By Elisa Aven, M.M., MT-BC
Last week, I had yet another beautiful music therapy session with one of my elderly hospice patients at a skilled nursing facility. This patient, who I will refer to as Ethel, has a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, however, she has also suffered from a stroke, which has left her speech garbled and for the most part, completely incoherent. I almost always know where to find her at the facility because her involuntary, repetitious vocalizations make her difficult to miss. Every other week, for the 30 minutes I see her for music therapy, Ethel does something that continues to surprise every staff member at her nursing home. She sings. Ethel remembers all of the words to every popular song from her generation. Most of the time, she will even sing the lines before I do. She can recall melodies and lyrics from her past just by being prompted with a song title. Her singing voice is clear and smooth, lacking any sort of involuntary vocalizations that color the halls of the facility throughout the majority of the days. For those 30 minutes, Ethel regains a piece of herself that she lost due to her disease process. She smiles, claps, blows me kisses, and selects songs when given choices. In the middle of my session last week, Ethel’s hairdresser joined us for the last ten minutes and she was moved to tears by Ethel’s response to the music. She praised me for my work and stated how she believed more people should have access to music therapy services. The statement that followed, however, left me at a loss for words. “What else are you doing with that voice of yours?” she asked. I replied that this was my full-time job and she proceeded to tell me that I should audition for American Idol. Sadly, this is far from the first time I have heard these exact words throughout my career as a music therapist. As much as people can see the value in what I’m doing when they physically observe it, they still don’t seem to understand why I don’t strive for more, why I don’t use my talents to acquire money and fame even when I explain how rewarded I feel by my job.
This experience reminded me of a conversation I had recently with Bree Beynon. She brought up the point that in our society, music has been primarily used for entertainment purposes. When we hear the word musicians, we have learned to think of people like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Bruno Mars, who use their talents solely for entertainment. Music, however, has been used since the beginning of time, not as entertainment, but as medicine. Everyone can recognize and relate to the use of music as a healing agent whether they have listened to the lyrics of a song to help them through a tough time or played soothing lullabies to assist them with falling asleep. Music has many other functions besides just being entertainment. It is my hope that one day, during my lifetime, people will not only recognize this, but appreciate and truly value the people that decide to use their incredible gifts to better the lives of others.