Christmas and Music Therapy
One of the best (and worst) parts about working in our field around the holidays is the fact that we get to spend every day singing the holiday music that we love during our sessions. It’s impossible to be a music therapist and not be in at least a bit of a holiday mood. There’s a reason it’s called the hap-happiest season of all. These songs reach our clients in ways that pop songs can’t, because they’re associated with such a powerfully emotional time of year.
However, it is easy to forget that for some, this emotion is not necessarily entirely positive. The older adults we work with, specifically, often struggle with the nostalgia of the holiday season.
I was running a (Christmas Themed) Music Therapy session, to which only two elderly residents showed up, an old man and an old woman. Half way through our second song, I noticed the old man laughing a little bit.
“I’ve got a surprise for you…I’m Jewish!”
He spent the rest of the session telling me about his wife, who was Christian, and with whom he celebrated Christmas. The one song he really loved was White Christmas- which we played 3 times, over the course of the session.
“Me and my wife…we were like this. Best buddies. It really was something special. She was my best friend.”
His wife passed away March 2014, and he shared with me that he’s just now becoming able to speak about her.
It’s so very important for us to remember as music therapists that our primary tool, music, may elicit these more difficult emotions- and that is perfectly okay.
