The "Music Can Be Soothing To The Soul" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished reading a short story in one of my past Reader's Digest magazines that was titled "When Music Is Medicine...As it turns out, tunes can soothe us all."  The author of the story was Anicka Quit.  Story was about a cancer patient in a palliative care unit at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. A young woman who worked at the unit, Sarah Rose Black, was asked if she could reach out to a patient who had been at the facility for about a week.  The man was struggling and unwilling to engage with staff or be part of any activities.  The patient was said to be short and grumpy with the staff, and was it possible that Sarah Rose could help?  You should know that Black is not a doctor or a nurse...just a musician therapist with the right touch to help.   So, one morning Sarah Rose approached the patient's room and introduced herself to the patient.  She offered to sit and play some soothing music to the patient if he would allow it.  He told her a few classical composers he liked and she started to play one of his favorites on her portable keyboard.  The man unfolded his arms and turned toward her and started to cry.  Sarah Rose stopped the music and asked, "Do you want me too continue?  He quickly replied through tears, "Absolutely!"  It was as if the music went places that nothing else could.  Sarah said, "He shared with me afterward that he had been holding in so much and had been unable to talk about anything, but the music showed up at a moment when it felt like a hug."  Anyone who has ever felt that spark of joy when a favorite song comes on the radio at just the right moment or wept along with a song expressing heartache will understand the emotional resonance of music.  Now, a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that music can be medicine, also.  A review of 400 research papers looking into the neurochemistry of music found that playing and listening to music had mental and physical health benefits, including improving our immune systems and reducing stress.  One such study found that listening to music before surgery had the same effect in reducing preoperative anxiety as taking Valium.  Anxiety before a major surgery can affect postoperative pain and recovery time.  Another study found that patients participating in a music-therapy program experienced significant decreases in tiredness, anxiety and breathing difficulties, as well as an increase in feelings of well-being.  A session can be as unique as an individual's needs on a given day.  If a patient loves classical music, that's what Sarah will play.  "One woman spoke no English, but she taught me a folk song.  She would sing a line and I'd sing it back, and then we were singing this beautiful song together.  Sarah is gentle in her approach.  "I make it very clear that pre-existing musical experience or training isn't required.  If I were to ask...'What kind of music do you like?, that might be a difficult question to answer.  Instead...I ask what they want to feel!"  If the goal is pain management, Sarah might match the pace of her playing with the patient's breathing, and then gradually slow the music down.  This process, called entrainment, can help slow the breath and has a calming effect.  Sometimes the patient says, "I'm having such a profound experience.  I have no words."  Sarah knows from brain studies that music can trigger memories and touch parts of the brain that other mediums cannot.  Finding those meaningful moments is the therapist's role, but as music therapist Sarah Rose Black notes, people have been connecting with music  their whole life.....and she is just helping them access it once more at a time when they need it most.  We have a heartbeat, as we have a drum inside us; we are wired to be musical people," Sarah says.  She smiles as she reflects back on one patient, a man in his late 30s with late stage brain cancer.  "He said, 'Sarah Rose, I have a lot of friends, and they're great; but they don't really understand what's gong on here.'" she says.  "He told me, 'The music is like my friend who gets it!.'"  Amen.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.