The music making and wellness project.

My grandfather began taking violin lessons in his late 70s. After a time, he was asked to join an amateur "seniors" string quartet, and that was when he seemed to fall in love with music. In Japan, the 88th birthday of a man's life is considered an important milestone. As my grandfather approached this event, he decided that he would like to present his first concert to celebrate the special day. The concert was a lovely, memorable experience for all involved, and there wasn't a dry eye in the hall. Those of us who loved him dearly were touched at the way he responded to his music; he played as a child plays, with joy, heart and pure abandon. He passed away seven months after this event. While we were deeply saddened by the loss of the inspirational patriarch of our family, we also were grateful to those who had brought music into his life at the very end of his life. He used to say, "This is keeping me young! I wake up each morning happy to know that I have so much to learn today."

Stories such as this are told in private studios, community music schools, music therapy clinics and senior centers throughout the world. While there always has been this kind of anecdotal evidence that active participation in music has tremendous emotional and physical health benefits, it was not until quite recently that researchers began specific studies in this area.

The Music Making and Wellness Project was designed as a study to look at the quality of life and the physical and mental health benefits of active participation in music making for healthy Americans over age 65.

In 1995, Frederick Tims of the Michigan State University, Music Therapy department assembled a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from various universities throughout the United States and Sweden. The study was projected over a five-year span. Phase I was a preliminary trial that took place from January 1996 to September 1997 at Fletcher Music Centers in Clearwater, Florida. In this phase, 80 subjects were divided into two groups: the experimental group took weekly organ/keyboard lessons of varying levels, whereas the control group did not. All participants were asked to complete written wellness inventory tests to assess general physical health and self-perception of their mental states. The data were collected over 50 weeks: blood tests were taken and participants completed written survey tests every 10 weeks.

While the results of Phase I were encouraging, the researchers concluded that four changes to the sampling strategy in Phase II would clarify any trends in the gathered data. First, the data collection period was decreased from 50 to 20 weeks during the winter months only, to avoid losing participants to the annual migration "north" during the hot summer months of Florida. Second, the number of subjects was increased from 80 to 100 total adults for a larger sample. Third, the structure of the lessons was altered slightly so the 50 participants in the experimental group were all at the beginning level of organ study. Fourth, the lesson curriculum for the experimental group was supplemented with music therapy wellness activities and general musicianship experiences including rhythm work, singing and movement. My role in this study was to design and implement these musicianship experiences in Phase II.

The research results were positive. Anxiety, depression and perception of loneliness all decreased for those taking music lessons, while very little change occurred for members of the control group.

Most significant in the study was that the blood tests of those taking lessons indicated a 90 percent increase during the test period in levels of Human Growth Hormone (hGH), which normally decreases at a rapid rate as one ages. Higher hGH levels will increase energy and sexual function, while decreasing the occurrence rate of illnesses related to aging. Those not taking lessons showed very little change in hGH levels during the same time frame.

Given this qualitative measurement of the positive impact of music making for seniors, we might ask ourselves how we can make a contribution to the health and well being of our growing senior population, and also how we might develop programs and teaching methods that will be of maximum benefit for this particular group. This is not only an exciting opportunity for our profession, but, perhaps, also a responsibility.

Midori Koga is associate and piano pedagogy at the University of Toronto. Active as A clinician, adjudicator and performer, Koga has presented at MTNA National Conferences and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and performed throughout the world.