What is Therapeutic Music?
Live Therapeutic Music can bring comfort and healing to individuals is hospice, skilled nursing facilities and hospitals. Patients can be any age with any symptom including emergency and intensive care, pre- and post-op, obstetrics and neo-natal, and cardiac and cancer care, to name a few.
What does it look like to receive live acoustic therapeutic music?
You, the patient, are in charge:
1. You are asked, “Would you like to hear some live acoustic music now?”
2. You relax and simply receive. It’s OK to lie down. Close your eyes if you wish. Let the music do the work.
3. You decide when are we through.
Sessions on average are 30-40 minutes. It’s likely you will fall peacefully asleep.
Therapeutic Music is all about you. It's been shown to bring comfort and healing by reducing blood pressure and the perception of pain, stabilizing heart rate and breathing. calming anxiety, reducing fear and stress hormones, enhancing neurological functions, and promoting relaxation and sleep.
Are you a Music Therapist?
No. I am a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP) Student at the Music for Healing and Transitions Program, the only not for profit and the oldest program accredited by the National Standards Board of Therapeutic Musicians.
Board Certified Music Therapists (BC-MT) have over 1200 hours of coursework, and usually a Masters Degree. Music is just one of the many tools in their on-going, active, treatment plan. The music may be live or recorded. They are inter-active with you and have a therapeutic plan to fit your healing over time.
A Certified Music Practitioner uses ONLY LIVE acoustic music, adapting and improvising to serve the immediate and often changing needs of you, the patient. We have no expectations of you; you are passive and may even fall asleep; it's possible you may only see me once.
A good example of the difference is to think about is working with a physical therapist vs. receiving a therapeutic massage. A physical therapist works with you and you are required to do the work (How many reps? How many times a week? For how long? ) Now think about receiving a therapeutic massage: You enter a quiet and peaceful place. You lie down on a table. The certified massage therapist does the work. You may even fall asleep if you are so relaxed.
How much does Therapeutic Music cost?
When I work with hospitals and hospice, therapeutic music is usually free for the patient because it is covered by Medicare or other insurance. If you wish to receive or give the gift of live therapeutic music in your own home, please contact me for details. I would be honored to serve you with this form of healing.
What are some of the benefits of therapeutic music ?
Relaxation. Sleep. Healing.