My time at Te Hopai: Celebrating the ‘musical moments’
Music therapy is the use of music for non-musical goals. It can assist with the “healing and personal growth of people with identified emotional, intellectual, physical or social needs” (Music Therapy NZ). While music performers and entertainers can be therapeutic, music therapists have identified therapeutic goals and work on being with people in music and supporting them in a musical way to reach these goals. Music therapy is useful because it can address several areas at once: cognitive (including speech impairment), physical, communicative and emotional.
There is a growing body of research regarding the use of music with dementia clients, and I am constantly amazed at how a person with dementia can often relate to music, sometimes singing with me even if they are usually non-verbal. I have also witnessed the power of music to calm and soothe a person, as well as be a tool to communicate with someone.
With clients who have had strokes, certain neural pathways in the brain can be destroyed, including those used for speech. Music uses a more complex set of pathways which can help restore lost brain functions. The pathways can be connected and then reactivated through music. (This is why you may have noticed someone with a stutter can sing perfectly or someone who cannot speak can sometimes sing.)
Below are a few of the meaningful experiences I have had:
A male resident, whose eyes lit up when he saw the violin and has been playing it - this was a delicate situation as it could have made him more aware of what he could no longer do, but he seemed very intent on playing it. He was able to communicate quite clearly when he didn’t want my fingers on the violin’s fingerboard, or he would bow / conduct to indicate tempo. This seemed to be a meaningful experience for him. The last time I saw him, he was lying in bed and kept saying “thank you” after I played something to him.
A male resident, who is able to sing, although he usually doesn’t speak more than a word at a time and has trouble getting out thoughts and ideas following his stroke. He has been working on musical phrases of communication with me (called Melodic Intonation Therapy). His wife said a few different people had been commenting that his speech had improved. I have observed that he is speaking more sentences. The looks that he gives me and the long handshake he gave me after singing to him at the piano says more than ‘thank you’ ever could!
A female resident, who is always present in music. She can remember the words of all the familiar waiata she used to sing and often harmonises, even if she is no longer able to respond to questions or understand some of the words I am saying. When she is singing, she can be quite lucid and it’s as if she doesn’t have dementia; she is also more responsive and sometimes quite articulate after singing. She has said “it gives me hope” that I am learning Māori waiata - this sends a message that Māori is important and valued, and affirms her culture, identity and her connections with whānau.
A male resident, who responded when I sang familiar Greek chant to him - his eyes opened wide and he started trying to sing and then tried to say something. It obviously meant a lot to his wife that he was able to respond in this way. She said, “See? He’s still in there”.
A female resident, who no longer speaks but often vocalises - she can sing words when it is a familiar song. When we sang something together that she knew (‘Somewhere over the rainbow’), it was as if we were just two people singing together, not a music therapy student with a dementia patient. I think it must provide some level of comfort when things around you start to seem strange and you no longer recognise objects or people for what or who they are.
A female resident, who is usually a positive person but has been unwell and was quite low in mood when I saw her two weeks ago. After engaging in music therapy, she said “I feel much brighter now”.
Thank you for having me!