Have you ever listened to your favorite song and instantly felt energized and better prepared to face the day? Or, during those times when life feels extra hard, a certain tune lifted the mood, giving you the sense of community? These emotions, said Angela Wibben, Board-Certified Music Therapist at UCHealth, are totally normal.

“If there are no words sometimes there’s a song, and music for many people provides a sense of their values, and who they are,” said Wibben, who is a classically trained percussionist as well. “It can also act as an audio scrapbook for their lives, a wedding song, the birth of a child, this was the music I was listening to in college…and it immediately brings you back to a time and place.”

These songs, she added, can help heal as well.

“Music Therapy, as a profession, is an evidence-based practice focused on supporting goals, and music is inherently therapeutic,” said Wibben. “There is no specific music center of the brain. When we use music interventions for rehabilitation, learning, or processing trauma and emotions, music activates a cross-covering of neural networks that go throughout the brain.”

Language is on left, memory and spatial awareness on the right, and emotions are deep within the brain she continued, but since music covers it all, bridges can be built. It can really help in recovery with a brain injury, or stroke. In fact, Wibben added, many people don’t lose their ability to sing, even though they might lose their ability to speak.

While the use of music in therapy dates back centuries, UCHealth began to utilize it in 2016 as part of person-centered, collaborative care. Now UCHealth has tripled its efforts. “Until the Spring of 2024,” Wibben continued, “The University of Colorado Hospital had one staff music therapist for the entire hospital. With the support of our comprehensive data, our healthcare community, and generous philanthropy from donors, we have been able to expand the team to three board-certified music therapists on staff.

“On average, before the expansion of the team, Music Therapy was able to reach over 1,000 patient sessions per year; with our new growth, we hope to at least triple that in order to bring music therapy to even more patients and their caregivers across the continuum of care at UCHealth.”

What began in the World War II era to treat individuals in the midst of trauma has developed into a rigorous curriculum. “Now we have our own national board certification, and in order to be a music therapist you need to earn at least an undergraduate degree in music therapy,” said Wibben, who has worked in the field for 12 years, eight of those at UCHealth.

“Music therapy has been shown to improve the quality of life of our patients as well as…to help them heal and support their physical, cognitive, emotional, spiritual, and social goals,” said Wibben. “During a music therapy session our patients may talk about lyrics to explore their meaning in their lives, write songs to express emotions, improvise on instruments to decrease anxiety, use the qualities of rhythm and pitch to help them relearn how to speak after a neurologic injury, or listen to live music to help relax or decrease pain.”

For instance, music therapy is used include those going through cancer treatment. Wibben said often people feel socially or emotionally disconnected and music helps with coping. It’s a non-threatening way for people to explore their sense of self, she said. However, when Wibben comes into a room with a guitar strapped to her back and a cart of instruments, not everyone understands what’s going on. Once she explains her role, it opens a whole new conversation.

“I usually start with a broad approach. I ask what is the most challenging part about being in the hospital and it’s been a wide range of answers. For some it’s the pain, the anxiety, and for others it’s being away from social supports and communities and being away from loved ones or pets,” she explained. “It can also be that the hospital and illness takes away so much of our autonomy and control, and being able to control your environment and support emotions through music can help empower people in their healing process.”

She added, you don’t have to know how to play an instrument or sing in order to benefit. There also isn’t a specific genre or style of music that’s more healing than another. The real key, she said, is to ask people what music they love and let the comfort, familiarity, and joy of the song course through them. That’s where the healing really comes in.

UCHealth is a 2024/25 Season Sponsor of DCPA Broadway.