THE THERAPY OF MUSIC IN PALLIATIVE CARE
Music Therapy: What Is It, Types & Treatment (clevelandclinic.org)
Music therapy is an evidence-based approach that utilizes the naturally mood lifting properties of music to reduce stress and anxiety, improve motivation, manage pain, and help with a multitude of disorders like cardiac conditions, depression, or ADHD to name a few. It was first used and defined by the United States War Department in 1945 to help recovering military service members and is now used for folks of all ages, including to combat behavioural disorders and trauma in children.
Canmore's Alpine Voices and Threshold Choir has been a strong supporter of palliative care by bringing comfort to those on life’s threshold through the strength and stimulation of song. Their work echos music therapy and its benefits.
READING RESOURCE
Grief Works by Julia Samuel
Alpine Voices at the PCSBV 2022 Hike for Hospice
"Julia Samuel, a grief psychotherapist, has spent twenty-five years working with the bereaved and understanding the full repercussions of loss. This deeply affecting book is full of psychological insights on how grief, if approached correctly, can heal us."
Alpine Voices Threshold Choir had its start in Canmore in 2016. They are a chapter of Threshold Choir, an umbrella group whose tag-line is:
“One choir, many voices-singing for those at the thresholds of life in over 200 communities around the world”.
They are not a performance choir, but a choir of presence. It’s their hope that their singing brings comfort and companionship to those whom they surround. It is the intention of singing that makes this volunteer work rewarding. They have sung at the bedsides of dying people, virtually as people receive chemo therapy, at the side of a woman whose sister was receiving MAiD in a distant city, outdoors at a graveside interment. It is said that Threshold Choir singing “is love made audible”. In practice they create a space of genuine support for the members to learn pieces and they foster a community of care as a choir and as an outreach of palliative care in the Bow Valley.
UPCOMING SPECIAL AWARENESS DATES
National Caregiver Day April 5 World Health Day April 7
Advanced Care Planning Day – April 16 National Volunteer Week April (24 to 30) National Day of Mourning April 28 National Hospice Palliative Care Week (May 1 to 8)
To learn more about the Threshold Choir, visit: thresholdchoir.org
To contact our local chapter, reach out to the PCSBV office for the choir leader’s contact.
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