Music Therapy and mental health

Bang! Clap! The sound of palms hitting drums filled the room as Music Therapist Marlys Woods led a drumming session. These drumming sessions were not meant to be structured music classes. Instead, participants walked up to the center of the drum circle whenever they felt ready and released their sadness, anger, stress, and worry into the music they made on their drum. 

One client, a tall, muscular man, participated in Wood’s Drumming group. Although he was not usually a very active member in the drum circle, the client walked up to the center of the drumming circle with his small drum. 

With a deep breath, he banged and pounded the drum with all the emotion he had inside of him. Anger shifted into music notes, and by the end of his performance, the client was teary-eyed.

 “He was quiet for a second, and then he said, ‘Wow, that’s all the anger I’ve been holding inside of me for six years. This is the first time I’ve been able to express it,'” Woods said.