Songwriting Events
A Brief History of Music in Healthcare
Starting this month I begin a new blog series to address the case for music therapy in healthcare. I want to put my profession to the test. Does it hold the value I feel it does? Are there areas we need to improve?
In this first post I start by re-visiting some of the happenings before music therapy became a formalized profession. Like all health professions the beginnings are unique. For example:
- Chiropractic care originated in 1895 when Daniel Palmer of Iowa performed the first chiropractic adjustment on a partially deaf janitor. While the shirtless janitor bent over to empty a trash can Palmer noticed that he had a vertebra out of position. When asked what happened, he replied, “I moved the wrong way, and I heard a ‘pop’ in my back, and that’s when I lost my hearing.” Palmer had him lie face down on the floor and he proceeded to make an adjustment. The next day, the janitor told Palmer, “I can hear that rackets on the streets.”
- Psychology was a branch of philosophy until the 1870s, when it became an independent scientific discipline in Germany.
- Physiotherapy started with physicians like Hippocrates, and later Galenus, who advocated for massage, manual therapy techniques (joint manipulation) and hydrotherapy as a way to treat people in 460 B.C. Now hundreds of years later these interventions have become their own disciplines.
The history of music in healthcare begins in ancient Greece alongside the theories of Plato that medical centres should embed art, music and many other forms of healing into its core. Early on Indigenous communities, also believed in integration between mind and body and that only when harmony was achieved could health be restored.
The earliest known reference to music therapy appeared in 1789 in an unsigned article in Columbian Magazine titled “Music Physically Considered.” In the early 1800s, writings on the therapeutic value of music appeared in two medical dissertations proposing music as an intervention to treat medical diseases.
Later a documented case of a physician in the 20th century using music in the context of surgery occurred in 1914, when Evan O’Neil Kane published his report in JAMA on the use of the phonograph within the operating room. Patients from this study identified that anesthetic induction was better coupled with music for reducing anxiety prior to surgery.
More documentation happened after The Second World War in America. Doctors found that music helped the soldiers physically and mentally. Training programs began to spread worldwide. And well….the profession of Music Therapy was well on its way.
Since then global Music Therapy Associations and regulatory bodies grew to oversee Music Therapist’s certification. The evidence collectors, including many music therapist researchers, continue to add to the informed use of music therapy in healthcare.
In my short time of being a music therapist (maybe not so short now) the most exciting changes have been not what we have been doing but where we now provide music therapy because of the outcomes achieved:
- Mental Health Facilities, Addictions Programs and Forensic Units
- Hospitals and Neuro Units/Programs
- Dementia Care and Long Term Care
- Schools and Children’s Development Programs
- Palliative Care and Grief and Loss Programs
- Corporate Wellness Programs
I feel the area that can and should develop next is in area of preventative medicine – we will address this later.
As I review this brief history, I am left with this thought – that all professions worked very hard and had many struggles during their time of formalization – and many continue to face old and new challenges – from being misunderstood (do needles hurt during acupuncture?), to the public not knowing when to access what treatment (when do I go to chiro vs. physio vs massage), to feeling that other disciplines are taking up some of their rightful professional space (is harp therapy different enough from music therapy that they needed their own certification?).
What I believe is important at this stage of investigation is to recognize that no ONE treatment will solve all our complex human needs. But what is important, particularly to the consumer, the general public who are paying for these services either out of pocket or through taxes, is the knowledge that what they are getting has evidence behind it (including the potential risks), and the assurance that the person treating them has the training, experience, and intention to help and not harm.
GET IN TUNE – Knoxville Launch Trip Log
Last week, our Senior Therapist and Program Advisor Klifton Fehr, LHMC and myself traveled to Nashville, in route to Knoxville on a quest to pilot our GET IN TUNE program for underserved youth at a Boys & Girls Club there. We were excited about the prospects of reaching more kids, and partnering with additional great community organizations in different markets. As the trip began, the COVID-19 crisis was heating up, but had not yet attained anywhere near the level of National Emergency it was about to become. Still, flying to TN. Our plane was 85% empty.
Tuesday, March 10th Travel from Ft. Lauderdale to Nashville.
