The Soothing Power of Music
“Music brings feeling into focus,” says Tim Jackson, a son of the program’s namesake. “There’s a simplicity and power of music as a force for good.”
It’s often been said that music soothes the soul. At life’s end, it has the power to do so much more. Music therapy goes beyond enjoyment to offer benefits such as decreasing respiratory distress, managing pain, and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Music therapists create a shared musical experience using guitar, voice, and an expansive music repertoire. More than just singing and playing at the bedside, music therapists complete a degree that includes 1,200 hours of clinical training, combining fieldwork experience, and an internship. They make a vital therapeutic connection between music and people’s mental, physical, and spiritual health.
Making changes, small and big
Music therapy can be used in a multitude of ways. Music therapists can match the beat of an agitated patient’s breath with music and then, in unison, slow the rhythm to calm their breathing. They can also reduce patient isolation by connecting them with meaningful memories. Moments like these improve quality of life and decrease stress.
Emotions around death and dying as well as grief can be difficult to process. Music can open us up and give voice to places in our heart and memories like nothing else can. Making connections between a life well lived and an impending loss can offer comfort, drawing a gentle through-line between life and death.
After a hospice social worker referral, an initial music therapy visit begins by obtaining a music history. The music therapist asks about the patient’s familial relationship with music, favorite composers, songs they remember from their youth, and if they played an instrument. “It gives me a sense of a person’s connection to music and how I can form my sessions to be spiritually and emotionally meaningful,” says Anya Ismail, music therapy program manager at Hospice of Santa Cruz County. “Musical memories are often so deep – a patient will remember certain songs, and the memories come into focus.”
For a patient with dementia, the family is asked about their loved one’s connection to music. “Most therapies use verbal interventions,” says Anya. “Patients with dementia access different ways of cognition.” For these patients, research documented in the National Library for Medicine proposes music therapy as a possible strategy to slow down cognitive decline and behavioral changes associated with aging in combination with pharmacological therapy. Music therapy is good for families too. For patients whose relationships have become highly focused on their illness and care, music can refocus attention and offer family members a different way to interact with each other. It can help patient’s be more alert and present in the company of their family. When patients can no longer be a regular part of their faith communities, spiritual expression, connection, and healing can be achieved through sharing spirituals and hymns.
An essential part of patient care
According to the Music Therapy Association, references to music therapy show up as early as 1789 in an unsigned article, “Music Physically Considered” in Columbian Magazine, but it didn’t gain popularity in end-of-life care until the early 1970s.
Increasingly, music therapists are considered a critical element of hospice care teams. They’re an essential part of a complete support system for patients and families. Like all other hospice-related care, music therapy is personalized and patient-centered. However, not all hospices offer it because it is not covered by the Medicare Hospice Benefit. Nonprofit hospices, which rely on community support to sustain programs like music therapy, are usually the ones that offer these types of therapies.
If you are ready to begin hospice care, it’s important to compare the hospice options in your community. Medicare has an easy-to-use tool on their website to compare the quality of hospice providers in your area. Go to medicare.gov/ care-compare/. An inspiring program that amplifies music’s power to change lives
Eight years ago, with the financial support of Rodney and Rachel Lowe, Hospice of Santa Cruz
County created the Bob & Joey Jackson Music Therapy Program. As part of its commitment to providing the best possible care to this community, the program started with a music therapist seeing a few patients a week to now serving 6 to 10 patients daily with the added support of two music therapy interns. As this community’s nonprofit hospice, Hospice of Santa Cruz County offers music therapy to its patients as part of its community-supported programs, which also include Pet Therapy, Grief Support, Palliative and Transitional Care, Concurrent Care for Children, We Honor Veterans, and Community Education.
For more information on Hospice of Santa Cruz County’s music therapy go to hospicesantacruz. org/hospice-care/