avior, and emotions (Guzzetta, 1989). Music therapy has been defined as "the controlled use of music, its elements, and its influences on human beings to aid the physiological, psychological, and emotional integration of the individual during the treatment of an illness or disability" (Munro & Mount, 1978, p. 1029).
Music has been used as therapy in several health care environments (Covington, 1997). Among these settings are hospices for the dying to counter depression, psychological interventions to elicit emotion, operating rooms to allay anxiety, and in delivery rooms to ease pain.
Music therapy has been shown to have positive physiological effects on patient heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, skin temperature, perceived pain, anxiety level, and mood state (Bechler-Karsch, 1993). Music therapy studies generally show that slow, quiet, non-vocal music lowers physiological responses associated with stress, while faster music generally heightens physiological responses (St
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