We arrived Nashville about a week after devastating tornadoes had hit my adopted home town and the surrounding areas. We were coming into town to meet up with Scott, run some errands to gear him up (literally) for both Grace Notes and GET IN TUNE programs coming around the bend to launch stage in Nashville. We had launched GRACE NOTES 2 months prior in music city in partnership with YMCA’s of Middle TN. And 50Forward. While there was growing concern surrounding Corona Virus, by Tuesday things hadn’t yet reached fever pitch, and our upcoming two days in Knoxville to launch GET IN TUNE is where our focus is currently.
Scott took us to Enterprise to get our car, we picked up Amplifiers and some ancillary gear at Guitar Center for “Grace Notes Project”, headed to Five Below to pick up blank journals (which we give to attendees upon completion of GET IN TUNE session 4) to give to Karen Reynolds in Knoxville and to leave with Scott Barrier for our projected April launch of the same program at a Nashville location of Boys & Girls Clubs and Notes for Notes studios.
By dinner time, we wanted to find someplace cool and local to eat and show Klif some of the local flavor. We were staying at the house of Scott and Erin Barrier to save the organization on travel dollars (not the first time!) Erin, Scott’s amazing wife wanted to stay home, so it was just the 3 guys for dinner. Opryland Hotel is where we landed. Many restaurants there were already closing and hotel bookings down. Little did we know.
Wednesday, March 11th – Nashville to Knoxville – Mountains, Apple Blossoms, GET IN TUNE
At 5:30am the next morning, (630 our time) Klifton needed Starbucks. Our body clocks were off, and we were anxious to hit the road. Though I knew Scott and Erin would put coffee on in about an hour, Klifton was eager to go to a local coffee shop he’d found online. It was closed however, so we ended up at Starbucks. His kindness naturally displayed itself in insisting we bring our hosts coffee.
By 9am we were leaving the Barriers cozy hospitality and little pups behind for a 3 road-trip east on Route 40. I planned on using this time as a mobile meeting/brainstorming session and was excited by the prospect of uninterrupted time together with brothers-in-arms. Whatever our differences as humans, all of us in this car believe in the healing and communication powers of music. Off we went, headed up into the hills, and through much of the damage-zone from the twisters that recently decimated the area.
About an hour in, all the early morning coffee and other hydration mandated we take a pit stop. Plus we were hungry. On the Cumberland Plateau, around Cookeville we stopped at the “Golden Arches.” Ugh. I know.
15 minutes later, back on the road we were listening to a variety of music, mesmerized by the beautiful rolling hills, and saddened by the vast swaths of Tornado damage unfolding before us. The Apple Blossoms are out…I take it as a sign of hope and faith. We discuss our programs, strategy, tactics, media opportunities and get more into the aspects of lyric analysis with Scott Barrier. Scott is one of our new, key team members on the ground in Tennessee. Helping us launch our programs, AND our first Nashville installment of THE LOVE WINS REVIVAL. An event which combines songwriting, storytelling, and sing along songs with social action, benefitting Face the Music Foundation while opening the floor..through music of course to discuss addiction and broader mental health issues. (More than likely you’ve heard Scott’s songs on commercials or national TV shows, as he’s begun to make inroads in that world of commercial songwriting/sync.!)
Around 1pm we check into the hotel, and work on clearing up some problems with the reservation before heading to lunch. By 4pm we want to be at the Boys & Girls Club to set up. An hour or so before that, the NBA cancelled it’s season, and MLB postponed theirs. We could actually feel it in the air…the “shift” in conversation surrounding Covid-19, and what may be coming.
When we arrive at the club, we talk a bit outside waiting for Karen Reynolds and Mickey Chapmen. Karen sits in the East TN. Writer’s Hall of Fame with other notables such as Dolly Parton, and Mickey is a licensed-therapist and specialist in working with the teen population. Karen also directs the execution of Educational Music Programs for the prestigious FRANK BROWN Songwriters Festival! We’re going to mentor them with 2 sessions of GET IN TUNE today and tomorrow, so as to be able to hand off execution of sessions 3 and 4, along with future modules (when funding can be found here) of GET IN TUNE to them! While waiting we ran into Girl Scouts selling cookies! How exciting. Tagalongs. Thin Mints. A good sign.
We facilitate a highly interactive lyric analysis session with 18 wonderful teens, and while I watched Klifton lead them through dissecting and discussing the lyrics of 2 different songs pertaining to the topic of the day, (self-esteem) I jump in from time to time. We’ve learned how to work well together these past months, and are hoping that interplay comes naturally for Karen and Mickey as well.
