Music, Influence of

The study investigated the effects of music to reduce anxiety and decrease intubation times in coronary artery bypass graft and valve replacement surgical patients in an acute care hospital. Anxiety can contribute to everything from heightened emotional stress, increased pain, blood pressure changes as well as lethal cardiac dysrhythmia and reduction in peripheral and renal perfusion. Research has shown, music as a therapeutic modality, relieves anxiety and pain in patients before and after surgery. What patients hear during surgery can be a rich source of anxiety. Wearing earphones during surgery will eliminate this source of anxiety. Music is reported to distract patients in an alien environment and provide a comforting and familiar effect in discomforting conditions. Soothing music can produce a hypometabolic response characteristic of relaxation in which autonomic, immune, endocrine, and neuropeptide systems can be altered. Similarly, music produces desired psychological responses and reduction in anxiety and fear.

The intent of this study was to research, develop,
and present creative music activities which could be used by
classroom teachers to promote creative thinking in children.
The creative music activities follow the format developed by
Frank Williams in his Total Creativity Program for Individualizing
and Human~zing the Learning Process.
Creative music activities which were selected encourage
divergent production and develop the creative thinking
abilities of fluency, flexibility, original ity, and
elaboration. These activities also stimulate t he development
of affective behaviors such as risk-taking, preference
for complexity, curiosity, and imagination. In addition,
suggested teaching strategies for teachers which enhance
creativity are included in each activity.
These activities were categorized as being (1)
composition, (2) dramatization , (3) movement, (4) rhythmic
experience, (5) special project, or (6) basic music skills. They were further organized into appropriate grade levels,
kindergarten through sixth grade.
A survey was conducted of music teachers in Palm
Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties, Florida, to obtain information
about the use of creative activities. A questionnaire
designed by the author and the Khatena-Torrance
Creative Perception Inventory were used to gather the necessary
data.
The major findings of this study showed that most
teachers used creative activities in their teaching and are
receptive to new materials on creativity. Physical setting
was not a significant variable in predicting the extent of
the use of creative music activities by teachers. Teachers
who scored high on the Creative Perception Inventory used
more creative activities in their teaching than those who
scored low but the difference was not· significant. The
discovery technique is desirable in teaching children with
high creative ability but most teachers did not use this
method exclusively in their presentation of new material.
This study was not intended to be field tested by
the author. Rather, emphasis was on the development of
creative music activities with variations of difficulty
which could be used by classroom teachers with a minimum
of musical training.