Scientific research is increasingly showing how great the impact of music can be. The effect of music on the brain can be used in healthcare, for example, so that patients can get out of intensive care more quickly.
Conductor Pierre Kuijpers from Thorn can have a say in this. During the first corona wave, he ended up in intensive care. He was in a coma for six weeks. Kuijpers didn’t respond to anything until they tried to get him out of his coma with music.
No comment on photos
“I didn’t react to family photos, but I did to music. My son told me that I moved my fingers or blinked. Because of that music, there were impulses through which they could see that there was something in me after all,” says Kuijpers.
Music in care centers
The Erato Muzikaal Contact Foundation has been providing music performances at various care centers in Limburg since 2010. A bright spot or a moment of recognition for residents who depend on care. At the invitation of the musical foundation, neuroscientist and jazz musician Arthur Jaschke gave a lecture on Tuesday about what happens in our brains when we improvise and listen to or practice music.
“We have been working on scientific research for at least 15 years into the effects of music therapy in healthcare. It is also important to create more awareness why music is so strong and can help,” says Jaschke.
‘Recognize what music does’
According to the neuroscientist, hearing music evokes ‘activation’. Even if you are unconscious, as was the case with Kuijpers. “But we use music too little. It has become a luxury product. We actually have to realize more about what music does to us,” says Jaschke.