Sunday, January 30, 2011

Building a Music Care Community

Categories: Music, Music Care, music care community, Palliative Care

I’m pumped that the awaited Music Care Blog is now up and running. It seems like yesterday we were together at the Music Care Conference (MCC) in Waterloo. As we begin the Music Care blog, my question is this: what will a music care community look like?

Last week I presented a Music Care workshop in Newmarket to a group called PalCare. What I loved about it was that a variety of caregivers – rec. therapists from long term care, nursing students, musicians, thanatologists, hospice volunteers, PSWs and family caregivers—gathered to understand why and how music may be used in palliative care.  Two things struck me – the  unique perspectives represented in the group’s mix and that they all loved music. There was a genuine desire to explore how music could be used more effectively in their context.

Those interested in music care come from a variety of experiences and approaches as we saw at the conference.  Some may be professional music carers (i.e. music therapists, harp therapists, expressive arts therapists),  musicians who know the healing power of their art, music enthusiasts, or caregivers who intuitively understand that music makes a difference in the context of healing and wellness.

While this list is not comprehensive, here are a number of practices where music is used in the context of healing and wellness.

  • Music therapy (music used skillfully by a certified music therapist in a therapeutic relationship i.e. in geriatric care, mental health, physical disabilities)
  • Music medicine (music used as an adjunct i.e. dentist’s office)
  • Voice therapy (management of voice disorders)
  • Listening therapy (filtered music used to correct listening dysfunction)
  • Performing arts medicine (study and treatment of music-related illnesses)
  • Music thanatology (music used at end of life)
  • Certified music practitioners, harp therapists, clinical musicians (bedside musicians)
  • Sound practitioners (practices using music as healing content i.e. crystal bowls, tuning forks, drums)
  • Creative/Expressive Arts (therapy emphasizing creative process with many art forms including music)

So here we go!  What will a music care community look like?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Bev Foster
Executive Director
Room 217 Foundation

P.S.  Check out the wonderful article and tribute to one of our MCC speakers, Ruth Roberts, music therapist at Sick Kids in Toronto!

The Toronto Star – Music Helps Kids Heal Faster

Music Helps Kids Heal Faster

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by Bev Foster

6 comments

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Tom Easthope, Grief Counsellor - January 31, 2011 - 10:20 pm

I think the music therapy conference last fall in Waterloo was absolutely phenomenal! I am truly looking forward to the next one.

Paul Konye - January 31, 2011 - 1:10 pm

As a composer, musicologist, conductor, and violinist, I couldn’t be more thrilled that finally a long overdue attention is being focused/brought on the power of music. An experience and encouter that is often engaged “thoughtlessly and casually” with little regard for its implications. Music is the gateway that channels a direct path to our inner most core…

Thanks,

Paul Konye

Marian Ritchie - January 31, 2011 - 12:42 pm

I recommend your organization to everyone I can in my lecture circuit.

Marian Ritchie - January 31, 2011 - 12:40 pm

Congratulations on your new Blog. You are really getting out there. I know music helps with Alzheimer patients as I’ve seen it in action. Keep up the good work!

G. King - January 31, 2011 - 9:39 am

Congratulations! It will be wonderful to hear from the music care community whose members will be excited to participate in meaningful dialogue about the value of music and sound in wellness and care settings. I have admired your work since hearing you speak at a PSW conference several years ago. I can’t always get my colleagues to understand the importance of the right vibration for the situation (“they’re deaf; what’s the difference if we play rock music in the dining room”). But my experience with palliative care has always born out the value of peaceful sounds that are in tune with the vibration of the heartbeat. I once turned off a television in a palliative room and found a radio station playing “Blue Skies, Smiling at Me”. As I hummed along I watched the patient slowly and quietly take her last breaths free from listening to tv commercials.
That’s the kind of stories I hope to hear from inspired others.

Diane Holmlund - January 31, 2011 - 9:21 am

Wonderful news, Bev! I’m excited to contribute and eager to see how this builds!

Diane Holmlund, Spiritual Care provider

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