Music, Healing, and Conflict: Balancing Science and Intuition
Author(s):
Marisa K Massery
Publication Year:
2017
Type:
thesis
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Abstract:
Music move us personally and with more meaning than any other medium in the world. In the past few decades, modern advances in neuroscience have proved via neuroimaging that musical processing involves almost every region of the brain, a task that no other stimulus can achieve. Science can show what is happening in our brain, but humans have intuitively known and utilized music for healing purposes since the beginning of humanity. This research examines the dynamics of continued scientific advancement in light of Non-Western ways of knowing. The study is an attempt to shorten the distance between music, healing and conflict. Through a qualitative research methodology, the correlation of music and healing was explored by interviewing musicians and healing practitioners in New England. Musicians and healers shared stories that help explain the role of music and healing in Western society and how they might transform conflict. This paper offers space for the peacebuilder interested in music and healing to pause and consider the weight of their work.
Citation (Chicago Author-Date):
Massery, Marisa K. 2017. “Music, Healing, and Conflict: Balancing Science and Intuition.” MA, Brattleboro, VT: SIT Graduate Institute. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4098&context=capstones.