Music therapy is a field that is attracting increasing interest from psychologists, therapist, and neuroscientists. As a sensory experience that can activate all areas of the brain at once, its use in therapeutic contexts has been shown to improve emotional and cognitive functioning while reducing stress. The benefits of music therapy and its target audience vary widely. It can help cheer up mental health patients and give them a new way to express their emotions. Neurologists study its ability to enhance language usage, memory, or motor skills. It’s used in hospitals to support patients who go through painful procedures or prolonged treatments, and it provides cognitive and emotional stimulation to geriatric patients, especially those struggling with dementia. Usually the treatment consists of therapists, musicians, or patients playing instruments or singing. Curiously, the organ receives little consideration in music therapy, in part because it is not available in ordinary treatment settings. But in fact, the organ possesses four special therapeutic properties that no other acoustical instrument can offer.
First, the organ is more closely associated than other instruments in the Western tradition with churches and religion, including the spiritual dimension of the predominantly liturgical music written for it. Much organ music is written precisely to lead to a meditative state of mind. For a psychiatric patient the organ can summon up the calming or inspiring associations of childhood participation in religious ceremonies. In addition, by partnering with churches, researchers and medical institutions can have the opportunity to create a more community-based approach to music therapy.
Second, the organ is the most intricate of instruments. Though this property does not appeal to everyone, there is a particular kind of psychiatric or neurological patient who thrives on investigating the endless detail of registers, the physical layout of the innards of the organ, and the historical development of the organ. Absorption in this interest can provide a healing experience.
Third, the organ is tremendously powerful of instruments. Letting loose the famous cascade of sound of the “king of instruments” can benefit patients who have trouble communicating in words or who otherwise feel weak and unable to assert themselves.
Fourth, the organ possesses the greatest range and complexity of vibrations of any acoustical instrument. It offers the richest kaleidoscope of physical effects experimented with in music therapy, such as the impact of vibrating sound waves on cells and molecules throughout the body. One can play an oboe, flute, and cello trio, then switch to trumpet, violin, and bass, all on one instrument. Thus a therapist or self-treating patient could discover vibrations that accelerate mental or physical healing.
The organ’s unique potential to satisfy many of the principal aims of music therapy should be of interest to organists, therapists, and any who seek a path to healing.
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Kenneth J. Dillon is an historian and one-time organ player. Stephen J. Dillon is a pianist, violinist, and composer. See the biosketches at About Us.