Can music be defined?

This question has lead to a lot of frustrations within the past week. No one could agree on the essential aspects of what music is, as well as what is music therapy. We all come from different styles of teaching, different perspectives, and different ways of explaining our reasoning. I thought I was going to throw in the towel, until this weekend.

This weekend, we walked in the steps of individuals that we have studied about ever since we began our careers in music. We stood in the room where Mendelssohn died, walked on the same exact steps that Clara and Rober Schumann walked, and we saw Bach's works performed, on a Bach organ, at his final resting place. I mean, how cool is that? To be a young musician, these seem like unattainable feats. These are things, I didn't even know still existed. The most amazing moment of that trip though, was in the Schumann house.

As we were sitting in the side room, where they had a piano that Clara Schumann actually played, we were all listening to eachother play the piano. We took turns to show our piano or lack there of piano skills in this amazing area of musical history. Then, a man came up to us and asked if  he could play piano, keeping in mind he is at least 85 years old. He sat down at the piano and all of the sudden an out poor of Schumann's piano works flowed though this mans fingers. He could play any Schumann song you wanted. It was phenomenal. This event inspired some developing thoughts on what is music and music therapy.

Music is timeless. It is constantly evolving and is one of the few concrete concepts that can stay with us for potentially, forever. It is thought provoking. It was written with emotion and is now creating emotion within the listener as the player plays. Music is a catalyst for change. This is why music therapy is so essential. We, as a therapist, become the vessel for change within a persons life. Our tools are some of the most intricate that you can find, but can be more beneficial than any medication or perscription. We help influence humanity in such a unique way through this process.

So what is music? It has still yet to be fully discovered.