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Music Is A Key To Healing

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By KURT LOFT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2007

TAMPA - TAMPA - When Robyn L'Heureux checked into Tampa General Hospital earlier this year to receive a new heart, she knew the road to recovery would be arduous.

After six weeks, she was back in her Tampa home, on the mend from a life-saving transplant. But she has more to thank than her doctors and nurses. Mozart and the Beatles, of all people, played a part in her return to health.

"You get depressed being in a hospital for that long, and music helps put you in another world," says L'Heureux, who turns 54 today. "You forget the aches and pains, and it raises your spirits."

L'Heureux didn't just listen to recordings; musicians came to her room and performed live, everything from classical to jazz to pop to original works. It kept her focused on the positive.

"It just takes you totally out of the hospital to another world," she says. "One night, I had a five-piece orchestra in my room And it didn't bother the other patients. In fact, the musicians would draw a crowd. "

L'Heureux is among thousands of patients across the country who participate in hospital arts-in-medicine programs. The point is to use music, among other art forms, to create a peaceful, healing environment for the sick.

"And I have not heard one single, negative comment about it," says Sheela Chokshi, director of the Integrated Medicine Program at Tampa General. "It promotes the process of getting away from an environment of tension. And it has no side effects."

Across town at the Moffitt Cancer Center, a similar program brings musicians and patients together. Three certified music practitioners work in the hospital, and often improvise around the patient's mood.

"I prepare myself for each day by trying to become a blank slate so I can be sensitive to the needs of the patient," says Lloyd Goldstein, who plays double bass. "It's not about performing, but matching the patient's energy and mood and making the connection, using music as the bridge."

Goldstein, who played with The Florida Orchestra for more than 20 years, tries to convey what he calls "remembered wellness" — ushering the mind into a pleasant state so the body can do what it needs to do to heal. Although music isn't a cure for ailments, Goldstein says, it helps in the recovery process by pushing aside anxiety.

He sees the results every day at the bedside of his listeners: "It's unbelievably satisfying. It's the greatest work I've been doing," he says.

Sometimes called music therapy, the technique is more accurately described as "music as modality." While not a medically accepted treatment, it certainly is a legitimate way to comfort those in discomfort, says Cheryl Belander, coordinator of Moffitt's Arts in Medicine Program, now in its 10th year.

"The work we do is part of our palliative care program," she says. "We bring music to patients, but not for a specific reason. We bring in music as an expressive art, to soothe, comfort, inspire, to create a comfort zone, a safe space where the patient can have their own experience with the music."

Goldstein's idea of "remembered wellness" underscores how music can be a tonic, Belander adds.

"If you are ill, and if you hear music that was a part of your life when you were strong and healthy, it's uplifting," she says. "It connects you to that time when you were vibrant."

Live music in a patient's room can be a positive distraction, experts say, because it helps erase the fears of being in a hospital, the uncertainty of not knowing what happens next. Calming music, Chokski says, helps modify the heart rate and breathing.

"It's vibrational energy," she says. "Music vibrations help patients find an alignment in their healing, because a lot of physical illnesses are based on emotional imbalance."

More and more hospitals are embracing arts-in-medicine programs, and work with arts groups in finding the right musicians. Ruth Eckerd Hall, for instance, refers musicians trained in therapeutic music to the Morton Plant Mease Hospital in Clearwater.

But what musicians play, Goldstein says, is less important than how they adapt their sounds to the patient.

"Everything I play needs to have an element of specialness about it," he says. "Even if it's a simple melody, it has to become mine, and be heartfelt. The main thing is to make it easy for the patient so they can make a connection."

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

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