How Music Can Change Your Life

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/music-life

Introduction

**Course Review: How Music Can Change Your Life** In the realm of online education, Coursera stands out as a platform that offers a plethora of courses across various fields. One course that particularly captures the imagination is "How Music Can Change Your Life." This engaging exploration of the multifaceted roles music plays in our lives—ranging from personal health to community building—offers profound insights into how this universal language transcends mere entertainment. **Overview** The course endeavors to answer a fundamental question: Did you ever wonder how music works? It provides free video, audio, and journal resources that delve into six basic principles illustrating the impact music has on individual and community health and well-being. The interdisciplinary approach incorporates perspectives from biology and neuroscience, psychotherapy, and even politics, enriching the learner's understanding of music beyond a mere art form. **Key Highlights of the Syllabus** 1. **Influencing the Body for Fitness and Rehabilitation**: The course kicks off by exploring how music can enhance physical health, especially in rehabilitation contexts. The fascinating connection between rhythm and bodily responses is backed by contemporary research. For instance, it explains phenomena like why individuals with Alzheimer’s may remember songs vividly while struggling with conversation—a testament to music's unique neurological pathways. 2. **Motivating the Mind for Academic Achievement**: The second module discusses the educational implications of music. It highlights varying degrees of music integration in schools and its potential to improve cognitive abilities and social inclusion. This unit prompts educators to consider how music can foster a rich learning environment. 3. **Reflecting the Psyche for Mental Health**: Music's therapeutic potential is explored extensively in this section, emphasizing its ability to reveal deep emotional truths. The unit discusses music therapy's value against the backdrop of psychoanalysis, illustrating how music can foster self-discovery and emotional processing. 4. **Fostering Intimacy in Relationships**: In an age where connection can often feel tenuous, the course emphasizes music's role in strengthening relationships. From parent-child bonds to therapeutic settings, the lessons here underline music as a medium for active listening and emotional exchange. 5. **Enhancing Community Connectedness**: The communal aspect of music is critically examined, shedding light on its power to unify diverse groups while also cautioning against its potential for division. Participants are encouraged to contemplate music's role in social movements and shared experiences. 6. **Expressing Culture and Honoring Diversity**: The course concludes with a discussion on how music acts as a vehicle for cultural expression. This module invites participants to engage with their cultural identities while recognizing the importance of understanding and respecting diverse musical traditions. **Course Wrap-Up** The course concludes with a thoughtful wrap-up that includes insights gained and a final assignment designed to encourage practical application of the concepts discussed. Additionally, there are bonus podcasts and interviews that further deepen the learning experience. **Recommendation** Overall, "How Music Can Change Your Life" is highly recommended for anyone curious about the profound ways music impacts our lives. Whether you are musically inclined or simply an avid listener, this course offers valuable knowledge that can transform your understanding of music’s role in physical health, mental well-being, and social cohesion. With its engaging format, well-structured modules, and research-backed content, learners will find themselves contemplating music not just as a pastime, but as a potent, life-changing force. Dive in, and discover how music can resonate through every aspect of life! **Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)** Overall, this course is an enriching experience that is bound to leave a lasting impression on your perception of music. Don't miss the opportunity to engage with this moving and thoughtful curriculum on Coursera!

Syllabus

How can music influence the body to support fitness and rehabilitation?

Music has been used throughout history and across cultures to influence the body, but only in recent decades have researchers been able to examine how it is processed through the brain. These recent discoveries explain the relationship between features of music like rhythm, and improvements in physical health, particularly in rehabilitation. They also explain why people with Alzheimer’s disease remember all of the words to songs but can’t have a clear conversation. In this unit we hear and see how music has been used, often by qualified music therapists working in hospitals, to influence the body and support fitness and rehabilitation.

How much music is included in schools varies significantly, between countries and even around the corner. Learning music can happen in classrooms and through individual lessons. It can also be used to promote wellbeing and foster inclusion of diverse students. Researchers have investigated whether learning music results in higher achievement in other cognitive, social and psychological domains. In this unit we showcase some of that research and carefully consider what kinds of musical experiences are needed to achieve the different goals.

Music can be a powerful way to explore and comprehend our deepest emotions. When used in psychoanalysis, this can lead to rich experiences that may even reveal aspects of our unconscious world that can be processed within the safety of the therapeutic relationship. Within the field of music therapy, practitioners often debate the relative merits of free improvisation on instruments in comparison to using the preferred songs of clients in therapy. Both afford opportunities to deepen our understanding of ourselves and our relationships to others, and music more generally can be used as a health resource that travels with us as we recover from being acutely unwell and continue the journey of life.

Have you ever used music to try and improve a relationship in your life? Playing the right background music is one thing, but what about singing with another person, or improvising on musical instruments in responsive and caring ways. Listening is the key to intimacy in any relationship and music can be the perfect vehicle to explore listening in new ways. We explore intimacy between parents and infants, therapists and clients and the ways that music therapists engage in musicking with people to build relationships that help.

Is the power of music strongest when used by groups and communities? Music has often been used by groups of people to express their shared beliefs, but it can be just as powerful when we connect musically with people whose beliefs and backgrounds are different. When we sing in choirs and dance in groups, a sense of community can be fostered that transcends differences and highlights those things that we share. But music has also been used to encourage one group to fight against another group of people, so using music requires careful consideration of power and privilege to ensure that change is for the greater good.

Each of us belongs to a range of culture and subcultures, including our ethnic heritage, our gender and sexuality, our abilities and ages. Many of us live in diverse neighbourhoods and cities where it is not enough to be culturally tolerant - we need to be culturally curious and engaged. Music is a powerful way of honouring diversity in culture and has been used to transcend differences and come together as many voices singing one song. We explore how important it is to be aware of our own power and privilege when musicking with people from cultures other than our own.

We finish up the course this week with some closing remarks and a final assignment for you to undertake. We've also included some bonus podcasts and an interview for those who are interested.