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Newsletter #1 (September - December 2022)Happy Holidays! We’re so pleased to share with you some recent highlights from the Music Therapy program over the past four months.
We used hundreds of songs, but some of the most popular ones recently include... 5. Lizzo – About Damn Time 4. Lawrence – Don’t Lose Sight 3. Taylor Swift – Anti Hero 2. Disney – We Don’t Talk About Bruno And holding the #1 spot for most popular, most requested song is… 1. John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads. |
We welcomed our Music Therapy Intern, Taylor Marsyla, in September. Taylor is a student at Lesley University, where he is getting his Masters degree in Music Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. Taylor has been a fabulous addition to the Care Coordination department, bringing a delightful, positive energy and expanding access to music therapy services for patients. He started at MEE by observing Peri’s sessions, then co-treating alongside her. Now he is leading his own sessions with outpatients and conducting rounds on both inpatient units. Just this week he took on his first solo patient; corresponding with, scheduling, and completing the patient’s intake session independently. Peri is co-signing on documentation and meeting with Taylor to discuss his work, to ensure the highest quality of care.
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A Head & Neck cancer patient seen post-op while inpatient has requested to continue music therapy services as an outpatient. This patient is experiencing significant voice impairments after his surgery, but he has incredible motivation to not let his vocal changes stall his career. Part of his treatment plan includes using songs by his favorite artists (like the Beatles and Gordon Lightfoot) to practice voice and speech-related skills. It is also exciting to see that this patient’s Speech Language Pathologist and ENT doctor have both mentioned Music Therapy in their clinical documentation!
It is not a surprise that vocal impairments have a major impact on a person’s sense of self and how they interact with the world. However, it is a wild and humbling experience to witness it firsthand, in support of someone suffering from voice related issues. One Voice/Speech patient, an aspiring singer, shared why it was important to her to be in Music Therapy for her voice issues. “My voice is important to me because I like how it makes me feel, I like using it, I use it all time, it’s my primary tool of communication. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t sing, in my life. I don’t want to just listen to music. Doing music, making music is a huge part of my identity and my voice lets me do that. When I have these voice issues, it’s hindering my ability to sing and to communicate and fulfill that part of my identity.” (Patient quote shared with permission)
Peri attended a meeting with our MEE Audiology research team to discuss the use of music training to improve pitch and timbre perception in cochlear implant users. Pitch is the highness or lowness of a tone, a string of pitches create a melody, which tends to be the singable part of a song. Timbre is the quality of a sound. Timbre is how a violin and a piano can play the same exact pitch (or note) but sound completely different. Generally speaking, CI users are more impacted in the musical realm of pitch and timbre. In the meeting, we brainstormed how we could standardize the use of music listening samples to use in the next research study, while keeping the task enjoyable for research subjects with different preferences and histories…. It’s a big ask!
If you’re interested in some metrics, here are some results from data collected from September to December in 2022.
The following providers referred the most patients to Music Therapy…
Top treatment target areas serviced by music therapy…
Top Music Therapy intervention types utilized in sessions …
Last but not least… we found out that a Voice/Speech outpatient has been so motivated to attend their Music Therapy treatment sessions that they gear up in boots and hike 2 miles through the woods to catch a train that will bring them to Mass Eye and Ear main campus! (We have continually offered the patient virtual services, but they are determined to make the trek to come in person… Couldn’t ask for higher praise than that!)
Thank you all for your support and interest in Music Therapy at Mass Eye and Ear. We are very excited to see what 2023 holds for us. Happy New Year!
It is not a surprise that vocal impairments have a major impact on a person’s sense of self and how they interact with the world. However, it is a wild and humbling experience to witness it firsthand, in support of someone suffering from voice related issues. One Voice/Speech patient, an aspiring singer, shared why it was important to her to be in Music Therapy for her voice issues. “My voice is important to me because I like how it makes me feel, I like using it, I use it all time, it’s my primary tool of communication. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t sing, in my life. I don’t want to just listen to music. Doing music, making music is a huge part of my identity and my voice lets me do that. When I have these voice issues, it’s hindering my ability to sing and to communicate and fulfill that part of my identity.” (Patient quote shared with permission)
Peri attended a meeting with our MEE Audiology research team to discuss the use of music training to improve pitch and timbre perception in cochlear implant users. Pitch is the highness or lowness of a tone, a string of pitches create a melody, which tends to be the singable part of a song. Timbre is the quality of a sound. Timbre is how a violin and a piano can play the same exact pitch (or note) but sound completely different. Generally speaking, CI users are more impacted in the musical realm of pitch and timbre. In the meeting, we brainstormed how we could standardize the use of music listening samples to use in the next research study, while keeping the task enjoyable for research subjects with different preferences and histories…. It’s a big ask!
If you’re interested in some metrics, here are some results from data collected from September to December in 2022.
The following providers referred the most patients to Music Therapy…
- Spiritual Care
- Patient Self Referred
- Child Life
- Social Work
- Voice/Speech Lab
Top treatment target areas serviced by music therapy…
- Adjustment to Hospital or Medical Condition
- Anxiety / Stress
- Mental Health / Emotional Distress
- Voice / Identity
- Coping Skill Development
Top Music Therapy intervention types utilized in sessions …
- Music Discussion / Verbal Processing
- Singing / Voicework
- Music Listening
- Music Making (Playing instruments, songwriting, improvisation)
- Lyric Analysis
Last but not least… we found out that a Voice/Speech outpatient has been so motivated to attend their Music Therapy treatment sessions that they gear up in boots and hike 2 miles through the woods to catch a train that will bring them to Mass Eye and Ear main campus! (We have continually offered the patient virtual services, but they are determined to make the trek to come in person… Couldn’t ask for higher praise than that!)
Thank you all for your support and interest in Music Therapy at Mass Eye and Ear. We are very excited to see what 2023 holds for us. Happy New Year!