Musical Remedy is a research and community service project aimed at helping neuro-diverse children develop their social, emotional and cognitive skills through musical and artistic activities. It was co-founded by Nannaphat (JaJar) Suwannakul, a student passionate about science and music looking for a way to combine her interests to help underprivileged members of society, and Krittin (Kris) Hirunchupong, a concert pianist and cellist looking for a way to utilize his talents to help those with mental disabilities.
The target audience of this project was children with learning disabilities (LD), a disorder that affects a child’s ability to understand instructions, speak or write fluently, perform mathematical calculations, coordinate movements or concentrate on a task for a certain amount of time. In Thailand, the figure of students with learning disabilities (LD) in schools increased substantially from approximately 60,000 in 2015 to an estimate of 250,000 in 2021. Furthermore, these numbers only accounted for the children enrolled in schools, and did not account for the many others neglected due to parents unable to afford education or special needs care.
With this social issue in mind, the founders led a team of 15 musician volunteers who contributed to the service project by producing music recordings for the “Musical and Artistic Activity” sessions. The sessions were conducted at the Camillian Home for Disabled Children from July to August 2021. The sessions contributed to a study that the Musical Remedy team designed to compare the effectiveness of instrumental, classical and pop music on extending the concentration time of children with LD, with the aim of opening up new treatment opportunities or providing information to caretakers of children with LD.
The Musical and Artistic Activity sessions were divided into 3 categories: instrumental, classical and pop music. All of the media used in the study was posted on the Musical Remedy Youtube channel. The recordings were produced by Nannaphat (JaJar) Suwannakul, Krittin (Kris) Hirunchupong, Kan Yodlinlom, Krit Yodinlom, Pakamon (Deena) Kerdsomboon, Ada Chunhavajira, Suwapitcha (Miew) Phromaeim, Pasawee (Einstein) Titapand, Wiwat (Win) Seetue, Pimnada (Pitta) Kiatwacharasri and Kittirat (Opec) Trakulsujaritchok.
In the Musical and Artistic Activity sessions conducted over the course of 4 weeks, each child was encouraged to draw and color an image of their choice for 30-40 minutes, which was kept as a controlled variable. The type of music played for each session (instrumental music, classical music and pop music) was the independent variable. The quantitative data gained from this study was the comparison of time spent on their task, and the presence of multi-tasking while working on their drawings. The drawings produced from the sessions (qualitative data) were collected and analyzed by Asst. Prof. Dr. Supalak Khemthong, an assistant professor with a doctoral research degree in occupational therapy.
The study’s findings suggest that the 3 music genres differ distinctly in terms of effectively extending the concentration time of children with LD. Overall, instrumental music was the most effective in increasing concentration time, while pop music was the least effective and led to some signs of deterioration in concentration. With this conclusion, the Musical Remedy team aims to continue advocating and encouraging the use of instrumental music to alleviate the symptoms of children with LD all over Thailand.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Musical Remedy
Gmail: musicalremedy.service@gmail.com
Instagram: @musical.remedy__
Youtube: Musical.Remedy__
JaJar | Founding President
Gmail: nannaphats23@rism.ac.th
Instagram: @jajar.ns
Kris | Co-Founder
Gmail: krittinh23@rism.ac.th
Instagram: @kris.hirunchupong
