Pranav Pradhan - Music is Medicine

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/robert_gupta.html

The TED talk that I researched dealt with the unique ability of music to act as a cure for some types of mental illnesses. This greatly interested me because as an avid music fan and a guitar player for several years, I connected immediately with this topic. I believe that music helps me relax and really soothes my mind, so I completely agreed with this study.

The talk focused on the speaker, Robert Gupta’s, personal experience as he interacted with the brilliant but schizophrenic cellist, Nathaniel Ayers. Robert talked about Nathaniel’s episodic schizophrenic fits, during which he would experience hallucinations and was prone to walking the dangerous streets of Los Angeles in the middle of the night. However, by playing music, and listening to music, Nathaniel was able to overcome his schizophrenia, allowing him to behave in a controlled, normal manner throughout his episodes. The talk finished with Robert playing a moving piece on the violin.

Robert Gupta is well qualified violinist, a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra since age 19. He got his master’s in music from Yale University, but much more interesting is his undergraduate degree – Robert has a pre-med degree from Hunter College in New York, making him perfectly qualified to study the effects of music on a person’s health. This unique combination allows Robert to not only engage himself in the music firsthand, but also analyze its effects on his students and patients.

For me, personally, this talk had a great deal of significance. Although I plan to pursue a Business/Economics degree in college, I also plan to continue playing the guitar and making music. This talk was very essential to me because it highlighted the importance of music in relation to health. That music alone can be such an overwhelming factor in a person’s health is a fact that should, in my opinion, be explored and studied to the furthest extent possible. It pleased me to note that music’s therapeutic effects were useful not only for rest and relaxation, but also for the actual healing of deadly neurological diseases. This talk inspired me to consider music as a possible minor in college; since I plan to continue playing the guitar, it would compliment my lifestyle. Overall, this talk was a great insight into the lesser known benefits of music.