Therapy requires only passive listening
Music therapy is a discipline that is applied in many different settings. There are, however, other therapeutic music disciplines, including those dedicated solely to pain and emotional suffering associated with death and dying. One of these disciplines is music thanatology. (See related story on music therapy, p. 38.)
"There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that shows music brought in a certain way can ease pain, restlessness, and breathlessness," says Sue Moore, a Gainesville, GA-based music thanatologist. Although music thanatologists are not certified music therapists, she is a graduate of the Chalice of Repose, a thanatology program affiliated with St. Patrick’s Hospital in Missoula, MT.
Music alleviates pain
Music therapy and music thanatology are closely related. Music therapy can be defined as a behavioral science, one that uses the systematic application of music to engage and support life processes and produce deep relaxation. This use of music contributes to the alleviation of physiological and emotional pain.
Music therapy requires patient involvement, choosing music or singing along, for example. Music thanatology, on the other hand, requires only that patients listen.
Another major difference is its choice of music. Music thanatologists use non-metered music with no pulse or recognizable beat played on a harp and recordings of Gregorian chants and lullabies.
"Metered music keeps us in the body at the end of life when there has to be a letting go of life," Moore says. "The unfamiliarity with Latin in the chants and non-metered music helps to unbind to life."
Supporters of this discipline say it is rooted in palliative medicine and that its clinical focus includes all of the characteristics of music therapy, but differs because it solely addresses the complex needs of the dying.
It employs the same clinical behavior expected of nurses. For example, music thanatologists are required to observe a patient’s reaction to treatment, noting changes in behavior or response to the music, and documenting them in the patient’s chart.
Contact through music
Another significant difference between music therapy and music thanatology is that there is rarely any spoken communication between a music thanatologist and the patient during bedside vigils. Contact is made primarily through the music, the eyes, and touch.
The sole focus is to help the person move towards completion and unbind from anything that prevents, impedes, or clouds a tranquil passage into death. Each person receives the music differently, and on a variety of levels: physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.
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