Description
Transforming Pain One Note at a Time
Gaiser is a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP) who provides therapeutic music to the ill, the elderly, and the dying in hospital, nursing homes, and hospice settings.
In this work she combines her love of acoustic music and talent on multiple instruments — guitar, violin, harp, Native American flute, among others, as well as her voice, which embraces not just singing lyrics but also chanting, toning, humming a cappella — with a guidance counselor’s insight and profound personal empathy, to help heal the spirits of those in critical care and in the final weeks, days, and moments of their lives.
The work of a CMP is not that of a Music Therapist, nor is it what we think of as music “performance.” A CMP plays music in accordance with the patient’s needs: not to heal or cure, but to bring comfort and, perhaps, solace and joy. Gaiser listens, watches, picks up clues such as presence or absence of family pictures, jewelry (Star of David? Crucifix? Christian cross?) or imagery on the walls. She is alert to the breathing patterns and skin tone and other indications of the physical state of the patient. She notices what the visitors or family members gathered around are like — what they wear, their nervous tics, spoken or unstated denials or fears, and how they interact with the patient — and with her.
Musical Morphine: Transforming Pain One Note at a Time tells Robin’s story of her work as a CMP. Above all, she ensures that the instrument she chooses and the type of music she plays is what the patient needs, whether to ease pain, or ignite happy memories, or bring spiritual comfort, or, sometimes, ease the actual passage from life to death. Like all Pisgah Press books, it can be ordered through local bookstores or online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
