First The Downers, Then The Uppers

Using music as medicine goes back to Antiquity and beyond. The Greeks were not alone in recognizing that music was powerful stuff, capable of not only calming the body, but also of rousing it. Administered inappro­priately, or in the wrong dosages, it could do more harm than good. Music needed to be prescribed carefully, applied with great care, its potency taken seriously.

By contrast to the Greeks, ours is an age of rampant musical self-medication. The typical modern kid, or even young or youngish adult, at home for a sick-day is strapped up to his or her iPod as if it were an aural IV pumping non-stop music into the undefended ear at dan­gerously close range and at dangerously high decibels. No wonder school absenteeism is on the rise. Yes, there’s the awful American diet and there’s lack of exer­cise and all the rest, but let’s not forget the potential benefits and harm of music. Going with the iPod in the sick bed is like strapping the Hubble Space Telescope to the ear and letting the harmony of the spheres pound in on the soul. Where are children’s health advocates and the scourges of absenteeism and work-place efficiency on this crucial issue? Flipping through their own play­lists, that’s where.