Objective To explore the effectiveness of the Five Elements Music Therapy(FEMT)in relieving stress in participants with different cultural backgrounds,and to compare the differences between the FEMT and the Western Art Music Therapy(WAMT)in stress relief.Methods This was a comparative pilot randomized pre-post repeated measures study,37 subjects were allocated with 2 dropped out,with an inclusion-ended sample of 35 subjects,23 from Canada and 12 from China.After informed consent,all subjects were randomly assigned to listening to either Five Elements Music or Western Art Music at home for 30 minutes,twice a week for four weeks.Participants were asked to use headphones,measure their pulse rate before and after each session,and fill out five questionnaires,including a background and demographic survey(reporting age,gender,education,cultural background,listening experience).Self-assessment of stress(pre-post after each session),General Hospital Anxiety/Depression Scale(HADS,weekly after 2nd session),Perceived Stress Survey(PSS,weekly after 2nd session),the Music Therapy Intervention Survey(MTIS,pre-post each session).Results ①There was a significant decrease in self-assessed stress scores after the second session in the FEMT compared with the WAMT group(t=-2.057,P=0.046).②In both groups,there was a significant decrease in stress scores pre-post treatment in each group(WAMT t=5.026;FEMT T=7.645,P=0.000).③There was no significant difference between the two groups in post-intervention HADS scores(P>0.05);In the Chinese sample,there was a significant difference in HADS scores after the eighth session in both FEMT and WAMT groups(t=-3.862,P=0.003),and a statistically significant difference in HADS pre-post intervention in the FEMT((t=5.117,P=0.004).There was a significant difference in MTIS pre-post treatment in the WAMT(t=-2.572,P=0.023),but in not the FEMT group(t= 1.331,P=0.207).Conclusion This pilot trial explores a safe and feasible self-administered music therapy approach for stress in two distinct cultural groups,and for the first time provides preliminary comparison and evidence of effectiveness of FEMT and WAMT in alleviating stress and anxiety.Further investigation with bigger randomized samples is needed to elucidate the effects of different kinds of music and cultural groups on stress and anxiety levels.