Michael Schneider, a retired Marine Corps Master Sergeant, plays a ukulele in his leatherworking studio at his home in Swansboro, North Carolina on February 12, 2022. He uses art and music therapy to help manage his epilepsy and PTSD following a traumatic brain injury. Schneider explains that by playing music, he can literally stop himself from having a seizure by affecting how his brain is functioning.
Madeline Gray for NPR
Madeline Gray for NPR
Michael Schneider, a retired Marine Corps Master Sergeant, plays a ukulele in his leatherworking studio at his home in Swansboro, North Carolina on February 12, 2022. He uses art and music therapy to help manage his epilepsy and PTSD following a traumatic brain injury. Schneider explains that by playing music, he can literally stop himself from having a seizure by affecting how his brain is functioning.
Airdate: September 19, 2022
Music stimulates many areas of the brain, including those responsible for memory, movement, mood, and gets different parts of the brain working together simultaneously, according to a new report from the Global Council on Brain Health.
Researchers found that music can improve sleep, sharpen memory, reduce stress, and stimulate thinking skills — all of which are good for maintaining brain health as we age.
Kevin Shorner-Johnson, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Elizabethtown College, said in an age of disconnection with cell phones there’s power in taking a break from devices and being present with musical interactive experiences.
“We all have cell phones and we’re all sometimes disconnected,” said Shorner-Johnson. “There’s a particular power in putting things down and entering a drum circle or entering a choir in which you’re fully present and intentional toward each other… Peace and the arts are also really powerful at opening up the feeling of emotion and the experience of presence.”
Shorner-Johnson also said, sometimes music moves us toward violence and its important to recognize the ways in which music demarcates who belongs and who doesn’t belong.
The Musical Peacebuilding at Elizabethtown College draws on central Pennsylvania heritage to address social-emotional learning needs in music classrooms across the country. The program has Masters students in six states. A part of the program is their music & peacebuilding podcast, which is celebrating crossing the 10,000 download mark.
Shorner-Johnson said he thinks its important that they’re starting their work in music classrooms with children because that can create a domino effect that makes a difference in the lives of adults as well.
“We have a Master of Arts in Counseling, Psychology and Autism Support programs, in all these different ways, we’re translating this central Pennsylvania heritage of peace and looking at, ‘How do we invest within children within the internal lives of adults?’,” He said. “Because I think if you start there, you can really build peace outside of that.”
