For almost everyone, music in life is of significance. One likes to sing or play a musical instrument, and the other visits concerts listen to music, or loves to dance. Just like getting a hospital security guard Santa Monica, what can music mean for our health and well-being?
Henk Jan Honing writes in his book ‘Iedereen is muzikaal’: “Music plays in an intriguing way with our hearing, our memory, our emotions, and our expectations. As listeners, we are often unaware that we ourselves have an active role in what makes music so exciting, comforting, or exciting. Because listening does not take place in the outside world of sounding music but in the quiet inner world of our head, heart, and brain.”
Personalized music can calm you down, slow your heart rate, and lower your blood pressure. Music can reduce anxiety and pain and has no side effects. Inspiring practical examples have also been included in which musicians have found their own musical form for the benefit of the health or well-being of others. To this end, they have entered into a partnership with, for example, hospitals, care centers, municipalities, or WMO guidance programs.
Live musical bedside meetings in an ICU that limit the impact of admission for patients, family, and care staff, personalized music recipes that soothe heart patients, a Singing Circle for elderly people with dementia that increases the quality of life, and music through headphones before, during and after surgery that reduces the need for painkillers.
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In the current corona time, live music for patients, and residents of healthcare institutions is of great importance but practically difficult to implement on location. A number of creative solutions with online offerings of concerts, sing-along sessions, training and tips for informal caregivers and healthcare professionals, and an app for a personal BACH recipe, are included. You will also find a book list, various podcasts, and an overview of funds and schemes.
We start with three inspiring films about musicians who work together in the care and health sector: opera singer Maartje de Lint is an expert in what singing can mean for people with dementia. She has set up a broad practice, Singing in Healthcare, with, among other things, offers for healthcare institutions and training courses for both healthcare professionals and professional musicians. Cellist and performer Jacqueline Hamelink of Sounding Bodies developed Bach Kliniek and Bach Kliniek online, based on the conviction that music by Bach has a great healing effect, provided that it matches the emotional state of the listener.
The MuzIC Foundation creates special musical encounters in a growing number of Intensive Care units in Dutch hospitals. It has specially trained musicians who are accompanied, trained, and trained by IC professionals. With musical encounters, MuzIC wants to limit the impact of ICU admission on the lives of patients and families. Music evokes emotions; musicians of MuzIC recognize these emotions and respond to them musically.