General Guidelines and Principles of Music Therapy
Re-print permission granted by the author, Byung-Chuel Choi, Ph.D.
Pervasiveness of Music. Music exists in all cultures.
Music is the essence of humanness. Music is a form of human behavior, not only man creates it but also he creates his relationship to it.
Successful experiences with music lead to feelings of accomplishment and gratification which contribute to self-concept.
Behavior in other contexts is reflected in the music participation.
Music is a facilitator for bringing physical responses.
Music is a source of gratification. Music provides opportunities for achievement in noncompetitive situations.
Music has an entertainment nature. People enjoy listening to music, dancing to music, playing game with music, etc.
Music makes an environmental contact. Favorable and familiar music establishes a comfortable and safe environment at once. This leads to the ISO-Principle of music.
Music is an emotional expression. Man uses music to express his emotions that are sometimes difficult to express through language.
Music is a form of communication. Although music is not a universal language, this enables man to communicate with others.
Music is structured and time ordered and its predictability provides a basis for anxiety control, cooperation, and purposeful engagement.
Music triggers memory. Music associates with one's past experience instantly. Cooperation possible through structured, predictable experiences leads to opportunities for conjoint activity and interaction with others/music provides for self-directed and other directed processing.
Group participation that is facilitated easily with music leads to feeling needed by others and provides opportunities for peer approval and acceptance, as well as negative peer sanction for inappropriate behaviors.