Enriching lives through participation in music
Music Therapy Services of West Music
2021 Music Therapy Stories
01/10/22
2021 was a tumultuous year, and looking back likely brings to mind many highs and lows over the course of the year. As our music therapy team looks back on 2021, we wanted to highlight some positive music therapy experiences that were memorable this year. Did you have a meaningful music therapy experience last year? Email musictherapyservices@westmusic.com to share your stories!
I started working with a new individual early in 2021. Throughout the course of the past year, he has become so excited to engage with music therapy. He is more communicative, vocalizes along with songs, plays instruments and moves to music, and shows the brightest smile. His coordinator said “He enjoys your visits sooo much! The staff at his house often video it for us and seeing him smiling and happy is the greatest and I think it is promoting more talking out of him. I have worked with him for a long time and this is the most I have ever seen him talk.”
“He enjoys your visits sooo much!…I have worked with him for a long time and this is the most I have ever seen him talk.”
I really enjoyed working with a man in hospice who would challenge the intern and me to learn about the blues. He loved to share stories and his love of music. We ended up making him a legacy project that included his many beloved genres, artists, and his quotes about them. He was very touched and shared it with his family. Music therapy was the only thing he looked forward to every week, and he was very generous in verbally expressing his appreciation for us. I loved seeing him and hearing his stories. I learned some great repertoire as well.
I was working with my weekly adult behavioral health group and had many new patients. During the opening song multiple patients sang along with me, as well as clapped and stomped, voluntarily. After observing this I altered my session plan to original songwriting. The group was very excited for this and collaborated together to choose a theme and brainstorm lyrics individually on post it notes. The group also worked together to put the lyrics in an order that made sense to them. When it was time to put music to the lyrics one patient asked if he could improvise the guitar part! Next, one of the patients requested to sing the chorus and another asked to rap the verse! It was amazing to watch them intertwine their creative abilities. When they were finished everyone in the room was so excited with the final product their peers had created.
I saw a lady for hospice, and on our second visit we recorded a song that was meaningful to her and her daughter. At first her daughter was too emotional to be in the room, but she later came in and sang it with her. She said she would play it at her mom’s funeral, and they both had happy tears. In the weeks after, the patient was really specific about what she wanted to sing each week. She explained that singing was so cathartic and helped her feel like herself again. It was special to be able to help her feel that way and to hear her great, belting voice.
One of the highlights of my year is attending a weekend retreat for survivors of stroke and their caregivers. This year I met an individual who used to play the guitar but lost mobility in his right hand following his stroke and can no longer strum the guitar, though he can still form the chords with his left hand. During some free time at the retreat, I teamed up with him to play a few songs – he held the guitar in his lap and made the chords while I provided the strum and sang. He was so appreciative, saying it was the first time he had played since his stroke and he talked about it the rest of the weekend, saying it was a highlight of the retreat for him.
It was really special when we went back to in-person services in the schools. I had a couple of nonverbal kids who were so excited, they just kept pointing to me and waving and giggling. It was great to see them in person again.
One individual that I see for music therapy has successfully learned his address over the course of the past year (plus a little). We started working on this objective when he moved to a new address in August 2020. Since then, he has gone from no knowledge of his address, to being able to say his street name as part of a chant, to saying his complete address in the chant. Now, if I ask him “Where do you live?”, he is able to tell his complete street address (house number, street, and city)!
“The music fills up my soul and fixes my insides. You just don’t know what it does to my heart.”
I met a hospice patient who has dementia in the final week of December 2021. She appeared to have been waiting for me to arrive at her bedside – she was SO EXCITED when she realized that she was going to have music! She let me know that she enjoys church music and when I sang Christmas hymns she began to conduct me. Her conducting was very precise and expressive; it was a joy to create music with her. This former choir director was able to reminisce a little bit about playing the piano and her church and directing the choir there, especially remembering accompanying O Holy Night on Christmas Eve. After each song she would comment that there just weren’t words to express how the music made her feel. With tears in her eyes she said, “the music fills up my soul and fixes my insides. You just don’t know what it does to my heart.”
I’ve had many meaningful moments in hospice over the past year. There is one lady who comes to mind who I’ve had the opportunity to work with since March 2021. She lived alone and was often very isolated, but the music therapy visits immediately brightened her spirits. She had been in choir and band throughout her life when she was younger, and was thrilled to hear songs from these past years. She sang along with enthusiasm, tapped her toes, waved her arms, and showed the biggest smile. She always expressed what a blessing it was to have the music in her life. Recently, she has moved to a care facility, and this adjustment has been challenging for her. However, music therapy visits have been a constant through it all. Just recently, I visited to find her at a milkshake social with other residents, and she asked if I could sing a few songs there. When the facility staff agreed, she was so proud to tell the other residents, “This is my young friend! We get along so well and we sing together every week!”
We’re looking forward to many more positive experiences to come in 2022!
Happy New Year!
