ABSTRACT
Musicians like Michael and Ricky engage with people through musical performances and activities in hospitals in support of the holistic goal of enhancing the healthcare experience for patients, family members and visitors, and staff. Starting with a brief historical overview of the linkages between music and health, this chapter explores the roles of musicians in healthcare and how these musicians are both qualified and prepared to do this work. Music-centered healing practices are found across numerous cultures, notably, but not exclusively in Native American, Judaic, Indian, Islamic, Christian, African, Tibetan, Aboriginal, and South American cultures. Developmental precursors of music and music behaviors across the lifespan and across cultures validate an intense human affinity for music that is closely linked to well-being. In the 1980s, arts in health began to emerge as a formal discipline in relationship to biomedicine in the United States.
