Summary of project Ataraxia. By Karin Schou Music therapist, MA, teacher Background

In 1997, a group of music therapy students at Aalborg University (AAU) investigated the effects of music on body and mind in traditional medicine and in an alternative treatment, in a music psychology project entitled “the Healing Power of Music”. The project included interviews with Dr. Lars Heslet, a specialist at Rigshospital, Copenhagen, and composer Niels Eje, who initiated a music environment project involving intensive care patients. On the basis of this project, and for practical (geographical) reasons, Aalborg Hospital (North) and the group of music therapy students began working together. In 1999, this cooperation resulted in the project, Ataraxia – between music and medicine, a project report about scientific theory. Ataraxia was a two-part project: The first part was a pilot project (described in the project report just mentioned), which had the aim of investigating how a mixed group of individuals from the humanities and scientific disciplines could work together. The project also involved the specific design and implementation of a patient and staff trial relating to the sound environment, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. This pilot project was viewed as quality assurance and was approved by the hospital’s ethical committee. The second part of the Ataraxia project involved a continuation of the trial relating to the soun