Suddenly the urge to express myself was there. I’ve been writing songs since I was a teenager. From that point on, songwriting merged with singing and to this day, devotion to music, expression and sharing has always been a big and important part of my life. However, after I had played a lot in the following years, there suddenly came a time when my body signaled that I should go inside, look inside myself, and the question arose “why do I have this urge with music? Why do I find it useful to write songs/ be on stage?” I couldn’t let go of the questions…
In order to find an answer to the questions, I decided to do an internship in the field of music therapy. When I came back to my everyday life after the 3 weeks, my view of music and life was different.
The internship was in a nursing home, which looked after elderly residents with dementia. When I arrived on my first day in the morning, my supervisor said after the first greeting: “You will probably experience a lot here and take it with you, please take some time in the afternoon.” What does she meant by that? I asked myself.
The two music therapists in the house were both super nice and after they had first told me general things about the nursing home, they put a guitar in my hand and together with the guitars and the accordion we started. The residents were very open, super warm and after almost every chord someone thanked us for playing music for them. There was dancing, laughing and the room that was very quiet before suddenly turned into such a lively room. The residents suddenly started talking again, some started talking in a different language, some tapped a rhythm on the table or clapped along, suddenly got up and danced. We held hands, we turned in a circle together, we listened to each other and we helped against loneliness and the loneliness of some residents.
The most touching moment for me was when we walked into a single room and the person lying in bed suddenly started crying as we played music for them. It was as if the music created connection, liveliness, joy, exchange, love, being seen. As if music got under your skin and as if the room were completely different when music took place in it. I was then told that music therapy is the therapy that works best with dementia.
After I returned to my “old” world after these impressions, I felt, that music is something really special. It’s somehow indescribable what it can trigger. For me it was clear, I want to give people something and I hope I can pass on the sparkle to everyone, that they are happy and feel understood. Thanks to the nursing home, to the music therapists and residents for the beautiful time together with you.
