Dr. Kip Pegley.

In early April the Canadian Opera Company (COC) opened its production of Hercules. The play 카지노 게임 컬렉션� written in 500 BC and adapted by George Frideric Handel in 1745 카지노 게임 컬렉션� tells the story of a soldier카지노 게임 컬렉션�s struggles after returning home from war. Kip Pegley (School of Music) was invited to an advance performance of Hercules and gave a talk about war veterans, music and rehabilitation at the 카지노게임사이트 of Toronto카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Munk School of Global Affairs as part of a symposium organized by the COC and the Faculty of Music, 카지노게임사이트 of Toronto.

Dr. Pegley sat down with Rosie Hales, Communications Officer, to discuss her research into music as a rehabilitation technique for war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how she hopes her research will help soldiers and veterans in the future.

Rosie Hales: Your research centres on music and veteran health. Why did you decide to choose this as a research focus?

Kip Pegley: I believe that the research we choose to undertake says a lot about us. For example, my father was a Korean War veteran and served in the Canadian Navy for 35 years. He was an emotionally reserved man; to learn more about him, I joined the Naval Reserves as a teenager. However, as I got older I realized that the best way to know him was through music 카지노 게임 컬렉션� it was the one place he really opened up emotionally. Music was entwined with his sense of duty and his career in the Navy.

Since 2002, when Canada officially deployed our military to Afghanistan, I카지노 게임 컬렉션�ve been interested in learning more about what music means to this generation of soldiers. With so many soldiers returning with PTSD, I was also curious to seek out ways that music might help them while they are deployed as well as in post-deployment.

RH: How has the role of music for deployed soldiers changed since your father카지노 게임 컬렉션�s work in the Navy?

KP: When my father was deployed he was listening to big band and other music that was played over the radio with his fellow soldiers. Now, soldiers use different technologies, like iPods and CDs, to pump music through the tanks or listen in their bunks alone at night. For my father, music was more of a shared event but soldiers today have the option to make it a more personalized and individual experience.

RH: So, what kind of music do soldiers listen to when they카지노 게임 컬렉션�re going into war?

KP: The music soldiers blare in the tanks when they카지노 게임 컬렉션�re going into combat isn카지노 게임 컬렉션�t the music you might initially suspect: Popular culture today is saturated with 카지노 게임 컬렉션�militainment,카지노 게임 컬렉션� a genre that conflates entertainment with war. Watching 카지노 게임 컬렉션�militainment카지노 게임 컬렉션� movies or playing video games like Call of Duty or American Army might make us believe that soldiers listen to heavy metal and rap music to get them pumped up for combat. It might surprise some to know that a Canadian veteran I interviewed was going into combat in a tank with 10 other men singing along to Deep Blue Something카지노 게임 컬렉션�s 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Breakfast at Tiffany카지노 게임 컬렉션�s.카지노 게임 컬렉션� The female tank driver, meanwhile, listened to hymns her grandmother sang to her as a child through her iPod headphones. This same female tank driver used music as a way to bond with the women living in her barracks 카지노 게임 컬렉션� she played the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and that got everyone up and moving. Music provided them a safe opportunity to sing, dance and lower their hyper vigilance for a little while.

RH: How can music help soldiers once they카지노 게임 컬렉션�re home from war, or if they카지노 게임 컬렉션�re suffering from PTSD?

KP: Music gets people, veterans or not, talking. Music therapy can be anything from a group singing country songs to a drumming circle. Music is an important portal for veterans to access a range of feelings-- ̶love and loss, fear and guilt. Sometimes they can sing what they cannot  ̶ and would not ever ̶̶ say.

My upcoming research will involve studying how neural feedback can help war veterans cope with their PTSD. In neurofeedback, the subject puts on a headset and listens to music with electrodes wired up to their brain. When they are listening to the music, they may start thinking and their brainwaves might become more stressed. When this happens, the music stops and they hear a 카지노 게임 컬렉션�click카지노 게임 컬렉션� sound which refocuses them by resetting their brain. 

It's my hope that one day music will play an important role in traumatic rehabilitation and help get soldiers - and all traumatized individuals - back on their feet.