and social connotation. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the most China-featured music therapy methods and techniques from the traditional medical and cultural fields in China, and carry them forward.

In addition, the research results of music therapy in some eastern countries are also worth learning from in China. Because many countries in the East, such as Japan, only developed music therapy in the last twenty years, but Japan is a country deeply influenced by China culture, which is similar to the national connotation of China people. Some music therapies produced under the cultural background of these countries are very suitable for China people. For example, music therapy related to Morita therapy. The principle of "letting nature take its course" in Morita therapy can be said to come directly from China's Taoist thought and Laozi.

Therefore, every theory, method and technology of Chinese and western music therapy, as long as it is of positive significance to the construction and development of music therapy in China, should be studied, borrowed, inherited and developed by developing China's music therapy, so as to establish the China music therapy school with China characteristics, which can not only be in line with the world, but also adapt to China. This is the inevitable choice for the development of music therapy in China. Music therapy is a new interdisciplinary subject, which combines music, medicine and psychology. It is the application and development of music function outside the traditional art appreciation and aesthetic field. The wide application of music in the field of medicine and psychotherapy and its exciting clinical therapeutic effect have proved an ancient belief of mankind: music has the function of driving away diseases and strengthening the body, which is of great significance to human survival itself. We have seen that music plays a very important role in early human activities and primitive tribes that still exist today. At this time, the aesthetic significance of music is still very limited, but it has more practical effects on human survival. We can't imagine that people will put a lot of energy into entertainment and aesthetic activities that have nothing to do with their own survival without even getting basic food and clothing and safety needs. Witches in the tribe are actually responsible for music activities and doctors. In ancient Greek legends, Apollo was also the god in charge of music and medical treatment, which actually reflected that in ancient times, music and medical treatment were the same thing in people's minds. With the highly specialized development of music and the highly developed civilization of human society, people gradually forget and abandon the original functions and functions of music. Until modern times, the significance of music to human existence itself was gradually recognized by people.

From ancient Greece and Rome to the Middle Ages, Renaissance, 17, 18, 19 and the 20th century, we can see a lot of discussions, experiments and reports about music and physical and mental health. Some doctors have used it in clinical treatment practice for large-scale experiments, using one and a half for 1400 mental patients. Although this experiment did not reach a conclusive result, it played a positive role in the social acceptance and attention of music therapy, paving the way for later related research. 19 At the end of the 20th century, scientists began to study the physiological responses of people and animals to different music. But before the 20th century, the research and exploration of music in treating diseases was still an isolated case, not a basic theory and comprehensive research, so I won't introduce it in detail here.

The systematic research on the value of music in medical clinic began after the 20th century. After the 20th century, especially due to the birth of the phonograph, people can record music and play it repeatedly, thus promoting the convenient use of music in clinical treatment. So some hospitals began to use music to help patients sleep, reduce the tension and anxiety during surgery, and help anesthesia and pain relief. In the First World War, music activities were used to help the wounded soldiers with limbs injured to restore the function of muscles and joints. During World War II, in a field hospital in the United States, the medical and living conditions were very bad at that time, so the wounded soldiers were in a very bad mood and shouted insults every day. Postoperative infection rate and mortality rate are high. A doctor uses a phonograph to play hometown songs that soldiers are familiar with. Soon, the wounded were in a stable mood. Surprisingly, the postoperative infection rate and mortality rate have greatly decreased, and even the postoperative healing period has been significantly shortened. This discovery has attracted the attention of the US Department of Defense, and this method has been popularized in various field hospitals and achieved good results. After the war, many hospitals began to hire musicians to participate in the treatment work, and doctors in the United States began to seriously study the effect of music on people's health. 1944 and 1946, Michigan state university and Kansas university set up special music therapy courses to train specialized music therapists, so music therapy was born as a new discipline. 1950, the United States established the world's first national music therapy association. The Music Therapy Association was founded in England from 65438 to 0958. From 1960s to 1970s, some European countries, such as Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Australia, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Canada, established specialized institutions or therapeutic associations for music therapy. After 1970s, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Japan, New Zealand, Israel, Finland, Italy, Poland, Spain and Canada appeared. At present, nearly 80 universities in the United States offer music therapy majors to train bachelor, master and doctoral students. About 4,000 nationally registered music therapists work in psychiatric hospitals, general hospitals, geriatric hospitals, children's hospitals, special education schools and various psychological clinics. More than 200 countries in the world have established music therapy associations, and the World Music Therapy Congress is held every two years.