Back to How Music Can Change Your Life
The University of Melbourne

How Music Can Change Your Life

Did you ever wonder how music works? This course provides free video, audio and journal resources that explain six basic principles about how music can influence individual and community health and wellbeing. From biology and neuroscience, to psychotherapy and politics, the ways we engage with music can make all the difference. Music has always played an integral role in the lives of individuals and communities all around the globe. This course explores the ways that music can be used to achieve positive changes with a particular emphasis on the most vulnerable persons. Six different understandings will be explored, each with their own set of values and assumptions. The greatest thinkers in each approach believe that their way of explaining the power of music is right, but we will show that understanding music in its entirety delivers the best results in each unique circumstance. Once we understand the various ways that music can change the world, we can make informed decisions about how best to employ its extraordinary power. Learners who engage in this MOOC can expect to both deepen and broaden their understanding of how music can be used with individuals, groups and communities. Specifically: • To distinguish between how music works on the body, in the brain, through the unconscious, for bonding, as political action and in reflecting culture, • To design practical programs that utilise music to support individuals, groups and communities based on examples shared in the ‘on-site’ case studies. View the MOOC promotional video here: http://tinyurl.com/jnde3w3

Status: World Music
Status: Neurology
BeginnerCourse26 hours

Featured reviews

RS

5.0Reviewed Oct 6, 2020

Its very nice.I am from India. I am trying to purchase the course certificate but after OTP input and submit page remains blank.

AM

5.0Reviewed Jan 31, 2018

Can we follow this up with a degree in Music Therapy online?

AB

5.0Reviewed Apr 24, 2019

A wonderful course for anyone wanting an insight into this view and committet to music.

LY

5.0Reviewed Feb 3, 2018

wonderfully insightful and completely inspiring! I gained so much from the course and am excited to apply why I have learned in my work context!

PJ

5.0Reviewed Jun 24, 2022

​This course was very educational. It has inspired me to continue studying topics on Music Therapy.

LH

5.0Reviewed Jul 3, 2017

This course is extremely informational and useful.

EL

4.0Reviewed Sep 29, 2019

Aside from finding the accent difficult at times, I enjoyed auditing this course.

GT

5.0Reviewed Oct 28, 2025

I thoroughly enjoyed this course, it was overall inspiring!

L

5.0Reviewed May 25, 2020

This course was well structured, informative and very interesting. As a music teacher, who works with special needs children and adults, I found it very helpful.

SW

5.0Reviewed May 20, 2024

This was the best course I loved the quizzes reading and watching the videos they were very educational and informative

EH

5.0Reviewed Sep 10, 2016

It is well researched, wide in application and easy to follow. I am enjoying it tremendously

DW

5.0Reviewed Oct 7, 2023

Excellent course on "How Music Can Change Your Life."

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 63

Anna Muller
5.0
Reviewed Feb 1, 2018
Lisa Plasse
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Reviewed May 25, 2020
Lim Zhon Yun
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Reviewed Feb 4, 2018
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Reviewed Dec 11, 2018
Elizabeth Howe
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Reviewed Sep 11, 2016
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Reviewed Feb 7, 2017
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Reviewed Apr 12, 2018
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Reviewed Sep 11, 2018
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Reviewed Oct 22, 2020
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Reviewed Mar 30, 2017
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Gu Weihua
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