Appendix 1. MEDLINE search strategy

The following search strategy will be used for MEDLINE (Ovid) and adapted for the other databases.

MEDLINE (Ovid)
1. cerebrovascular disorders/ or exp basal ganglia cerebrovascular disease/ or exp brain ischemia/ or exp carotid artery diseases/ or cerebrovascular accident/ or exp brain infarction/ or exp cerebrovascular trauma/ or exp hypoxia‐ischemia, brain/ or exp intracranial arterial diseases/ or intracranial arteriovenous malformations/ or exp "Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis"/ or exp intracranial hemorrhages/ or vasospasm, intracranial/ or vertebral artery dissection/
2. (stroke or poststroke or post‐stroke or cerebrovasc$ or brain vasc$ or cerebral vasc$ or cva$ or apoplex$ or SAH).tw.
3. ((brain$ or cerebr$ or cerebell$ or intracran$ or intracerebral) adj5 (isch?emi$ or infarct$ or thrombo$ or emboli$ or occlus$)).tw.
4. ((brain$ or cerebr$ or cerebell$ or intracerebral or intracranial or subarachnoid) adj5 (haemorrhage$ or hemorrhage$ or haematoma$ or hematoma$ or bleed$)).tw.
5. hemiplegia/ or exp paresis/
6. (hemipleg$ or hemipar$ or paresis or paretic).tw.
7. exp aphasia/
8. (aphasi$ or dysphasi$).tw.
9. craniocerebral trauma/ or exp brain injuries/ or exp head injuries, closed/ or exp intracranial hemorrhage, traumatic/ or exp skull fractures/
10. brain damage, chronic/ or brain injury, chronic/
11. exp brain stem/in or exp cerebellum/in
12. ((head or brain$ or cerebral or cranial or craniocerebral or skull) adj5 (injur$ or trauma$ or damage$)).tw.
13. diffuse axonal injur$.tw.
14. anoxia/ or exp encephalitis/ or exp meningitis/ or exp brain neoplasms/
15. (anoxi$ or hypoxi$ or encephalit$ or meningit$).tw.
16. ((brain or cereb$) and (neoplasm$ or lesion$ or tumor$ or tumour$)).tw.
17. or/1‐16
18. music/ or music therapy/ or acoustic stimulation/
19. (music$ or rhythmic$ or melod$).tw.
20. ((auditory or acoustic) adj5 (stimulat$ or cue$)).tw.
21. (sing or sings or singing or song$ or compose or composing or improvis$).tw.
22. or/18‐21
23. Randomized Controlled Trials/
24. random allocation/
25. Controlled Clinical Trials/
26. control groups/
27. clinical trials/
28. double‐blind method/
29. single‐blind method/
30. Placebos/
31. placebo effect/
32. cross‐over studies/
33. Multicenter Studies/
34. Therapies, Investigational/
35. Research Design/
36. Program Evaluation/
37. evaluation studies/
38. randomized controlled trial.pt.
39. controlled clinical trial.pt.
40. clinical trial.pt.
41. multicenter study.pt.
42. evaluation studies.pt.
43. random$.tw.
44. (controlled adj5 (trial$ or stud$)).tw.
45. (clinical$ adj5 trial$).tw.
46. ((control or treatment or experiment$ or intervention) adj5 (group$ or subject$ or patient$)).tw.
47. (quasi‐random$ or quasi random$ or pseudo‐random$ or pseudo random$).tw.
48. ((multicenter or multicentre or therapeutic) adj5 (trial$ or stud$)).tw.
49. ((control or experiment$ or conservative) adj5 (treatment or therapy or procedure or manage$)).tw.
50. ((singl$ or doubl$ or tripl$ or trebl$) adj5 (blind$ or mask$)).tw.
51. (coin adj5 (flip or flipped or toss$)).tw.
52. latin square.tw.
53. versus.tw.
54. (cross‐over or cross over or crossover).tw.
55. placebo$.tw.
56. sham.tw.
57. (assign$ or alternate or allocat$ or counterbalance$ or multiple baseline).tw.
58. controls.tw.
59. (treatment$ adj6 order).tw.
60. journal of music therapy.jn.
61. or/23‐60
62. 17 and 22 and 61
63. limit 62 to humans