A monthly documentary-style column on music, travels, and doing it yourself.

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on Culture Remixed Radio with host Julian Felix, broadcast out of Korea town in Los Angeles. I used the opportunity to do a segment on the power of music, focusing on music’s ability to heal and uplift on a therapeutic level, as well as in clinical settings. My father was in the hospital with a serious injury and, as I had done before, I used music to help calm him, alleviate pain, and generally uplift his spirit to feel like a human, rather than a patient. I literally watched his heart rate slow as he smiled, then proceeded to sing along to the music of his favorite French singers that I played from my phone, as he lay in the ICU with a broken neck awaiting pain medication.

My music selections on this show, which you can hear at the link below, include some of the songs that really helped him in the hospital, as well as songs with soul and substance that helped me process the traumatic experience I was going through as a son and a patient advocate for my father. I hope this helps spread awareness of the uses of music beyond entertainment, especially as the need for an affordable means of health care and medication becomes ever more necessary, yet increasingly difficult to obtain. I do believe there is a very beneficial role for music in treating and preventing illnesses and traumas of all kinds.

There is actually quite a bit of scientific and medical research that shows how music helps people heal, recover, and overcome a variety of ailments. A few days after writing this, my mom cut out the following article for me. Simply amazing.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-tod-machover-notebook-20120122,0,6575574.story

You can listen to the full Culture Remixed Radio show below. The Power of Music segment begins in the 2nd hour. Special thanks to Julian.

http://www.cultureremixed.com/2011/12/el-dopa-on-power-of-music.html

– El Dopa