March is Music Therapy Awareness Month

?He hasn?t spoken in five months since his stroke, but he sang along to some old hymns just the other day. Can you help?? Her face was desperate for an answer, and seeing me leave the nursing home with a guitar on my back prompted her to ask a total stranger this question. She didn?t know I was a music therapist. She didn?t know the research behind using music to regain speech after a stroke. What she did know was music evoked a positive change in the person she loved and so desperately missed.

When I met Bob (we?ll call the Bob and Sue for this purpose), he was sitting in a wheelchair in the center of his room. Sue sat gently on the bed to his left. I could tell immediately Bob?s right side was affected by the stroke, so I extended my left hand to shake his. I said ?hello? and the glimmer in his eyes faded as sounds came from his mouth, but not the words he wanted. I acknowledged his frustration and tried to ease any anxiety by explaining what it was I was going to do. Sitting across from Bob, holding my guitar, I gently told him I was going to sing some songs that they both might recognize and while he was welcome to sing along, there was no pressure to do so.

What followed is nothing short of amazing. I sang what music therapists like to call a ?hello song.? A simple song that does just that ... it says hello. Without having ever heard this melody before, Bob began singing with me. First we sang ?hello Bob,? then ?hello Elisabeth.? His voice was weak, but the words were there. He couldn?t speak ?hello? to me, but he could sing it. We turned to his wife and with tears in both of their eyes he sang ?hello Sue? ... something she hadn?t heard and he hadn?t been able to communicate in five months.

The stroke did not just rip away Bob? ability to speak, and I knew that. It also robbed him of socialization and self-expression. It left a void in his marriage and in its place poured depression and frustration, isolation and loneliness. Music therapy offered hope.

I asked Sue to trade me places and as she tightly held his hand I began singing the older country song ?Have I told You Lately That I Love You?? There are no words to adequately describe the feeling in that room when Bob sang, ?Have I told you lately that I love you? Could I tell you once again somehow? Have I told you lately that I love you? Well, darling, I?m telling you now? to his wife of 60 years. I will never forget that moment, and something tells me Bob and Sue won?t forget it either.

The truth is I have a lot of moments I will never forget as a music therapist. I will always remember, fondly, how music therapy gave new life to a dear hospice patient of mine we?ll call Joe. Joe was an isolated and unhappy man and he pushed people away with his rudeness and intentional uncleanliness. The hospice team was discussing Joe and my ears perked up and I asked if I could have a referral to see him. Isolation, depression, withdrawal ... these are all goals addressed within the domain of music therapy. The team approved my request; however, they cautioned me and I felt a sense of protection from them as they hesitate to send me to him.

Well, Joe was exactly how they described. Angry, rude, unkempt and quick to tell me he didn?t like music and I didn?t need to be there. I intentionally left my guitar in the hallway for this initial visit. When he declined, I casually asked if I could stop by to say hi if I was in the area again. He scoffed and growled a bit and said, ?fine,? probably hoping I?d leave quicker if he obliged. The next week I returned, guitar out of its case and across my shoulder. ?Hey, Joe!? I said (his eyes met mine with a cold stare). ?I learned this song recently ... you probably won?t like it, but could I play it for you?? I don?t even remember the song anymore, but he gruffly agreed and as I sang, tears began to roll down his cheeks. When the song was over I stood quietly near him and he told me he loved music and used to sing with a boy?s choir in high school.

Over the next year I visited Joe every week. He smiled more and yelled less. He shared stories from childhood and the war and adult life as a laborer. He taught me the song ?Slow Boat to China,? a most beautiful song with an unexpected melody. He shaved and began to shower. The staff at his facility noticed the change and no longer avoided his room. Joe regained life even during death, and music was the nonthreatening connector that drew him out of isolation.

There are so many more ?I?ll never forget? moments. The man who told me of his childhood job which was carrying coal from the shed to his house each morning and evening. He wrote down his memories and I put it into a song called ?Coal House Blues.? In his last moments I was asked to come be with him and his family. I sang his favorite songs while his wife stroked his head and his children sat near and sang along quietly through their tears.

Self-expression, relaxation, reducing pain and anxiety, family/patient bonding, improving quality of life ... these are just a few of the goals addressed in music therapy in hospice. Music therapy, however, is not just for end-of-life care. I also work with babies and toddlers, school-age children, teenagers and adults. In special education and behavioral classrooms, music therapy can decrease negative behaviors, improve academics, teach healthy coping skills and increase positive social interaction. The specific goals change based on our clients, but all music therapy goals are physical, social, emotional, cognitive, communicative or behavioral.

Music motivates. Music teaches. Music draws out memories and emotions from sometimes hidden places. It is a part of our fabric, woven into who we are. And while styles, traditions, genres and cultures differ, the fact that music is present in each of our lives does not. It is that universality and the unique way music is processed in the brain that makes music therapy a respected allied health profession. Withy more than 65 years of documented research, music therapy continues to rapidly expand across the United States and the world.

In the past 11 years as a music therapist, I have been blessed with more ?I?ll never forget? moments than I could possibly share. The look of awe in people?s eyes when they see their loved ones do things they perceived to be impossible will never get old. My clients and my patients leave permanent imprints on my heart and I don?t anticipate that to change anytime soon.