Music to Overcome Cancer

Music can be a powerful therapeutic tool, and I have always believed in its ability to bring comfort, strength, and healing. In some ways, we all practise music therapy every day—the piece we turn to when we need to unwind, or the song that lifts our spirits and gives us energy. Music has been shown to create positive emotional changes and reduce anxiety, and for cancer patients, music and music therapy—the clinical use of music to support treatment goals—can also help develop vital coping skills in the face of a diagnosis.

In 2019, when I was diagnosed with both breast cancer and colon cancer, I experienced this truth in the most profound way. The power of music, and what it has the capacity to transmit, became an anchor for me during this period of my life. You don’t have to be a professional musician to feel these benefits—music is within everyone’s reach, and it offers a vital source of resilience in times of adversity.

My book Music to Help Overcome Cancer and the album Sounds for the Soul both grew out of this journey. The album is a personal selection of works that I either played or listened to throughout my treatment, and the book reflects on how music accompanied me through illness and recovery. By sharing them, I hope others may also find strength, comfort, and healing through the profound and altruistic dimension of music.

Min-Jung Kym