Songs for the 11th hour

I've been playing therapeutic music in ICU at a hospital now for 10 years.  There are days like yesterday when I see how fragile life can be. How our lives change change on a dime. We just don't know one day from the next what life curves life will throw.  ICU is full of people whose lives have been forever altered.  It is challenging to witness the suffering of others and their families.

Yesterday I was playing for patients in the surgical trauma ICU. I was sent to a room of a young man who was in a coma,  and on life support. I was standing at the doorway, looking over where would be the best place to sit (and not be in the way of the nurses) when the patient's mother appeared by my side. She looked as though she hadn't slept in some days and when she saw my guitar, she said with tears in her eyes, "Oh please, play for him. He is a musician and he plays the guitar too."

I found a chair by his side and began to play slow, soothing melodic passages to help bring down his heart rate.  Most of the time in ICU, I do not play something that would be familiar to the patient, especially if they are not able to speak. I can't risk sparking a memory that would call up emotional material for them. So, instead, I make up my own lullabies and soothing, simple music that lets them know I am there. I give a melody they can follow out of the depths of their suffering. A trail to where there is hope, comfort, beauty and healing.

As I played, his mother stood by his side and held his hand. She watched him closely and at one point she said, "I know he can hear you." She would often lean down and kiss his cheek. Her tender caring and love for him was so moving for me to see.  It is quite an honor to meet people in a place where they are the most vulnerable.  I am a stranger to them when i walk in the hospital room, but as soon as I start to play music, we are bonded by the universal language we all speak. The language that has no words.
Above is a picture of me taking in the ICU over the summer by a family member of a patient.

Inspirations, explorations and going back to the roots

I was inspired to take up the acoustic guitar back in 1975 after meeting a new neighbor down the street who was my age and proudly called herself a folksinger. Before meeting her, I was into the rock bands of the time such as Yes, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Beatles, etc. I also played the drums in high school band and I dreamed to be a rock and roll star.

Not long after taking up the guitar, I accompanied my friend Cindy to some of the finest folk clubs in Chicago and I was hooked! The raw honesty, simplicity and beauty of this music stole my heart.  I started taking guitar lessons at The Old Town School of Folk Music . I especially loved the sing alongs  and jams we had on Saturday afternoons. Everyone played together--beginners and professionals, old and young. We all had a chance to choose a song to jam too. I loved the inclusiveness this music encouraged.

Last week I was given quite a special gift by a family member of someone at a nursing home where I sing. It was a book "The Folk Songs of North America." It has hundreds of old songs that were compiled by Alan Lomax who was one of the great American field collectors of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a folklorist, ethnomusicologist, historian, and film-maker. His work played important role in the American and British folk revivals of the 1940s, '50s and early '60s.

I have had so much fun these last few days just going over this book. I have found some songs I've never heard before and loved at first listen like "Down at Penny's Farm" .  I found an old gem that James Taylor made into a big hit in the 1970s. Do you remember "Wandering" ? I've always thought it was one of Taylors' originals.  I was mesmerized by a beautiful Irish song I'd forgotten, "Black is the Colour."  I loved finding on YouTube new renditions of these old songs like Norah Jones' singing, "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?" I was reminded of the power of Bluegrass after hearing Alison Kraus & Union Station singing the raucous ballad, "Wild Bill Jones."

Since I work professionally as a musician, it is a rare treat for me to get to spend time playing songs just for my own fun and enjoyment. I really think this is important as it keeps me growing and keeps the love of music shining strong in my heart. 

What music stirs your soul?

Signing songs and singing good times

Such a fun music session I had yesterday with a young adult group (special needs).  I showed them some sign language signs I know and taught them to sing "Happy Birthday" in sign. We had a visitor who is a speech pathologist and she showed us how she signed to the song, "Wasted again in Margaritaville." You can imagine how funny that looked!

Then we talked about Thanksgiving holiday approaching and how there are not many songs about it. I showed them how easy it can be to make up our own songs by taking a well known melody and writing new words to it. Here is one song I found on the internet that we sang:

A Thanksgiving Song (sung to the tune of "Row, Row, Row your Boat"

The Pilgrims sailed away, far across the sea.
They came to America, so they could be free.
The Native Americans, helped them plant the corn.
Then they shared a great big feast, Thanksgiving Day was born!

Then I broke out my percussion instruments and we played "Follow the Leader" where the leader plays the big drum and sets the beat and we follow them. Everyone got to play their own beat and I played my Native American flute while they drummed.  We then sang a few Native American Chants like 'Hey Hey Watanee," "I am One with the Infinite Sun."

We wrapped up our music session with a few patriotic songs for Veteran's Day. In between we sang some fun songs and old songs and everything in between! It was quite a good time!

Of dogs and the soundtrack of our lives

It's not often you see a dog in the ICU at a hospital! Above is Sasha, a pet therapist dressed up for Halloween. This picture was taken outside the door of a patient I had a request to play music for. It sure made me smile and soon after this picture was taken, Sasha rolled over on her back for me to pet her belly. Animals are so comforting. In fact I often as patients i meet if they have any animals at home and you ought to see their eyes light up. Sometimes there are pictures on the walls of them. Animals are unconditionally loving and are always there for us. At our best, our worst and everything in between, they remain loving friends and family to us.

I think of music in this same way. Everyone loves music and it is always there for us, just like a loyal pet. We have songs that created the soundtrack of our lives. Songs that accompanied our happiest moments; a wedding, graduation, a new love and we have songs that helped us through our hardest times of loss, sorrow, challenge.

