1. SarahRose Black, MA, MMT, MTA, RP
Music Therapist, University Health Network and Kensington Health
Wednesday July 20th, 2016
2. Overview and Learning Objectives
The role of music therapy in:
Palliative care
Inpatient oncology
Four facets
How music therapy can affect a patient’s experience
Information on how to become a music therapist
3. What is Music Therapy?
The Canadian Association for Music Therapy defines music therapy as:
“The skillful use of music and musical elements by an
accredited music therapist to promote, maintain, and
restore mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
Music has nonverbal, creative, structural, and emotional
qualities. These are used in the therapeutic relationship to
facilitate contact, interaction, self-awareness, learning,
self-expression, communication, and personal
development.”
Canadian Association for Music Therapy / Association de Musicothérapie du Canada Annual General Meeting, Vancouver, British
Columbia, May 6, 1994
4. To summarize:
Music Therapy is the use of music in a therapeutic
relationship to achieve clinical goals
5. What is Music Therapy in palliative care?
Music therapy in cancer care is the creative and
professionally informed use of music in a therapeutic
relationship with people identified as needing
physical, psychosocial, or spiritual help, or with people
aspiring to experience further self-awareness, enabling
increased life satisfaction and quality. (O’Callaghan, 2004)
6. Clinical Goals of Palliative MT
Music therapy can support CURRENT goals
Music therapy can create NEW goals
7. Examples of MT Clinical Goals:
Evidence – Based Work
Pain/symptom management (Magill, 1993, O’Callaghan, 2012)
Anxiety relief (Hilliard, 2001; O‟Callaghan, 2001)
Creating legacies for family and friends (Clements-Cortes, 2009)
Relaxation (Hilliard, 2003)
Support for families (Hogan, 1999)
Support (physical- breathing, emotional-comforting) at
end of life (Salmon, 2003)
Providing a positive distraction from treatment/symptoms
Providing a non-verbal space for communication
8. The Four Facets
Clinical Improvisation
Client and therapist improvise
together
Inter-Active Listening
Therapist plays and client listens to
music
Song-writing
Client and therapist write music
together
Active Playing
Client and therapist play music (often
pre-composed) together
9. Clinical Improvisation
Defined as: the spontaneous creation of music
between therapist and client using instruments and/or
voice (Lee, 2003)
10. Inter-Active Listening
Defined as: A music therapy methodology that
involves the therapist playing, singing, or providing
music in some form while the client listens; therapist
and client may interact non-verbally or verbally;
further interventions may be based on potential client
response. (Black, 2013)
11. Song-writing
Defined as: the creation of a song (either with or
without lyrics) by therapist and client that may reflect
the client’s experiences. Song-writing is often done as
legacy work for a client’s family.
12. Active Playing
Defined as: client and therapist playing (generally
pre-composed music) either together or separately
14. Inpatient Care
Pain and symptom management
Anxiety relief and emotional support
Psychosocial support through verbal and non-verbal
creative self-expression
Familial support
Reflection, reminiscence
Processing of current experience
Legacy work
15. Music Therapy Collaborations
Joint sessions
Collaborations in Care/Joint Sessions
Occupational therapy
Psychiatry
Nursing
Pharmacy
Spiritual Care
Staff wellness
Physicians and nurses
Pharmacists
Spiritual Care
Concerts
16. Stories from the Bedside
Jason’s Saxophone- active playing and improvisation
17. Jason’s Saxophone
Creating meaning in the
moment
Embracing a defining
part of his life
“I want to go out with a
squawk”
20. Reflecting
In what setting might this be most appropriate?
What do you think clinical goals of this intervention
might be?
What did you notice in your own body?
Thoughts? Images? Sensations?
How do you think this intervention could promote
health and healing?
21. How to become a music therapist
Undergraduate or graduate music therapy degrees
Internship
MTA Status (Music Therapist Accredited)
College of Registered Psychotherapists
22. Working in the Field
Music therapists work in all kinds of settings:
Hospitals
Rehabilitation centres
Schools
Correctional facilities
Academic settings
Home settings
Private practice
The possibilities are endless…
23. Informal Use of Music at Bedside
CDs
Recorded music
iPods/MP3 players
Playlists/ “Mix Tapes”
YouTube
Lyric discussions
Patient preference
Choice is crucial
26. Selected Bibliography
Bailey, L. M. (1984). The use of songs in music therapy with cancer patients and their families. Music Therapy, 4(1), 5-17.
Canadian Association for Music Therapy (2004). Definition of Music Therapy. Retrieved from
http://www.musictherapy.ca/en/information/music-therapy.html.
Clements-Cortes, A. (2004). The use of music in facilitating emotional expression in the terminally ill. American Journal
of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 21(4), 255–260.
Clements-Cortes, A. (2009). Episodes of relationship completion through song-writing in palliative care. (Doctoral
Dissertation, University of Toronto, 2009).Retrieved from https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/17744.
Curtis, S. (1986). The effect of music on pain relief and relaxation of the terminally ill. Journal of Music Therapy, 24(1),
10-24.
Dileo, C., &Dneaster, D. (2005). Introduction: State of the art. In C. Dileo& J. V. Loewy (Eds.), Music therapy at the end
of life (pp. xix-xxvii). Cherry Hill, NJ: Jeffrey Books.
Brandt, J., & Dileo, C. (2008).Music therapy for symptom relief and support in end-of-life care. [Protocol] Cochrane
Pain, Palliative Care and Support Group. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2.
Hilliard, R.E. (2001). The use of music therapy in meeting the multidimensional needs of hospice patients and families.
Journal of Palliative Care, 17, 161-166.
Hilliard, R.E. (2005). Music therapy in hospice and palliative care: A review of the empirical data. Evidence Based
Complementary Alternative Medicine, 2(2), 173-178.
Hogan, B. (1999). The experience of music therapy for terminally ill patients: A phenomenological research project. In
R. R. Pratt and D. E. Grocke (Eds.),Music Medicine 3: Music Medicine and Music Therapy (pp. 242-54). Australia
Expanding Horizons, Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne.
Lee, C.A. (2003). The architecture of aesthetic music therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
O’Callaghan, C. (2001). Bringing music to life: A study of music therapy and palliative care experiences in a cancer
hospital. Journal of Palliative Care, 17, 155-160.
O’Callaghan, C. & Barry, P. (2009). Music therapists‟ practice-based research in cancer and palliative care: Creative
methods and situated findings. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 9(3).
Salmon, D. (2001).Music therapy as psychospiritual process in palliative care. Journal of Palliative Care, 17(3), 142-146.
Editor's Notes
- May include guided imagery/relaxation scripts or other practices