The energy music emits [MusicsEnergy™] works synergistically with our mind, body, and spirit [musicSenergy™]. Popular youth music and media, when used judiciously, purposefully, and with training, helps children, youth, and families understand the origins of health and dis-ease in America in ways that showcase the health benefits of embracing hope .

Hope is essential to reducing dis-ease in America!

Below are seven statements that serve as a primer for Music & Media Therapy™ [MMT™] and my book entitled:

MusicsEnergy™:  The Essential Guide to Engaging Youth in the iGeneration.  

Contact: drjulianowens@gmail.com to pre-order your copy of MusicsEnergy: The Essential Guide to Engaging Youth in the iGeneration.

Seven Jewels

 The iGeneration is the first generation that has grown up with unfettered access to handheld technology, providing 24/7 access to worldwide news, information, and entertainment.

  1. Music is a universal language that provides opportunities for soul-to-soul connections between people of different backgrounds, experiences, and perspective. We use music and media to purposefully deconstruct the themes and messages therein highlighting those themes and messages  that align with health, hope, and healing, and addressing themes and messages that do not.

  2. Most of the themes and messages in music reflect social constructions of personhood, some of which are deeply rooted in unsavory myths, misconceptions, and stereotypes about race, class, gender, and orientation.

  3. These social constructions are stitched in our collective consciousness, and the governance of nearly every facet of American life, including business, industry, religion, the academy of higher education, K12, law, politics, art, literature, and even science. They are purposefully curated and disseminated to the masses via news, information, and entertainment.

  4. The enemy of freedom stands in opposition to life, liberty, self-determination, and justice for all. The enemy's agenda is to withhold freedom and decide who is deserving of it. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. The Information and News Industry and Media Entertainment (INIME™) is a tool used by the enemy to mostly preserve, and sometimes challenge the status quo. 

  5. The enemy and the INIME™ often work synergistically to create “white noise” for the “black holes” that are the result of government sanctioned slavery, oppression, and systemic discrimination. Sometimes, this dissonance is expressed in flagrant incivility and disrespect, increasingly presented on large and small screens as news, information, and media entertainment.

  6. Education toward social justice gives all of us an opportunity to practice Socratic thinking and Socratic questioning. Popular Youth Music and Media (PYMM), when used judiciously and purposefully, has great potential to promote health, hope, and healing. 

  7. A Historically Based Contextually Correct Understanding™ (HBCU™) is essential to engaging  children and youth in the iGeneration, especially those who have been written off as “at-risk, or those who are classified as “hard to reach”.

 

Training is required to implement MusicsEnergy™, Music and Media Therapy™ and the Life Literacy Curriculum™. This requires engaging and a deeper dive into the true purposes of education and the true value of being schooled.

 

www.musicsenergy.org

MMT™ is an integrative therapy that leverages judicious use of popular music and media as content as context for three specific purposes:

  1. To facilitate relevant teaching, learning, enrichment, and therapy for youth from ages 14 -25;

  2. To achieve measurable improvements in cognitive, behavioral, emotional, moral, and social competence; and

  3. To enable those trained and certified gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities to deploy MusicsEnergy: Life Literacy Curriculum™ in school and community settings.

ABOUT 

Youth in the iGeneration [i.e., ages 13 – 24] spend between seven and nine hours per day engaged in some form of entertainment media, often involving screen time. Social media and digital music [i.e., lyrics, sound recordings, or music videos] consume more of their time than any other activity, including sleeping. Consequently, they are impacted by popular culture and peer pressure in ways never seen before with documented effects on social, emotional, and mental health, as well as educational attainment. 

Interventions that mitigate the negative influences of popular youth music multimedia (PYMM) could have significant personal and public health benefits.  Furthermore, harnessing the teaching, learning, enrichment and therapeutic opportunities associated with use of popular media could have significant positive effects on education and mental health outcomes.

MMT™ provides relevant education for the iGeneration. This integrative therapeutic approach for adolescents and emerging adults extends a lifeline of health, hope, and healing for groups of youth ages 14 – 24.  Dr. Julian Owens combines his background working with artists as a composer/arranger/producer with his advanced training and practice addressing the behavioral correlations between music, media and behavior and education, and brings this evidence-based approach to youth-serving professionals in clinical, school, and community settings.

Ten Prevailing Themes in Popular Youth Music and Media

The ten themes in Popular Youth Music and Media™ [PYMM™] fall into two categories that are highly correlated with brain development and cognition during adolescence, and high-risk behaviors. All of which is intricately tied to outcomes. Outcomes of interest are grouped accordingly:

Behavioral/Emotional: 1) Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs; 2) Casual and Suggestive Sex; 3) Devious and Deviant Behavior; 4) Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Conflict, and 5) Violence/Aggressive Behavior & Trauma.

Social/Moral: 6) Unlawful/Criminal Activity 7) Excessive Materialism; 8) Foul Language; 9) Narcissism; and 10) Social Groups, Gatherings, and Gangs.

For more information about Music & Media Therapy, please contact:   drjulianowens@gmail.com.