Today in ICU, I played my guitar for a woman who has been on a rough journey for awhile. She's had several very serious health challenges come her way and her road is a hard one to be on for now. Her sister requested music for her. I sat down and improvised some soothing chords and melodies in a slow, even tempo in the hopes to bring her high heart rate down. Within minutes as I started to play, she closed her eyes and a most serene expression came on her face. She looked to be in a state of profound comfort and ease. Two sisters stood on each side of her, holding her hand and stroking her arms to show their love and caring.

It was such an honor to be present to this patient who is in such a time of need. Playing my guitar, I watched her closely to see her response.  If I noticed certain chords or notes brought her more peace, I repeated them over and over again. If she appeared agitated at all by any note or change in the music, I smoothly transitioned over to the musical prescriptions that were calming her.

I am grateful for the work I do and amazed with the healing power of music.

Celebrate Nature!

Hello everyone! What is the autumn season by you like? I love living in a place that has 4 seasons because I love each season for different reasons. I love autumn for the colors of the leaves on the fall, for the changes in the daylight, for the quiet the early nights bring.

Yesterday was a special day at Ivy Creek Foundation natural area in Charlottesville. I teamed up with the Live Poet's Society  in a celebration of the natural world with music, poetry and visual art. I sang some of my songs which focus on the beauty of nature. My song, "Choose the Sky"  is the title of my CD which you can learn more about on my CD Baby page.  I taught a couple of Native American chants too like, "I am One with the Infinite Sun."

Best of all was the good feeling of kindred spirits coming together to celebrate the arts and Nature at one of my favorite places around. Above is a picture I took there of some berries but now I am forgetting the name of them. If you know the name of them, let me know! :)

I love bringing music to all kinds of places. Friday I played at my gym in the lobby and loved how people came to me and told me their favorite music story. Everyone is touched by music in some way or another. How will music touch your life today?

Spinning lullabies in ICU

I'm going on my 10th year of playing therapeutic music for patients at a hospital and I just love it. In particular I love to play for patients in ICU. I was there today and played for patients who were in very critical condition. All of them were unable to speak (trache in throat) and hooked up with so many tubes and wires. Most of them were in a deep sleep or in a coma. I do know they can hear me. I know this also by watching the heart monitors. I'll tell you some about what I do.

Firstly, I never play what would be considered familiar music to them. When someone is so ill and unable to communicate,  I cannot risk sparking an unpleasant memory. It's happened to all of us. Haven't you ever been somewhere and suddenly an old song from the past comes on the radio and suddenly we are transported to an old, unresolved memory. We each have a soundtrack that accompanied both our best but also our worst memories. So that is why I don't play anything that could awaken a dark time because these patients need hope, comfort, calming.

So what I do is I improvise for them.  Today for instance I was playing for one patient and the nurse came in and said, "Play soft. If her blood pressure rises, then stop."   So I started playing a chord progression in the key of E because those are lower tones which are more restful, while higher pitches are stimulating. I was weaving melodies in a slow 3/4 time like a lullaby or a waltz. I watched her slowly breathing and I worked to match her rhythm.  It's all very scientific. Music is rhythm, just like our hearts that beat in rhythm. I play music in a slow rhythm to help the patient "entrain" to my slow, steady rhythm, to help stabilize their pulse.  If I see the monitor numbers rise, I back way off and play more quietly, more slowly.

It is very calming for me too. I often feel in such a zone, I have to consciously be sure I am staying alert to the patient's needs and shift my musical prescription according to their current symptoms.

When I am done playing I sit in the silence and send them positive thoughts and wish them peace and healing. I thank them for letting me play (aloud) for I do know they can hear me. It is such an honor to do this work.

I post the picture with the 5 Regrets of the Dying because each time I go to the hospital, I am confronted with people who may not go home. It has been good for me to always be reminded of what is most important in life.

Channeling George Eliot

Last night was such a lovely evening of stories, poems and songs at BON downtown Charlottesville. Opening the show was poet David Vaughn Straughn who came all the way from Brooklyn, NY to be with us. Sharing the evening was Jona Noelle of the poetry duo The Fire Tigers. I sang some of my new songs as well as songs that have been with me for awhile.  I enjoyed sharing some of my newest works in progress which are poems by George Eliot I set to music.

This past spring I went looking for poems to set to music and wanted to find something old enough to not worry about copyright issues. It seemed that everyone I thought of like Rumi, Hafiz, Elizabeth Barrett Brown, The Brontes, etc had been done already. Then I found a bunch of poems by George Eliot.  She is mostly known for her novels from the Victorian Era, "Middlemarch" and  "Adam Bede".  Her real name is Mary Ann Evans but she published under a man's name so that her work would be taken seriously.

As I worked on some of the melodies for her poems, I really felt as though I could have written these words.  One of the collaborations in particular came out that way. As I sang Eliot's words with my melody last night, I felt that it was my own work. One of the audience members also said this.

Here is the poem I am referring to:

Count That Day Lost by George Eliot

If you sit down at set of sun 

And count the acts that you have done, 

And, counting, find 

One self-denying deed, one word 

That eased the heart of him who heard, 

One glance most kind 

That fell like sunshine where it went -- 

Then you may count that day well spent.



But if, through all the livelong day,

You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay -- 

If, through it all 

You've nothing done that you can trace

That brought the sunshine to one face-- 

No act most small 
That helped some soul and nothing cost -- 

Then count that day as worse than lost.

I will record these poems someday soon! In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying our lovely autumn season!