MUSIC might be the food of love but it's also the key to good health, according to experts from around the world who met in Liverpool.
Academics and health professionals called for more government funding for music therapy to be used in the treatment of mental and physical disabilities, following the Sound Intervention conference at Hope University.
The event, organised by the charity MusicSpace North West, shared evidence into how music therapy has helped people live with conditions like schizophrenia, autism and helped alleviate Parkinson's disease.
Delegates also heard presentations on how music could help refugees recover from traumatic experiences, about its role in special schools and children's hospices.
Professor Tony Wigram, who leads the Institute for Music Therapy at the University of Aalborg, Denmark, gave the keynote speech about a review he has just published into uses of music therapy in treatment of schizophrenia.
Afterwards he said: "Music therapy has been around since the 1940s but to some people it is still very new.
"It is recognised and used widely in the British NHS, but the potential scope is much wider than is currently realised.
"There have been a lot of studies into the uses of music therapy in schizophrenics that show, if it is used over and above normal treatment, you can get very positive results like improved interest and motivation.
"The current shortfall is nothing to do with a lack of evidence. What is needed is an increase in resources."
MusicSpace North West treats about 60 children and 20 adults in Merseyside each year, through a range of one-to-one sessions and visits to schools and clinics.
Co-ordinator Mary Clayton said the key for most young clients is getting them to play an instrument and then mirroring their rhythm patterns to earn trust and improve communication.
In adults with Parkinson's disease, playing an instrument can help improve motor skills, but also allow communication when sufferers lose the power of speech.
Ms Clayton said: "It can have significant results.
"In children with autistic spectrum disorder, it is all about building up trust and then developing a relationship with them.
Fellow speaker Simon Proctor, of the London music therapy charity Nordof-Robbins, which helps adults with mental illness, said: "The benefits are different for different people. It can help some people be more expressive than they can be with words.
"It can also give those who are prone to psychotic incidents an opportunity to be more organised than they would otherwise be.
"There is increasing evidence of the effectiveness of music therapy in helping people to both recover from and live with the effects of mental illness, so it's something that's bound to contribute to their treatment.
"The problem is the provision is very unequal in mainstream care, there is quite a lot in London and a bit in the North East, but very little in the North West, which is why it is so important that the conference is here.
"People should have equality of access and I would like to see the Government get behind that, because the benefits can be immense."
Prof Wigram's research is published this week on the Cochrane library, an academic database. He is now conducting a similar review into the use of music therapy in treatment of autistic children.