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Music as Medicine

Posted by Greg Schneider on February 24, 2009 at 12:48pm
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Tags: "chalice of repose project", "alternative therapies", thanatology, music, dying
Music-thanatology, a palliative medical and pastoral modality founded by Therese Schroeder-Sheker - founder of the The Chalice of Repose Project, is a musical practice of care for the dying. Music-thanatologists come to the bedside of the dying person with mid-sized harps that are portable and fit into the smallest of spaces. They often play their own compositions and arrangements and sing. Music thanatologists are not part of any faith tradition. The music-thanatologists works with those who are actively dying (24-48 hours) or have received a terminal diagnosis, usually approximating six months. The basic objectives of music-thanatology and prescriptive music deliveries are:
  • relief of acute and chronic physiological pain and/or spiritual or interior suffering;
  • the creation of the supportive conditions which can facilitate reconciliation and meaning in the face of mortality and suffering;
  • a blessed or peaceful or conscious death which is returned back into the fullness of life and the whole human life cycle;
  • the transformation of the personal, familial, medical, cultural, and community experiences of death.

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