We Can Still Make Music Together

Virtual Music Therapy with Veterans

I’ll be the first to admit that I was skeptical about providing music therapy services via telehealth. I’m trained to react to my clients in the moment, to adapt what I’m doing based on the most subtle signs and cues from them. How am I supposed to do that if I’m not in the same room as them? How can I ensure a high quality of music if the internet or microphone on either end doesn’t work well? What if the connection fails and the session ends abruptly with no closure? What about the clients that need compassionate touch and proximity to fully benefit from music therapy? So many things that could (and probably would) go wrong kept racing through my mind as I geared up to start seeing clients virtually.

Then I had my first session of the Guitar Class for Veterans group that I run in the Quad Cities. There were so many extenuating circumstances and reasons why it shouldn’t have worked – using a platform I wasn’t familiar with; a group of people calling in individually from their own homes; feedback, and delay from multiple guitars playing at once; the list goes on…

To my relief and amazement, none of that mattered once we were all signed on and in the same “room.” It was such a comfort for all of us to see each other again, even if it was only through our computer screens. The benefits of providing services via telehealth in a time like this immediately began to make themselves clear to me:

• The veterans all talked about how thankful they were that they could see familiar faces and interact with people without having to wear masks
• Through lyric analysis and songwriting interventions, the group members had constructive opportunities to share the things they were struggling with related to the pandemic – the thoughts that were racing, the fears that wouldn’t go away, the things they miss, and the daily hardships of isolation
• There was a lot of joking and laughter and many well-timed, good-natured insults
• We were all reminded that, even though we have to stay home, none of us are alone in this

Though we were miles and miles away from each other, everyone in that group was there for the entirety of the session. At the end of our first meeting, I reminded the group members that all they can do is take care of themselves. “Stay home when you can, wash your hands, and wear a mask.” Before I could even finish speaking, someone chimed in with an enthusiastic “that’s not all we can do… At least we can still make music together!”

Over the last couple of months, we have all looked forward to our weekly meetings. The sessions provide time and space for everyone to talk with each other, to get things off of their chests, and to connect with people they trust. The group members share some really high highs (“we got to see our grandkids for the first time in months”) and support each other through some really low lows (“I lost another friend to COVID”). We write songs and analyze lyrics, we work on various relaxation and anxiety management exercises, and we always play our guitars. It turns out that providing music therapy via telehealth isn’t impossible, even though it’s not the same as actually being in the room with my clients. If nothing else, these weekly sessions continue to remind me that, no matter what is going on in the world around us, “at least we can still make music together.”