After a successful first session, we all head to Outback to discuss observations and suggestions. Of course, by that time the National Emergency had changed the urgency…of the day. Of the moment. Of the now, and immediate future.
Thursday, March 12th Knoxville GET IN TUNE, Day Two, then back to Nashville
One of the great things about Hampton Inn’s are the breakfast and the newspaper. When I’m not traveling it’s rare I eat more than a “Perfect Bar”, Banana and coffee for breakfast. Rarer still that I get to review the morning paper.
We all spent the morning in our respective corners on laptops working, and making calls. By now, many of us were commencing with some sort of social distancing. That trend of course would continue to grow in the coming days. Now the NHL, NCAA, MLS and PGA have followed the NBA and shuttered the windows on all professional sports leagues of note. Broadway is dark, concerts being cancelled left and right, which really pains us as musicians and fans.
I had a great talk with Nikki at Music Health Alliance in Nashville, and was reminded the scope and variety of good work they do to help musicians and their families in times of need.
After lunch, we returned to the Hampton Inn’s comfortable lobby to resume our work day. We had time before GET IN TUNE Session #2, and appreciated the hotels’ hospitality, though we had already checked out. Catching up on thank you notes and data entry, and staying in touch with program partners, while keeping an eye on the news.
By 3:45pm, we’re back at the Boys & Girls Club for GIT Session #2 (Bullying) – It’s SO exciting to see several of these kids who were not so open yesterday, ENGAGE and activate their creativity and desire to learn today! Klifton suggests we turn over the 2nd half of the program to Karen and Micki, and I agree it’s a good idea. This is a little uncomfortable, because it’s the first time we’ve handed this off to others for execution, since I’ve been part of this team. But of course, my fears are unfounded…they are pros. We had originally been staying in Knoxville that night to attempt to meet with other potential community partners and local media possibly, however with the lightning fast changes occurring due to Covid-19, we decided to cancel hotel rooms, save the organization on those costs (hotel was understanding) and head back to the warm embrace of Scott and Erin’s house in Nashville.
As we leave the club that day, we are pleased with how it went, but grounded by the knowledge that sessions 3 and 4 may be on hold…along with so much else. Storms are predicted back in Nashville, so we hit the road on 40 West back to Nashville.
With the darkness growing around us, fog too, we crank some tunes to unwind…NeedtoBreathe, The Beatles and Marc Broussard serenade us as we search for a good stopping point.
Cracker Barrell, in Crossville fit the bill. The rocking chairs on the front porch were inviting and yet as we entered… the company’s somewhat controversial past was briefly discussed. Though unintended, this past helped to shape a shift in cultural norms long-held in the south. Loved by many for it’s comfort and consistency…and yet as an organization, far from perfect. Just like all of us humans…we are flawed, and imperfect….but we have to keep trying…reaching….striving to improve and shed more light in the dark. So did this organization. At FTMF, we share that spirit of continual daily improvement.
While eating dinner, and discussing our mission people at 3 different tables reached out to us, having “overheard” bits of our talk about mission and helping others. For an extra hour that night, strangers became friends and I handed out a few cards…asked these folks to look further into what we do…maybe spread the word.
By the time we got back to Scott’s place with the mini-dogs, and caught up with Erin a a bit, it was time to watch the news….. of a world gone crazy. In my head I’m thinking, look how the world is starting to pull together to “fight this foe?” What could be accomplished with the addiction and mental illness epidemic, with climate change, with gun violence, with income inequality….if we all pulled together in that same fashion? Why….not?
Friday, March 13 – East Nashville – Brentwood – Airport-Florida
Morning Coffee in Scott’s Kitchen at around 7am, and we catch up on the latest news. A National Emergency. Pandemic. Scott’s on his way to a co-writing session, and we’re headed to East Nashville to meet with a new community connector who has already done a good deal of sweat equity for us here at FTMF. We met at amazing local coffee shop Kettners’ Coffee. Julianne Lee works for amazing organizations, Give a Note, and GENEROUS. The latter is a new fundraising plat-form online which was created to better align recording artists, their fans, non-profits, and corporate sponsors as a way to maximize charitable giving. We had a wonderful meeting, and we’re going to connect soon to discuss how this platform may work with our growing mission and operational scope at FTMF! Storm Damage in this community from the Tornados is everywhere. And it made me think…we’re headed into a storm with no clouds a we enter back into the realm of the unknown…life in the midst of a growing society shut-down.
