Music is a powerful therapeutic tool.  It can reach people affected by any number of physical or emotional challenges, giving them a way to express themselves and connect with the rest of the world.

A child with autism. A young woman recovering from a brain injury. A father with Alzheimer’s. A friend suffering from violent abuse. For people in need, music therapy can make a difference.

The ability and need to respond to music is innate and usually unimpaired by mental and physical health problems. No musical ability or training is needed.  That is why music can be such a valuable tool in therapy. And makes such a difference in so many people’s lives.

“We’ve done a lot of research on music because music touches on almost all of the most complex mental functions that we are capable of. If you look at the parts of the brain that are active when you have a musical pattern coming, many of the brain networks that are responsible for controlling movements are also active – even though there are no movements in that circumstance.  If you take Parkinson’s Disease patients who have a lot of trouble initiating movements and have a lot of trouble timing their movements and you give them a musical stimulus, suddenly this patient who was previously shuffling is now able to walk in a much better way.”

- Dr. Robert Zatorre, Neuro-scientist, Professor

Montreal Neurological Institute, McGIll University