Receptive Music Therapy In Palliative Care

We are currently facing very challenging times. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, death and dying came very close to everybody, regardless of age or cultural background. Many people had to face the sudden, often unexpected passing of a dear person. Death breaks into people ́s lives, not asking, if they are prepared for it or if it is the right time. Many questions arise with this fact, and one of them often is the concern of how to die with dignity when the end of life is nearing. Dying in dignity is a concern of palliative care, which aims to care and not to cure, focusing on the life quality of a patient who is facing the last days of their life. Sound and music can play an important role in this process. This book is meant to encourage all those working in a palliative care team to consider music as a powerful tool in dealing with the challenges surrounding the end of life. The book will inspire the reader to examine the healing power of sound and music more deeply and serves as a useful support for students in palliative care approaches.

Relationships are significant in end-of-life care. Music therapy research and descriptive writing have built a body of knowledge supporting efficacy, enabling clinicians to implement evidence-based practices in their work. While relationships and relationship completion have been studied in end-of-life care, there are no written guidelines based on the best practices of relationship completion in palliative care music therapy. Thus, this is the impetus for this book.Relationship Completion in Palliative Care Music Therapy provides foundational information on relationships, relationship completion in end-of-life care, locations of care, and the scope of the continuum of music experiences. It is written by an international group of experts who collaborated over two years to develop this resource. With particular attention to the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusivity, intercultural competence and anti-oppressive practices are threaded throughout the text with a focus on music therapy techniques for the patient and caregivers. Step by step guidelines are provided for work with children and adults, which are divided into receptive, improvisational, compositional, and recreative categories. Further, a chapter on education and training guidelines is provided, alongside considerations in end-of-life care such as funeral planning, medical assistance in dying, dying alone, and bereavement. This text is a must-read for clinicians, educators and researchers working with the dying and bereaved.

Within the last decade music therapists have developed their work with people who have life-threatening illnesses and with those who are dying. This book presents some of that work from music therapists working in different approaches, in different countries, showing how valuable the inclusion of music therapy in palliative care has already proved to be. It is important for the dying, or those with terminal illness, that approaches are used which integrate the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of their being. The contributors to this book emphasize the importance of working not only with the patient but with the ward situation, friends and family members. By offering patients the chance to be creative they become something other than patients - they become expressive beings, and there is an intimacy in music therapy that is important for those who are suffering. Many of the contributors write in their own personal voice, providing a particular insight which will be valuable not only to other music therapists seeking to enrich their own ways of working, but to all those involved in caring for the sick and the dying. Contributors describe their work with both children and adults living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases.

The second edition of Receptive Music Therapy builds on the foundations of the first but provides a completely new rendition, replete with examples from contemporary practices and recognising the value of online music therapy experiences. Learn how music therapists select music from a wide range of diverse musical styles through both collaborative decision making and client-led approaches. Methods include focused music listening, playlist construction, lyric analysis, relaxation, music and imagery along with fundamental principles for receptive music therapy.

This practical book describes the specific use of receptive (listening) methods and techniques in music therapy clinical practice and research, including relaxation with music for children and adults, the use of visualisation and imagery, music and collage, song-lyric discussion, vibroacoustic applications, music and movement techniques, and other forms of aesthetic listening to music. The authors explain these receptive methods of intervention using a format that enables practitioners to apply them in practice and make informed choices about music suitable for each of the different techniques. Protocols are described step-by-step, with reference to the necessary environment, conditions, skills and appropriate musical material. Receptive Methods in Music Therapy will prove indispensable to music therapy students, practitioners, educators and researchers.

This book brings together music therapists who have worked in the challenging and rewarding world of children's palliative care. Examining techniques from working just with the breath, to technological advances in music therapy such as assistive recording and electronic downloading, it highlights the benefits music therapy can bring when working alongside children and young people. Drawing on the knowledge of expert music therapists, the book provides accessible guidance that practitioners can apply to their own work, including on professional development as part of a multi-disciplinary team, service evaluation, and managing publicity in the hospice setting. It addresses work with different client groups, such as teenagers, and discusses therapy with family members, including siblings. Music therapists and healthcare practitioners will be provided with the tools to reflect on their own professional challenges and deepen their understanding of the important role of music therapy in this sector.