The music making and wellness project.

My grandfather began taking violin lessons in his late 70s. After a time, he was asked to join an amateur "seniors" string quartet, and that was when he seemed to fall in love with music. In Japan, the 88th birthday of a man's life is considered an important milestone. As my grandfather approached this event, he decided that he would like to present his first concert to celebrate the special day. The concert was a lovely, memorable experience for all involved, and there wasn't a dry eye in the hall. Those of us who loved him dearly were touched at the way he responded to his music; he played as a child plays, with joy, heart and pure abandon. He passed away seven months after this event. While we were deeply saddened by the loss of the inspirational patriarch of our family, we also were grateful to those who had brought music into his life at the very end of his life. He used to say, "This is keeping me young! I wake up each morning happy to know that I have so much to learn today."

Stories such as this are told in private studios, community music schools, music therapy clinics and senior centers throughout the world. While there always has been this kind of anecdotal evidence that active participation in music has tremendous emotional and physical health benefits, it was not until quite recently that researchers began specific studies in this area.

The Music Making and Wellness Project was designed as a study to look at the quality of life and the physical and mental health benefits of active participation in music making for healthy Americans over age 65.

In 1995, Frederick Tims of the Michigan State University, Music Therapy department assembled a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from various universities throughout the United States and Sweden. The study was projected over a five-year span. Phase I was a preliminary trial that took place from January 1996 to September 1997 at Fletcher Music Centers in Clearwater, Florida. In this phase, 80 subjects were divided into two groups: the experimental group took weekly organ/keyboard lessons of varying levels, whereas the control group did not. All participants were asked to complete written wellness inventory tests to assess general physical health and self-perception of their mental states. The data were collected over 50 weeks: blood tests were taken and participants completed ...