8 June 2011
The British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) is pleased to announce the first National Music Therapy Week from 6-11 June 2011.
National Music Therapy Week aims to increase awareness of how music therapy can improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
The week-long event will see music therapists in health and education services, and specialist centres across the UK working together to promote positive awareness of music therapy through case studies, music events and talks. Music therapists work with people of all ages across the country, particularly those who find it difficult to communicate verbally due to a physical or cognitive disability, or emotional distress.
Keech Hospice Care celebrated National Music Therapy Week by holding a live music event for patients, families, staff and volunteers on Monday 6 June. Furthermore, on 9 June Keech will be using music to bring together the adult and children’s services in a group music therapy session, an event that we’re pretty sure has never taken part in the hospice before.
Music Therapy is a psychological therapy which uses the unique qualities of music as a means of interaction between therapist and client. Attentive listening on the part of the therapist is combined with shared musical improvisation using instruments and voices so that people can communicate in their own musical language, whatever their level of ability.
Take James for example; James is a 65 year old man with a progressive disorder that is taking away his ability to move independently and to talk, and one from which he will never recover. Once a week, James has a music therapy session as part of the care he receives from the hospice. He uses this time to play the keyboard and to listen to some CDs which he finds very relaxing. To begin with, James improvised some music on the keyboard but found he could not control his hand movement which frustrated him.The music therapist discovered that by playing an actual “tune”, James was able to play more fluently and to have more control over his movements, something that James finds very satisfying and that gives him a great sense of achievement.
Music therapist Anna Ludwig works five days a week covering adult and children’s services at the hospice while her colleague Kathryn Barker works four days a week delivering music therapy sessions in the community for the children’s service. Anna says, “Working at the hospice is an amazing experience and to share our patient’s journey is a real privilege. We use music in all sorts of ways that our patients and their families can access; from singing gently with a very small baby to creating improvised music as a form of self expression; from listening to CDs to song writing”; family group work and peer support sessions. Kathryn adds, “Music is a very powerful medium that can affect us all deeply in many ways. It can help to evoke memories or promote relaxation, both of which can be important for someone living with a terminal illness”.
For more information on the music therapy offered at Keech Hospice Care please visit www.keech.org.uk/music or contact Anna Ludwig or Kathryn Barker on 01582 497850/887.
