Lisa Sanders Scholarship

My experience dealing with mental health and the personal relationship I have with music as a coping mechanism have inspired me to pursue music therapy as a future career. I have considered performance and music education, and for a long time, I was certain I wanted to be a music teacher. After identifying what it was about music that made me want to be in the field, I began to reconsider my career path. My connection to music is lifelong, and I have always used it—in one way or another—to cope with mental and emotional struggles. I have always found singing to be therapeutic, if not, cathartic. There is something about using the voice to make art and express oneself that is particularly beautiful to me. Singing, for me, is a form of liberation. When I began playing instruments, I realized that music as a hobby was one of the most effective coping mechanisms for me. Music can be a hobby, but also a creative outlet, emotional outlet, and healthy coping skill. I have often needed comfort that seemed only to be resolved by music. I believe this has to do with the fact that there is no way to do music (or any art form) "wrong". One of the things I have noticed I personally experience when dealing with my own mental health is how I will criticize myself for doing something wrong. This could be as simple as an uncomfortable social interaction to failing an exam. Understanding that mistakes happen and that I am not a failure for doing something wrong is something I and many others struggle with. While music, like anything else, has the potential to be hyper-criticized by perfectionist ideals, music-making is something that can be done in any way the individual likes. Music also has the ability to match a person's emotions in a way that other mediums may not be able to offer. Upbeat or slower tempos, dynamic variation, instrumentation and lyrics are only a small handful of musical aspects that play into the "mood" of a piece of music. Music can be stimulating, calming, exciting, or all three. No one way of making music is correct or is universally healing; different people have different needs when it comes to mental health, and the variability of music is very helpful in that. Music in the physical sense is also beneficial to individuals participating in music therapy. Movement and somatic work are great ways to release anxieties, angers, and more. Dancing or playing an instrument, for example, can help individuals process events by using bilateral stimulation. This is a technique used in EMDR and can be applied to the physical parts of music in the same way. It also helps individuals develop healthy, non-destructive/harmful coping mechanisms to use when they are experiencing major feelings brought on by an event that may be exacerbated by their mental health condition(s). I have found that music and emotion are deeply connected, and anyone with a mental health condition has the potential to benefit from the use of music therapy.