With some time yet before we needed to be at the airport, lunch and a visit with our partners at Recovery Unplugged out in Brentwood, TN was in order. We brought in food from Local Taco, a GREAT local Mexi-style place. Here not only did we meet with some folks from the clinical and outreach teams, but I also got to meet in person, 2 folks who have recently benefit from Face the Music Foundation Treatment Scholarships. This was a powerful and emotional experience. I don’t often get to meet the folks we help, so I was really impacted by this opportunity. I won’t mention their names, but one of them gave me her latest milestone coin, and I got teary. And the other, who carried her fiddle with her everywhere, played some beautiful music for us. Grateful…we all felt at that moment.
3 days after arriving at Nashville International Airport on the cusp of a global crisis, we returned through these doors to a entirely new reality. You could see it on the faces of everyone at the airport. What do we do now?
We move forward…and we help someone. And it’s going to take all of us. A Team…together.
“The Moody’s Christmas” on FOX Song Premier
We have great news about our Song Team member, and now …….. for the Face The Music Foundation, Scott Barrier. His song “Merry Christmas With You”, which he wrote with songwriter Donna De Sopo and artist Keegan Ferrell, was premiered on episode 3 of the nation wide presentation of “The Moody’s Christmas” on FOX. The song was performed by Keegan, and was produced by Nate Cornell. Congratulations to Scott and his team for their success!
Get in Tune!
When you’re building something special, the beginnings rarely look anything like the “end-product.” For example, this old shipping pallet, partially torn apart over a weekend…hammer, saw, pry bar…trial and error…measuring… certainly doesn’t look anything like what it’s parts will evolve into, as I turn them into something that looks a LOT better than the old wallpaper they are starting to cover up in the kitchen in the new house.
Similarly, the glitzy moments such as here where I’m fortunate enough to be hanging out backstage with legendary Music Producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Soul Asylum) and Recovery Unplugged Co-Founder Andrew Sossin at a Benefit Concert for Face The Music Foundation, at The famed Riviera Theatre in Chicago…these moments are not really what it’s about. Rather, it’s about moments like this other picture here where I’m with our resident maestro on fiddle, Carl Schmid, and Roosevelt from a local Boys & Girls Club that we recently teamed up with for one of our educational programs…“Get In Tune!” (looking for funding by the way, just saying!) These sessions work towards breaking the cycle of addiction through music. Early on, before the disease can take root… On the streets, where it’s real, just watch the music heal.
Whether your re-purposing old wood shipping pallets, and trying to find just the right size board, the right color tone, the right texture, or trying to assemble a first class Board of Directors, or Creative Team, it’s all about patience, open-mindedness, creativity, vision, heart. That’s how you turn the individual notes, into a beautiful chord of music.
Butch Vig Of Garbage And Filter’s Richard Patrick On Power Of Music At Face The Music Foundation Benefit
PHOTO BY BARRY BRECHEISEN
Amidst the opioid crisis in a world where music and the arts continue to disappear from American classrooms, Face The Music Foundation and Recovery Unplugged place a premium on music as a critical part of the recovery process.
Garbage drummer and producer Butch Vig performs during the Face The Music Foundation benefit concert in Chicago. Monday, May 20, 2019 at the Riviera Theatre
PHOTO BY BARRY BRECHEISEN
“These type of events remind us of how much energy and passion can be galvanized by something as unifying as music,” said Face The Music Foundation Executive Director Jeff Jacob Monday night in Chicago backstage at the Riviera Theatre prior to the Face The Music Foundation benefit concert. “Music is one of the only universal languages. So we believe that it not only brings people together but that it has healing properties. There’s proof to show that music can actually put someone on a positive path and help them sort of put a new foundation under them of solid ground.”
Founded in 2014, as the non-profit arm of Recovery Unplugged, the Foundation seeks to generate the resources necessary to help those who might otherwise not be able to afford to enter substance abuse treatment by creating treatment scholarships.
Recovery Unplugged takes things further, directly integrating music into the recovery process, with a stated mission “to provide hope and healing for individuals affected by addiction using the power of music.”
“It’s rare still that type of therapy. But I think it’s one of the best types of therapy that people can go through,” said producer and Garbage drummer Butch Vig. “I’ve been playing music all my life and it’s therapy for me. I think it’s a pretty incredible program where music is part of the recovery process.”
