Melody for Humanity

Medical Services

What is the need?

Patients in nursing homes, hospices, and hospitals often find themselves battling with illness, infection and disease. Along with this come the feelings of loneliness, isolation, and displacement, felt not only by patients, but also families and staff. Studies have shown that live music can meet some of these needs by providing, not only a source of diversion and entertainment, but also a sense of texture, time, and place, a situation that can be therapeutically beneficial to all. Modern research has demonstrated the significant and therapeutic influence that music has upon individuals of all ages.

Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, in his book, Awakenings, states, " The right kind of music may be of special benefit to people with neurological disorders and may even move those who can't walk to dance, those who can't speak to sing, and those who can't remember to remember."

Music changes the metabolism, affecting muscular energy by raising and lowering blood pressure. Music reduces mental fatigue, stimulates creativity and cognition, and focuses thinking. Listening to music stimulates the release of endorphins, the pain relieving chemical produced in the brain to relieve pain and produce a euphoric state.

How does Melody for Humanity meet the need? Melody for Humanity is a service designed to meet and serve these needs, not only in a passive, but also in an interactive way. Our professional staff brings music from the music community into area hospitals, nursing homes and hospices with the goal of building positive relationships and a feel-good atmosphere. This live music gives the performers and listeners a chance to interact by asking the following questions:

1-Your two favorite instruments are?
2-Your favorite style of music is?
3-Your first or all time favorite song of your life is?

These requests may be accessed on site in a matter of minutes through the use of state of the art technology that zones in on the personal musical settings required for providing the textual Melody for Humanity that each individual has designed. Because our operation is extremely compact, portable and wireless, most music therapy is applied at bedsides and in small group settings for building more interactive relationships.

Melody for Humanity specializes in accessing the very old songs and ethnic lullabies from around the world. The Patients can not only hear the music, but also become interactively involved and stimulated by the performance. Seniors are particularly served through the vast array of selections that provide stimulation from their favorite tunes of yesterday. They are also soothed and comforted by the textual sounds and compositions offered. With advance notice all requests can be filled. As David "Bihare, Director of Intensive Care Services at Guy Hospital, said, "We so often forget the soul of the patient. Music helps us to speak to that inner being and to bring some extra comfort."