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What Is Music Therapy?
Music therapy is a therapeutic tool in which a specially trained music therapist develops individualized interventions to meet specific patient goals. Music therapists complete a college degree in music therapy […]
Music therapy is a therapeutic tool in which a specially trained music therapist develops individualized interventions to meet specific patient goals. Music therapists complete a college degree in music therapy and an internship, after which they are eligible to sit for a certification exam offered by the Certification Board for Music Therapists. Those who pass the exam are then board-certified music therapists and may work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, mental health facilities, prisons and schools.
Music therapy as a discipline includes a wide array of interventions and techniques, including the following:
- Music improvisation
- Receptive music listening
- Songwriting
- Singing
- Music-assisted relaxation
- Music and guided imagery
- Movement to music
- Music and massage
It has many applications in clinical practice, including symptom management for people living with chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and HIV; elderly persons with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease; and those living with mental illness such as depression, anxiety or schizophrenia. It has also proven useful in palliative care and hospice. According to a literature review published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2005, music therapy may help patients at the end of life manage symptoms such as pain, fatigue and anxiety, and improve their mood and overall quality of life.
Music at the bedside of the dying
With that being said, music can be therapeutic even when it is not part of a formal intervention by a board-certified music therapist. Many hospitals, hospices and outpatient settings offer live music performed by paid musicians or volunteers as a means of creating a more healing environment for patients, visitors and staff. Bedside Harp, for example, partners with several hospitals on the East Coast to offer harp music at the bedside of terminally ill and dying patients and also trains staff and interested volunteers in the art of playing the bedside harp. And Threshold Choir, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with over 200 chapters across the U.S., has offered sung music at the bedside of those hovering between life and death since 2001. Members visit the dying in groups of two to four, performing soft, soothing harmonies that comfort both the dying person and their grieving loved ones.
Sources
“Music Therapy in Hospice and Palliative Care: A Review of the Empirical Data”. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1093/ecam/neh076
“Our Founding Story”. Bedside Harp. https://www.bedsideharp.com/about/
Threshold Choir. https://thresholdchoir.org/