Monday night in Chicago, Vig performed with Garbage as the benefit’s headlining act, working with dkmedia and Charity Bomb alongside openers Slow Mass and Jam Alker Band to raise awareness and funds for both charitable groups.
“I myself am a recovering addict. Five years ago, I was killing myself shooting heroin on the west side of Chicago. Now I’m part of an event that is raising money to get people into treatment that is music based,” said Jam Alker. “I started playing music again when I was in treatment just over four and a half years ago and it changed my life. I began to heal some of the deepest wounds inside of me by using music as a way to express and process the underlying trauma that had led to my addiction. It’s something that’s been a passion of mine and so I got involved with Face the Music Foundation.”
Garbage’s touring bass player, former Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, is also a recovering addict. Like many musicians, Garbage see the impact the disease can have on a daily basis.
“I hope that the event can bring awareness and bring an acute sense of urgency to absolutely every single one of the attendees. Because we all know that we are less than one degree away from someone with an invisible disease,” said event director, dkmedia principal and owner David Kinsler. “It’s indisputable: Music creates emotion. It evokes. And that’s what it was always meant to do.”
PHOTO BY BARRY BRECHEISEN
Richard Patrick of industrial alternative rockers Filter made a special opening appearance Monday night as well, singing one of Filter’s biggest hits, “Take a Picture,” with backing from Chicago-based Jam Alker Band.
Back to work with Filter co-founding member Brian Liesegang for the first time in more than twenty years on the forthcoming album Rebus, Patrick spoke candidly before the show about the role music can play in the recovery process.
“When you hear the perfect kind of music for the mood you’re in, it can bring pleasure, happiness, anger and exhilaration that only a few things can. So I think it’s important to have music in recovery,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s also important just to even hear this is an actual possibility that you can get sober and you can be happy.”
Monday night over the course of about ninety minutes, Garbage hit upon virtually every corner of their recorded catalog, placing most focus on their 1998 album Version 2.0 following a tour last year which featured full performances of the album in recognition of it’s 20th anniversary.
The group worked a snippet of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” into “Wicked Ways” early and vocalist Shirley Manson gave the fans a choice later, letting them decide by show of applause whether the band would close the show with “Bleed Like Me” or “When I Grow Up.” “It pleases me to f-ck with my band,” said the vocalist of her process as the crowd roared its approval for the latter.
“Sometimes you hear about bands that say they want to change the world with their music. And there is some truth to that. Because a song can affect someone’s personal life in a way that is way beyond what the artist intended,” said Vig. “When we make music, we record and write and go through the whole process kind of in a bubble. We do it for ourselves as our own form of therapy. And when you put music into the world, how it affects people, you never know really what’s going to happen. But it’s very gratifying to hear that kind of connection with people – that the music has a healing power.”
PHOTO BY BARRY BRECHEISEN
Manson went onto decry the lack of a union for musicians on stage Monday in Chicago, ultimately praising the work of groups like Recovery Unplugged and Face The Music Foundation. For his part, during turbulent times in America, Vig sees real value in the role of the musician.
“I think the most important thing that an artist can do, whether it’s conscious or unconscious, is get people to think,” he said. “I don’t think any music fan wants to get hit over the head with slogans or be told what to do. But a great song can reach out to you on an emotional level, or even a sociopolitical level, and make you think about the world that we live in.”
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, “In 2016, an estimated twenty-one million people aged 12 or older needed substance use treatment,” translating to nearly 1 in 13 people. As the opioid crisis continues in America, the work of groups like Face The Music Foundationand Recovery Unplugged is more important than ever.
Raising awareness of the fact that recovery is even a real possibility is crucial to Richard Patrick.
“It’s a disease. I never wanted it. I woke up and I was way in – really deep into addiction. And now I’m a healthy, contributing member of society that can help other people. And that’s the best part of it – helping other people,” Patrick said. “I get all these people who say, ‘Is this real? Can I really get sober?’ Well I did it. And I can only speak for myself but if you can believe in yourself just a little bit, you can do it. I’m just spreading the message that you can get sober. Literally you can save people’s lives just by being a good example.”
Jim Ryan is a Chicago based writer/broadcaster who’s interviewed a Ramone and a Rolling Stone. Follow him on Twitter @RadioJimRyan or visit online at radiojimryan.com. radiojimryan@gmail.com.
Find the original article here.