by Brandon Wright
Photo credit: Perspec Photo - Creative Commons
The dictionary definition of music is “vocal or instrumental sounds, or both, combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.”
As we learned last week, for Toronto-based music therapist, Carolyn Marshall, music can be so much more – because it’s always in us.
Marshall has been a music therapist at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, Ont., for 13 years. She uses musical interventions through singing, songwriting, and musical instruments to bring joy to patients’ days.
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Why is music such a vital part of our everyday life?
Music is, I like to say, is an art form that can go beyond even our thinking and our emotions because our bodies are actually the biggest musical instrument. When we think about breathing, when we think about our heartbeat, when we think about the way cells move through our bodies, that create this symbiosis and suddenly all those things are working together. When they're working together, we've got this literally perfect harmony.
What is the connection between music and mental health?
Music incorporates the entire brain system. It's not just, ‘Okay, my right side is doing this and my left side is out doing this.’ Actually, music can cross both hemispheres of the brain, so now it can incorporate areas of the body and of the mind that we didn't expect.
Have new COVID-19 protocols changed how you work with patients?
Not in the actual practice of what I do. There are less activities and interventions for patients and families. So, what that has done though, it has enabled nurses, doctors, families, and caregivers to be even more appreciative of the work that we do. They have always thought music therapy is great. Now they're like, ‘Oh my gosh, it's even greater.’ They’re feeling this way because we don't have the volunteers, we don't have the students, and we don't have the playrooms. So, my actual practice in terms of how I'm “music-ing,” the interventions that I'm using for the patients and families hasn't really changed but I think the significance of knowing what we do, we carry that with us now more and more as a team.
What is something you have learned over the last two and a half months that has impacted the way you look at your mental health?
I had one colleague here ask me, “So, you know, what's your COVID playlist? How have you been coping musically for yourself personally, inside of this pandemic?’ I said to him, I don't have a COVID playlist, I play the music that I love. I play what's familiar to me and I play what already makes me feel good. I don't want to create music that is connected to a pandemic. I want to listen to the music that I've always listened to and that I've always cared about.
How can someone use music to make themselves feel better at home?
For someone who is down, I would suggest playing the music and to be engaged in the music that they've always loved. Then, perhaps, when you kind of meet yourself right there, you might find that you are feeling a little bit more inspired, a little more encouraged, and if you're feeling inspired and feeling encouraged, you might then want to be creative. What do you have around your home that you can hit? I mean, we're coming back to like toddler times of getting pots and pans and just hitting them and making some drums. You may not be a drummer, but what do you have around you house? That thing of pasta that you can just shake like a maraca, so that you can be in this music as you’re listening to the music that has always brought you joy, this music that has always made you feel good. As much as you may not be able to go out and be involved with people, you can be creative.
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