CRBLM Distinguished Lecture

Distinguished Lecture :How music can help to heal the injured by Dr. Michael H. Thaut

Where: BRAMS (1430 Boulevard du Mont-Royal, Outremont, QC H2V 4P3)

 

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Abstract:

HOW MUSIC CAN HELP TO HEAL THE INJURED BRAIN

Biomedical researchers have found that music is a highly structured auditory language involving complex perception, cognition, and motor control in the brain. Most importantly, this research has also shown that music’s impact on brain function can also transfer to non-musical functions and thus be effectively used to retrain and re-educate the injured brain. The consistent accumulation of basic and clinical research evidence has provided a basis for rehabilitation professionals to apply music and rhythm to the rehabilitation of sensorimotor, speech-language, and cognitive functions across the age spectrum and a wide array of disorders. The presentation will review some of the key findings and applications as well as discuss evidence for neural mechanisms underlying the effect of music and rhythm on brain function.

The extensive research over the past decades has led to the emergence of ‘clusters’ of evidence for specific music-based interventions. Researchers and clinicians from music therapy, neurology, neurosciences and neurorehabilitation have classified these evidence clusters into a system of therapeutic techniques now known as Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) which continues to develop, informed by new knowledge. The presentation will also give brief introduction to NMT with clinical video illustrations.

 

Bio:

Dr. Michael H. Thaut, PhD, is currently a Professor of Music at the University of Toronto with cross-appointments in Rehabilitation Science and Neuroscience. He also holds an appointment as Collaborator Scientist at the CAMH Neuroimaging Research Center. He is Director of the Music and Health Science Research Center (MAHRC) and Music and Health Sciences Graduate programs at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Thaut received his Master’s and PhD in Music from Michigan State University, with a cognate minor in movement science. He holds a special diploma in music from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg/Austria and a German Diplom in Psychology/Education from the University of Muenster. Prior to his appointment at the University of Toronto, he was a Professor of Music and Professor of Neuroscience as well as Director of the School of the Arts at Colorado State University. He has held many other visiting positions internationally including at Düsseldorf University Medical School, Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences, and Kurashiki Sakuyo Music University in Japan to name a few.

Dr. Thaut is an international leader in neuroscience and music and has internationally recognized research in relation to the applications of auditory neuroscience, specifically for music and rhythm, to neurological rehabilitation. He has over 200 scientific publications and is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology and the Oxford Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy which was runner-up in the annual British Medical Association book award in the category “Best New Book in Neurology 2015”. He is the president of the International Society for Clinical Neuromusicology and Vice President of the International Society for Music and Medicine.

He and his team developed the clinical system of Neurological Music Therapy, which is evidence based, applied worldwide in neurorehabilitation, and endorsed by the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation.

As a former professional violinist in the classical and folk genre, Dr. Thaut has recorded several LPs/CDs and has toured throughout Europe extensively.