Spring Has Sprung – A Song In Your Heart

Stories to warm the heart and soul

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Spring Awakens! - A burst of light and luster seeps into the gray and gloom. Buttercups and bellflower and butterflies blossom and are resurrected. And the sun... Oh the sun! An earlier riser warms the heart and soothes the soul. - "Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter..."

Stories of music and healing to warm the heart and warm the soul

“Just when I start to feel the most down, the music brings me back up. Now I can handle another day.” I’ve gotten to know her now that she’s been in the hospital for almost 50 days, working through treatment for a form of cancer. She endures. She’s tired… but she endures. She has bouts of extreme pain… but she endures. Many times when I arrive on the unit she is “walking her laps”, cane in one hand and pushing a tree of IV liquids with the other. “What are we going to sing today?” She yells out while keeping stride. Some days she is feeling it all so the music is soothing. Some days she has more energy and is feeling hopeful—time for Neil Diamond. Music can give her what she needs at a particular moment. And sometimes we use songs for reflection, especially during the moments when she is feeling uncertain and trying to come to terms with where this all may be going. Music is a safe way to explore those feelings and emotions. Music also prompts reminiscence. I love hearing her stories that various songs may prompt and I really enjoy seeing her face light up when telling (and reliving) those memories. And when she laughs… the room almost shakes. (And yes, there was the time where we were both laughing so whole-heartedly that the nurse came running in to make sure she was okay.) Music won’t cure her… but it helps. Music helps her get through another day.

“I feel so tired and weak,” she said when I asked how she was feeling. She’d been in the ICU for several days. She could barely open her eyes. I offered some music… for comfort. (I was told that she loved “old gospel” music.) I started on the guitar, and then worked my way to a down-tempo version of How Great Thou Art. Then… transformation. Right before my eyes. Her face… changed. Her body… changed. She sang some (now Old Rugged Cross). She prayed some. And occasionally she reached her hands upwards. Her feet started moving so I added some rhythm in support (now This Little Light of Mine). Her entire body seemed to be… vibrating. I blinked to refocus what I was observing because it almost appeared as though her body was rising somehow. (Then Amazing Grace, singing together… in perfect harmony.) When we finished, she opened her eyes wide and said, “Amen! God bless you!” I think I also said, “Amen.” (Really?) Then she looked even deeper into my eyes and asked in such a caring way, “Are you okay?” (Why did she ask me that?) - I’m not much of a spiritual person in the religious sense but I felt… something. I felt connected to her (and connected to something… bigger?) And the music? It just seemed to flow out of me without effort or choice. (How did I know all the words to Old Rugged Cross?) She looked peaceful. I felt peaceful.

“She needs something… she’s really down,” said the nurse. She’d been in the hospital for several days dealing with a new, unexpected illness. When I walked into her dark room she was just sitting in the chair staring off. I introduced myself. She was pleasant but withdrawn. I sat with her in the quiet for a moment. And then I said, “Seems like a tough time for you. Maybe there’s a song I can play? Something that speaks to how you may be feeling? Or just something you like?” A long pause… then she said, “You Are the Sunshine Of My Life.” I took out the guitar and went into an easy version. Almost immediately… emotion. When I finished I said, “That seems like a meaningful song for you. What were you thinking about?” A long pause… “My son.” I gave her some space. “He’s in California and he can’t come to visit right now. He’s all I have. I used to sing that song to him when he was little.” I asked if she’d been talking to him. “Oh, he’s busy. I don’t want to be a bother.” I said, “Well, I’m sure he misses you too.” More silence... more tears. I noticed her phone on the table next to the chair. “Why don’t you call him?” She looked right up a me, almost shockingly. “Now?” “Sure. Why not?” After some encouragement she picked up the phone. - “Hi honey... I’m okay. I miss you too…” And now a brilliant smile breaking through the tears like the sun rising through a cool misty morning. As they continued to talk I quietly packed up my guitar and headed for the door. “Wait! Will you sing it again?” I looked at her with question and she pointed to the phone. As I got my guitar back out she said to him, “Honey, listen...” Then she held up the phone, almost like a microphone, as we sang the chorus together. More tears… a big smile… and a proud mom connecting with her loving son.

“You are the sunshine of my life, that’s why I’ll always be around. You are the apple of my eye, forever you’ll be in my heart.”

Hope springs eternal

Spring is the season of new opportunities. Spring is the season of hope. And when things seem down—and certainly when in the hospital—music can help. Music can help facilitate feelings of hope, a renewed sense of self, a feeling of moving forward (whatever that may mean). Music suddenly awakens after silence. Notes bloom like wildflowers after a cold rain, unexpected after winter’s fading memory. Music, like spring, gives a feeling of freshness that makes us remember what it feels like to be alive, stirring something dormant within until we find ourselves singing along to a melody that has been waiting beneath the frost. It’s also a physical feeling that makes you want to dance and leave your troubles and worries behind. Ahhh… music! Ahhh… spring!

“Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun and I said… it’s alright!”

The healing power of music…

What songs or music helps you come out of the dark and back into the light? Please let me know in the comments below. I love hearing from you…

(*The stories presented in this blog are based on accounts or experiences and are not actual accounts or experiences.)

Raymond Leone, MMT, MT-BC is a board-certified music therapist based in Northern Virginia and writes extensively about music and wellness.