20 March 13th-March 19th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | people simply confuse music therapy with music lessons. As Stewart explains: “We’re focusing on what the music is going to do for you. And then, as a bonus, we get music out of it.” Other times, though, this lack of under- standing surfaces as misinformation. Therapists have found that people think they can act as their own musical therapist. When people lack clinical know-how, a DIY approach can have unpleasant conse- quences. Songs are tied inextricably to memories both specific and general. “This idea of just popping headsets on people, if you haven’t really looked up the music, you can trigger a negative [reaction],” Oliver says. A song that was merely popular during a traumatic time could thus be a landmine. Or a well-meaning gesture could be merely a gesture. “It can be nice to play the harp when someone’s dying, but YouTube needs to stop calling that ‘music therapy,’” Kwok says. “In 13 states, you have to have licenses. With [neurologic music therapy], there’s 29 standardized approaches, and they’re all coming from a results-driven approach.” Musical therapists consider many layers of meaning for the approaches they bring to different treatments. With their training in neuroscience, Oliver says, therapists engaging music’s specific effects on a person’s brain. A singalong in a retirement home, for instance, may seem like fun to the participants, while the therapist is trying to optimize the neurological benefits. “Some music therapists use music in therapy,” Oliver says. “As neurologic music therapists, we use music as therapy. The music actually drives the change versus the music supporting somebody emotion- ally or recreationally.” There’s nothing wrong with using music to aid in recovery and whatnot. Every person who enjoys music uses it, to some extent, as a mood regulator. But patients must recognize the differ- ence between self-help and actual therapy. In the latter, patients get support they’re incapable of providing for themselves. On that last point, Henderson has something to say. During the course of his ongoing music therapy “journey,” the former pilot has worked with Stewart to craft a song that addresses his experience and encapsulates music therapy’s real- world effects. One quietly heartbreaking line from “Lenny’s Blues in A” speaks to how music can help overcome chasms of disconnect. “I’m blue with a song I can’t sing/And I wrote it,” Henderson wrote. “I’m blue with a song I can’t sing/And I wrote it/The chords are hard, so is the tune.” The honor of experiencing art A day after the community meeting at Central High, I caught up with Fray — just as she was coming off a job interview, no less. She said she remains “cautiously opti- mistic” about landing a music therapy gig at a private hospital. That’s not to undercut her dignity- siphoning dismissal. She got the news of that capricious cut as she was at home caring for her husband, who was recov- ering from a surgery. Even if she can get reinstated at the VA, Fray might not return with the same parameters and freedoms. Yet she wasn’t nearly as worried about the job search as she was for her former patients. She mentioned some who had started their own “therapy group” around a Spotify playlist. The one that seems to resonate loudest was a patient who she met as he was dying in hospice. In a dark- ened room, with so much life buzzing on the periphery, she picked up her guitar and played for him a beloved Bob Dylan tune. Her soothing, nearly serene tone worked its way through new lyrics about peace and letting go. Each new note grew shorter, as if she was drawing the man’s breath down to a slow, steady pace. Then, in an instant, he was gone. With the last notes, the room fell quiet. “It was an honor,” Fray said, with awe in her voice. “Art helped make us. It’s part of the human experience.” Music therapy helps people get through their life. It connects hearts and literally changes minds. It empowers people to dismantle hardships, find strength, build joy and fully embrace their humanity. The lessons that music therapists provide are ones we desperately need now. A student partakes in a music therapy session at ACCEL. (ACCEL) Sound Mind from p 18
