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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: Social Impact
Status: World Music
BeginnerCourse26 hours

Featured reviews

HA

5.0Reviewed Dec 11, 2018

The course was the perfect way to get introduced to the many ways music therapy can impact our lives. Absolutely inspired. (:

VM

5.0Reviewed Jul 22, 2021

It was very informative and enlightening, also filled with research and interviews.

AM

5.0Reviewed Feb 1, 2018

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

AB

5.0Reviewed Apr 25, 2019

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

PJ

5.0Reviewed Jun 25, 2022

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

SW

5.0Reviewed May 21, 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 11, 2016

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

GT

5.0Reviewed Oct 29, 2025

I thoroughly enjoyed this course, it was overall inspiring!

LH

5.0Reviewed Jul 4, 2017

This course is extremely informational and useful.

LC

5.0Reviewed Aug 6, 2017

Amazing! Everyone should do it...Very clear, serious and fun!

DW

5.0Reviewed Oct 8, 2023

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

EL

4.0Reviewed Sep 30, 2019

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

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 63

Anna Muller
5.0
Reviewed Feb 1, 2018
Lisa Plasse
5.0
Reviewed May 26, 2020
Lim Zhon Yun
5.0
Reviewed Feb 4, 2018
Rosalinde Koolstra
5.0
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Hannah Anderson
5.0
Reviewed Dec 12, 2018
Elizabeth Howe
5.0
Reviewed Sep 11, 2016
Michelle Szabo
5.0
Reviewed Feb 8, 2017
Stefania Cammarata
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Reviewed Apr 12, 2018
Edwardo Vera
5.0
Reviewed Sep 12, 2018
Shehzad Amin
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Reviewed Oct 23, 2020
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5.0
Reviewed Mar 30, 2017
Sanjeevani Jain
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Montserrat Comellas Barri
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Reviewed Mar 29, 2019
Gu Weihua
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Kristine Faith Cosico Moral
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Reviewed Oct 16, 2016
Jean-René BASTIEN
5.0
Reviewed Aug 6, 2020