Kelly Wiedemann, a music teacher in the preparatory music department at Eastern Mennonite University, was at her grandmother’s bedside at a hospice center with a violin in hand.
She played slow, soothing Celtic tunes and hymns, which put her grandmother at ease.
“She was in a lot of pain in the last few months in hospice, but when I would go and play for her, there would be no signs of her pain while we were there,” Wiedemann said. “She was totally engrossed in the music.”
“Doctors and nurses and family members of other patients would stop and be like, ‘Wow can you come play for my family member? This is so neat.’ It was just a really moving experience,” she said. “It reminded me of playing for my grandmother, so I said I really want to do this for real.”
Music For Healing
Wiedemann then discovered Music for Healing and Transition, an organization that trains musicians across the U.S. and Canada to play therapeutic music at the bedside of patients in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice. Musicians complete five modules, a final exam and a 45-hour practicum to become certified music practitioners.
Instructors traveled to Harrisonburg between Aug. 7-11 to teach students. A group of six met at Sunnyside Retirement Community to complete the third module. About 14 students from the area have completed the certification in classes in 2012 and 2014. The certification process takes about 2 to 3 years to complete.
Students must have at least basic music skills before starting the modules. They are allowed to play any kind of acoustic, melodic instrument, said Carol Spears, an instructor of Music for Healing and Transition, including harp, violin, guitar, cello, keyboard and even flutes, ukuleles and accordions. The musicians typically play old Irish tunes or improvise. The music isn’t played for entertainment, but rather for therapeutic healing.
“Sound has been used by humans for tens of thousands of years really, for spiritual and healing work,” Spears said. “What we use it for right now is the different elements of music, meaning melody, rhythm, different musical intervals and different keys that we know can affect a patient.”
Health Benefits
For example, Spears said, if a patient suffers from a high heart rate, the musicians play “very even, very slow. … Research has shown that patients’ heart rate will train to that rhythm and maintain a nice, steady slow resting human heart rate instead of being erratic or too fast.”
Kerstenn Marrero, a senior at James Madison University, signed up for the Music for Healing and Transition program after volunteering at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. Marrero is a music education major with a minor in music in human services. Marrero played her violin for the residents at VMRC once a week last spring. She was moved by the positive feedback from residents.
“I remember one day, it was me and a fellow student, and one of the residents came up to us and she told us, ‘You know, I actually felt that my blood pressure was lowering when you guys are playing,’ and we were super shocked, because music does wonders for people,” Marrero said.
Relaxation
The soothing sound of the harp or violin can improve your health, according to Spears.
“Music played in a certain manner will help patients to relax. That might sound just kind of pretty or nice, but actually it has health benefits,” she said. “When we relax, it helps our own natural healing, it helps, again, for our heart rate to come down by releasing endorphins into the body, which are natural painkillers. It’s all to provide a healing environment to patients.”
To get the full healing effect, it’s important that the music is played live rather than a recording on a CD, Spears said. The “loving presence” of a musician in the room makes a difference, as well as being able to change the music depending on the patient’s condition.
“Thirdly, when you listen to music live, you are actually not only listening with your ears, but the rest of your body is receiving the vibrations of the sound itself, the sound waves, and also receiving harmonics, different pitches that are similar to the fundamental or the main tone you’re hearing and that also has it’s own vibration, it’s own sound, it’s own energy,” she said.
Harmonics can’t be picked up as well in recorded music, Spears said, because it’s impossible for machines to capture the wide variety of harmonics heard in live music.
“We don’t come in and poke at them or make them do something,” she said. “We just say sit back, relax and listen to music.”
Rewarding Experience
Linda Morrison joined the program after retiring from a 32-year career as a dietitian at Sentara RMH Medical Center. She began taking harp lessons and was inspired to help others through testimonies of people at her church who benefited from the healing music.
Morrison, like the other students who finished module 3 last week, is both excited and nervous to start the practicum in the spring.
“It probably won’t be quite as nerve-racking for me because I’m so used to being in a hospital, but it’ll be different,” Morrison said. “I’m used to going in and talking to people about food.”
One of the biggest challenges of the job is staying composed in the emotional, heartbreaking environment. Some patients will be nearing death and their family will be distraught.
“The emotional aspect of all that I’m sure will rub off. It’ll be tough,” Morrison said. “I asked the last teacher we had, ‘What if you start crying?’ He said it’s OK, just keep playing. Wipe your face and keep playing.”
But the reward that comes with providing a service to those in need takes precedence.
“I love [music] — it’s my life. … [It’s rewarding] to do something that will bring comfort to people. … [I]t’s fun to be able to go and play for people and try to play whatever styles of music that connect with them and give back to them that way,” Wiedemann said.