This course is based primarily on different music therapy strategies the course author has implemented over her decades of hands-on experience, honing these strategies into music-based practices that can help you get through everyday stress and strain, deal with the pain that you may encounter in the course of living a full life, and develop your inner resources and creative potential.

The course begins with an introduction to integrative health—a new model for holistic healthcare—and the science behind the power of music. You will learn some of the psychological, neurological, and immunological changes that can come about when you engage with music, thereby affecting your general wellness and well-being. You will assess the impact of music in your own life and investigate your personal journey to wellness through musical activities that exercise your creativity.

From there, you will experiment with a wide variety of interventions involving music for comfort, music for awakening, music for peace, finding your voice, and listening for wellness. You will assess stress and pain as it occurs in your life and the lives of loved ones, and then conduct a musical autobiography. This will help you develop a set of personalized playlists that have different effects on you, and can be applied along with specific exercises to help you cope with stress or pain and enhance your well-being.

Finally, you will create your own music wellness plan that includes a commitment to the practices that have worked for you, applying the music that has special meaning and impact for you.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Define integrative health and describe how engaging with music may enhance your wellness and well-being

• Articulate and implement multiple strategies that involve:

  • Music for comfort

  • Music for awakening

  • Finding your voice

  • Listening for wellness

  • Music for peace

• Assess the nature of your own stress and pain

• Identify and apply music-based strategies for coping with stress, pain, and daily challenges

• Develop your personal music wellness plan, including special playlists, music techniques, schedule, and a contract for implementation

Syllabus

Lesson 1 An Introduction to Integrative Health

Lesson 2 Tuning In: Your Journey

Lesson 3 Music for Comfort

Lesson 4 Music for Awakening

Lesson 5 Finding Your Voice

Lesson 6 Listening for Wellness

Lesson 7 Music for Peace

Lesson 8 Assessing Stress and Pain

Lesson 9 How to Apply Music for Wellness Every Day

Lesson 10 How to Apply Music for Wellness for Stress and Pain

Lesson 11 Your Personal Music Wellness Plan

Lesson 12 Bringing Meaning to Your Learning

Requirements

Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements