Campus Spotlight: Music and Medicine, the VCU Health Orchestra and Healing Through Music
By Rana Ansari
Throughout my childhood, my mom would share endless stories about her aunt, the woman I was about to meet one summer day. She described her as the most beautiful, intelligent, and loving person in her former Iraqi neighborhood.
When my family fled Baghdad, leaving behind everything they had, my mother’s aunt was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The worsening of her condition mandated her daughter to become her full-time caretaker, always calling my mother as a source of comfort. I would hear on the phone, “She is always sad…whenever I leave her side, she just cries.”
I ring the doorbell of their apartment, carrying gifts for the newborn baby in the household. The cries that I heard from the door were not from the mother’s new son; rather, her own mother. I watched my mom run to my aunt, begging her to remember their good memories in Iraq. “Do you remember, habibti, do you remember anything?” my mom asked. My aunt maintained a blank, yet somber look on her face. Was she thinking about those memories that many say will be with you forever?
“She used to love Abdel Halim Hafez,” her daughter says. Hafez, a superstar Egyptian musician, performed the most popular classical Arabic songs in the 70s and is still relevant today. This love, I thought, should still be there, somewhere in her heart, in her memory.
I take out my phone and connect it to the speakers.
Ahwak, I love you.
Hafez’s most popular song catches my ear. The arpeggio of the first F major piano chord fills the room, replacing the sounds of distress, metamorphosing the long faces into large smiles. As the chord progression continued, I heard my aunt humming in its accompaniment, and watched her as she embraced the warm voice of Hafez; it was as if the song had brought back her memories–those made in Iraq.
The Coronavirus pandemic presented challenges to health care systems across the world. When healthcare workers started to reach their breaking points as hospitalizations rose early in the pandemic in May of 2020, the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health Orchestra, known as Music and Medicine, came together to perform “curbside” concerts for families suffering from an illness or a loss caused by the pandemic. The VCU Health Orchestra comprises physicians, nurses, medical students, and VCU alumni, all volunteering to play and contribute music to the community.
They are one of the few teaching hospitals in the country to have an official orchestra. With their mission focused on promoting wellness among the staff and patient community, their in-person, and more recently, virtual performances have provided a sense of hope and comfort to everyone, especially in the Richmond community. Music and Medicine was featured on the Today show for their work during the pandemic. During their segment, scenes of families sitting on lawns, enjoying beautiful orchestral works from a distance, were used to display the sense of comfort that Music and Medicine has provided.
Before the pandemic, performances would occur at the VCU Medical Center gateway building, and the feedback they received was overwhelmingly positive. Listening to musical works while undergoing treatment acted as “medicine,” as one mother of a patient described, mimicking the response to the relief given by certified medical therapists. The goal of music therapy, and that of the VCU Health Orchestra, is to take control of their pain and reduce the need for pain medication and management. Patients have described the comfort that the music brings, whether that’s before surgery, amidst waiting for test results, or for family members of patients.
Listening to music before an operation has reduced patient anxiety, and sometimes even the need for sedatives (Graff 2019). Similarly, music therapy has improved the lives of those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease as it has not only helped with memory recall, but with communication with others, such as family members. The power of music can ease suffering, allowing better moods and relief from feeling trapped, and can allow patients with Alzheimer’s to feel included.
Beyond its healing powers, music is a form of expression, creating a means of communication for those with or without a voice. Through music therapy, patients with autism spectrum disorder have been able to better adapt to social situations. It also has the ability to heal traumatic injuries, such as the gunshot wound to Former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords’s brain. With the use of singing as a form of music therapy, Giffords was able to gain her ability to speak, slowly transitioning from singing her thoughts to testifying to Congress (Merz 2015). 
Similarly, Honors College student Chedza Nasim finds music to be an “artistic medium that is accessible and far easier to experiment with than others.” With the stage name Just Che on all music streaming platforms, Nasim finds individuality through music-making.
He admits, “I’m dissatisfied with the response I may get in social media or streams online. However, when I consider what actually matters in the scope of things, making music doesn’t come back to money or influence, it comes back to me and my experience living. I find music to be therapeutic.”
“There's an element of uniquity when we consider the way auditory experiences make us feel, and creating these sensations is almost a way for me to communicate my mentality to others or even myself. I make objectively harsh or bad music to most—but I’m not oblivious to its rawness, I see it as an expressive state of raw emotion. It’s not the center of my life, but it's definitely why I feel inspired to live it.”
Members of the VCU Health Orchestra have also spoken out about the effects of music, especially on themselves as musicians and performers. They have found that performing in the orchestra and participating in the creative process of music-making, gave them a sense of relief, especially during the pandemic. Physicians found that they were able to give more to their patients, especially emotionally, thanks to learning and playing an instrument such as the violin.
In addition to the positive mental uplifting that comes from music-making, participating in the creative process can also help practice problem-solving, communication, and daily workplace skills. The VCU Health Orchestra, Music and Medicine, serves as a great reminder to everyone of the increasing importance of art expression within medical education, starting as early as the pre-med track. The University orchestra has also been an inspiration to many.
In the Honors College, many may notice the abundance of STEM majors. However, many of these students also participate heavily in the arts. For some, playing and learning music serves as an outlet. For example, one Honors student, who is currently a biochemistry major on the pre-med track, also studies music on the side.
When it comes to music, she "listens while doing homework, and it has definitely helped [her] stay focused in [her] studies… [she] listens to it when [she] wakes up and before [she goes] to bed as a method to help [her] relax and prepare for [her] day. As a musician [herself], just playing music helps [her] relax when [she is] stressed."
I have also personally felt the effects of music on my stress and overall quality of life. Playing piano since the age of 6, I sometimes feel that I lose myself if I haven’t played in a few days. When I was younger, the piano was a form of discipline. Now, it is an escape for me–an excuse to turn off my phone, and forget about the world around me. It is an opportunity to re-evaluate my problems, or concerns, and look at them from a different perspective.
The benefits of music therapy are endless, although exactly how it works is still unknown. The future of music therapy, regardless, is still growing rapidly given how useful it has proven to be for so many patients and healthcare workers alike. Integrating the arts in any environment is almost certain to provide comfort and healing effects to anyone, whether that’s in healthcare or the VCU Honors College. Music should be included in all healthcare environments, such as the lobbies of hospitals, nursing homes, or during treatment.
While the number of certified music therapists is increasing, making music therapy more accessible is still needed in order for more patients to reap the benefits. Forming musical organizations, such as the VCU Health Orchestra, is a great way to encourage community cooperation through the healing powers of music, which can benefit everyone who can hear it. Try it out yourself and play a couple of notes on the Honor’s College piano in the lounge.
Photo courtesy of Camacho (2012) via Flickr