Music has touched the human soul across all boundaries of time, space, and genre. Indeed, the healing power of music has been documented for millennia. An account involving two of the legendary kings of Israel is thought to have been written during the reign of Solomon. "And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand; so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." Saul's experience is echoed in our daily lives, leading William Congreve to observe, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast," and Yo-Yo Ma to comment, "Healing? I think that is what music is all about. Don't you?""Quality of Life" (QOL) may be defined as subjective well-being. It is the basis for answering the question, "How are you today? How does it feel to be in your skin?" QOL is a composite assessment that is influenced by all aspects of personhood – physical, psychosocial, and spiritual. Surprisingly, physical health contributes relatively little to QOL. For instance, emotional well being and life satisfaction (two constructs that determine QOL) have been found to be the same for people with serious physical disability as for those in the general population. Furthermore, QOL significantly improves in response to skilled, compassionate whole-person care, even in the face of imminent death. The existential or spiritual domain has been found to be a major contributor to QOL, particularly in cases involving life threatening illness.
View: Full Article | Source: scena.org