The Healing Power of Music

The idea of music as a healing influence on health and behavior is at least as old as the writings of the ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato, and in some cultures, long before that. Apollo was said to be the Greek god of music and medicine, and his son Asclepius was credited with healing mental illness by employing music therapy. Plato believed that music had a physiologically stimulating and therapeutic function, and even claimed that it could change one's personality. According to Aristotle, music has the power to purify the emotions. Aulus Cornelius Celsus, a Roman medical writer, recommended the sound of cymbals and running water for mental illness.

These ideas weren't unique to the ancient Greek and Roman cultures. The ancient Chinese believed in the relationship between music therapy and health, and developed protocols to apply it...

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