Headed to my first American Music Therapy
Association conference!
The week before
Thanksgiving, I am headed to Jacksonville, Florida
for my first AMTA conference. The program
looks wonderful, as would be expected, but the thing
I am looking forward to the most is meeting many of
the music therapists around the country that I've
been corresponding with online for years!!
When I first started my Healing Music Ezine, the
field of music therapy in Kentucky was non-existent
and I was forging a path in the Louisville area but
feeling somewhat alone in my work. My dear
friend and mentor, Dr. Arthur Harvey, had moved to
Hawaii and there were a handful of music therapists
in the area that had got their degrees out of state.
This was the early 1990's.
When I started my
website in 1998-1999, I was advised to also have an
electronic magazine or "e-zine." My
first webmaster was able to set it up so that people
could subscribe to it online and receive it monthly.
Some of the very first people who signed up were
music therapists from California, Massachusetts,
Arizona, Colorado, Indiana and Tennessee. I
had to explain to these dear people that music
therapy as a profession or as a degree option did
not exist in Kentucky and they were surprised!!
Well, thanks to Dr.
Barbara Wheeler, music therapy as a degree option
and as a degree program began in 2000 at the
University of Louisville. The program is
thriving and I have also benefitted from having
fantastic resources now in my city of Louisville.
As of 2010, the University of Kentucky now has a
music therapy program that also appears to be
thriving.
The conference of the
American Music Therapy Association wil be in
Jacksonville, Florida, November 21-24. If you
are a music therapist that I've spoken with through
the years, please be sure to find me and introduce
yourself! I'll have some of my Surgical
Serenity Headphones there and would love to show
them to you and get your feedback and ideas, too!
See you in Jacksonville!
Healing Music Blog
Healing Music Delivery:
Live, Recorded, Headphones,
Ambient?
This is a question that many
people want to know. And the
fact is, all of the above
are viable and effective
choices if you want to use
the music you love for
healing purposes. As a
general rule, live music is
always the best, but it’s
just not always practical to
have a live and capable
music playing in your living
room, hospital room or
bedroom.
To have music being
specially chosen and played
for you by a music therapist
is ideal, but that is
probably not available to
you very often. In New York
City, Los Angeles and other
large cities, live musicians
and music therapists go to
the operating room, the
delivery room, the ICU, CCU,
and individual patients
rooms to provide
patient-chosen music, but in
the vast majority of
hospitals, this is not
available to patients.
So how can you benefit from
the healing powers of music
in the most effective way?
The next set of choices
include recorded music
through personal headphones,
speakers in the wall of
perhaps a boom-box or CD
player with speakers in the
room. Patients occasionally
use their own iPods or
iPhone with earbuds, which
are far from ideal! Not only
do their iPods and iPhones
bring lots of germs with
them, they do have cords
that can become entangled
with other objects, and the
ear-buds are notorious for
falling out!
The operating rooms that
have speakers in the wall
are set up for playing music
for the surgeon. For several
decades now, surgeons are
choosing and playing music
that they like and that they
believe the patient will
enjoy while going under
sedation. The problem there
is that what the doctor
likes and often chooses is
high energy music that is
good for him and his work,
but the music the patient
needs is slow, steady,
soothing music that will
allow the phenomenon of
entrainment to kick in and
relax the patient without as
much medication.
Just being aware of these
various pros and cons will
give you a tremendous
advantage when planning your
surgery, chemo, cosmetic
procedure or other medical
procedure. Questions? Feel
free to contact me at
More
Benefits for Music with Surgery: HIPAA compliance
Today I was talking with a nurse at a large
mid-Western hospital. They had contacted me about
buying our pre-programmed headphones for their
surgery patients and I was answering her questions
and beginning to understand what their specific
needs were. The nurse told me that they specifically
wanted them for pre-surgery, because there were
invariably a room full of patients waiting to be
taken into surgery and that each was allowed to have
two people with them.
Occasionally, the nurse went on, the room is crowded
with surgical patients and one of them begins having
a problem or an issue of one kind or another. The
nurses congregate at the one nursing station to
discuss the patient/issue/medical crisis and all of
the other patients and family members can easily
hear the conversation! Of course this is totally
against HIPAA compliance with privacy and patient
confidentiality. In other words, one of the main
reasons they wanted the Surgical Serenity Headphones
was so that patients achieved privacy and sonic
“space.”
When we look at benefits, we typically cite
reduced anxiety
stabilized blood pressure
stabilized breathing and oxygenation of
blood
reduced anesthesia requirements
faster recovery for patient
less nausea and vomiting after surgery \
back to work and life faster because of less
medication
Now we have a new one: better HIPAA
compliance! And that is truly a big deal.
I’ve worked at several different hospitals since
HIPAA was put into law and I know that the fines for
violating HIPAA laws are enormous. Hospitals can
even lose the accreditation is they repeatedly
violate HIPAA laws and policies. Very important!
Take note, hospital administrators!
Have you ever had the experiencing of
bursting into tears when you heard a
piece of music that was so achingly
beautiful that you couldn’t hold back
tears? I have. Have you ever heard music
that simply made you smile/grin from ear
to ear because it was so clever or even
funny? I have. Have you ever heard music
that totally gave you the “creeps?” I
have.
Music can inspire and elicit hundreds
of shades of emotion. It can be
familiar or it can be something you’ve
never heard before. I remember that
first time I heard the theme music from
“Schindler’s List.” It was one of
these hauntingly tragic melodies, played
on the violin that just made me want to
sob immediately. Listen to a little of
it:
This is the power of music and I believe
that it is a power we can harness, with
intention and healing, to help people
process painful feelings, and also to
enjoy their good feelings all the more.
It can also be used, of course, to help
people deal with physical pain,
neurological disorders, surgery and so
much more.
An interesting study from Northwestern
University suggests that people with
musical training are especially
fine-tuned to the emotions of others.
For nearly two decades, I've been helping people use the music that
they already love to heal their lives and increase their wellness
quotient!
I
am one of the world's only clinical musicologists and hold
a Masters degree in piano performance, a Ph.D. in
musicology and a Master of Social Work in clinical social work. I
am also a licensed clinical social worker. I work with people and
diagnoses of all kinds, enabling them to find healing, acceptance and
hope.
I love
performing, researching, and teaching and have put them all together
in a career called "Music Medicine."
Dr. Alice H. Cash is often asked to share her
Grand Rounds Presentation with hospitals' doctors and staff. Learn
what is currently happening around the world and the results they are
having.
"It was the
easiest of all hand surgeries! I was listening to music, then a slight
lull of nothing and then back to the music. Wonderfully comfortable. The
best surgical experience yet. I am honored to know, worked with and
utilized Dr. Cash's magnificent creation. I do hope the medical field
understands the import of her invention!"
I
am one of the world's only clinical musicologists and hold
a Masters degree in piano performance, a Ph.D. in
musicology and a Master of Social Work in clinical social work. I
am also a licensed clinical social worker. I work with people and
diagnoses of all kinds, enabling them to find healing, acceptance and
hope.
