After getting more and more requests for seminars online, I have decided to learn the technology and begin offering seminars that will be presented live and on a monthly basis. At this point I don’t know what the charge will be because I don’t know what my cost will be, but it will be affordable. I will continue to travel when a group engages me for a keynote or workshop, but this way, neither of us has to travel and in this day and age, that certainly makes life easier. Stay tuned for more information in the next few weeks!

Dr. Alice H. Cash
President, Healing Music Enterprises
3219 Marion Court
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
www.HealingMusicEnterprises.com
chantdoc@healingmusicenterprises.com
502/895-7688 (phone) 502/896-7277 (fax)
502/419-1698 (mobile)

Since October is National Cancer Awareness month, I thought it would be helpful to devote this issue’s clinical focus to music and cancer. Can music make a difference? Of course, but it is going to be in a quality of life manner, not a cure. One of the greatest benefits of music is simply the comforting effect it has on a patient who is scared, possibly alone, and probably angry. Especially when one is in a hospital, the environment is strange and unfamiliar and usually the caregivers are overworked and not able to comfort and reassure like they might want to do. If a patient can be given a nice set of earphones and a wide choice of CD’s, it can make quite a difference in their mood, at least temporarily.

Dr. Deforia Lane, one of the leading music therapists in our country, did research for her doctoral dissertation on the effect of a 30-minute music therapy session on a person’s immune system. Her research showed a clear link between music therapy and a boost in the immune system. Dr. Lane wisely points out that music therapy is music that is presented by a clinician to a patient. Simply listening to a CD is not music therapy, but what many people call music medicine. Both are valuable.

I believe it is common practice now to have patients listen to music during chemotherapy if they choose. Whether music is being used in the hospital room, the home, or during treatments, it is very important for the patient to listen through headphones. Not only are extraneous noises filtered out, but the music enters the brain directly through the eighth cranial nerve. If music is being played on a television or through speakers in a boombox or radio, it is easy to tune it out, despite the patient wanting to hear it.

The music that will be best is music that the patient has chosen and that calms and soothes her. It doesn’t matter if it’s Enya, the Pachelbel Canon, favorite hymns, or other favorites. The most important thing is that the patient likes it and feels comforted by it. When the person is felling nurtured they will sleep better, eat better and generally be more positive and optimistic.

You can view a wonderful bibliography that Dr. Lane has put together for music and cancer at: http://www.musicasmedicine.com/info/resc_ca.htm

As well, a very important message is given at “Get a Mammogram” by Dottie Burman. Enjoy! http://www.dottieburman.com/lyrics.htm

Many of the books and CDs in my HME Shoppe were written or recorded with the intent to promote healing, relaxation and meditation. The following links are especially useful!

Sacred Sound Current by Deborah Van Dyke

Healing by Anaguma

Healing Angel by Roma Downey

Sound Healing by Steven Halpern