This study is an experimental study to investigate the effect of therapeutic music activities centered on musical instrument performance on the reduction of emotional stress among refugees residing in Korea. The subjects of the study were a total of 20 refugees over the age of 20 who used the Refugee Support Center in District K, Seoul, and were randomly assigned to an experimental group of 10 people and a control group of 10 people, using a control group design before and after testing. From September 2021, once a week, 50 minutes of therapeutic music activities centered on playing musical instruments were provided to the experimental group 12 times, and no related intervention was provided to the control group. The scale was based on the emotional stress scale developed by Jeon et al. (2020). The research results are as follows. First, both the overall emotional stress score and sub-domain scores of the experimental group were significantly reduced. Second, the overall emotional stress score of the experimental group significantly decreased compared to the control group. Through this, it was confirmed that therapeutic music activities centered on playing musical instruments are an effective intervention in reducing the emotional stress of refugees staying in Korea, and we look forward to the development of music programs for them and expansion of follow-up research.