Andy's Random Resources!

(for Musical and Music Therapy adjacent purposes)

Hello to you, blog reader! Thank you for being here and taking some time to read. I hope you find at least one of the things listed below to be of some use to you in one way or another. 

Regarding end-of-life care/hospice music therapy, the books:

Being Mortal by Atul Gwande 

&

death is but a dream by Christopher Kerr

These two books helped me, as a music therapy student, understand more deeply what it can mean to die, to be with someone while they are dying, and to help care for them and their families during those difficult yet inevitable moments we all face. (Being Mortal was required reading in my Pain and Palliative Care class; thanks Professor Giffin!) Both books are written by medical professionals; Atul Gwande is a surgeon, a writer for the New Yorker, and a professor at Harvard (yikes dude, save some jobs for the rest of us). Christopher Kerr is the CEO and chief medical officer at Hospice Buffalo (NY, not wild wings). They both discuss death from the lens of a medical professional and speak to how their upbringing and medical training did very little to prepare them with how to effectively navigate death and dying. It seems that as a medical student/professional the subject of death was synonymous with failure, and once a clinician had exhausted all potential life-saving resources (for better or for worse, often for the worse) it was time for them to throw up their hands and give up, basically abandoning the dying patient. Both authors share the difficult process of losing their fathers and the profound effect that had on them personally and professionally. As someone who suddenly lost their father 12 years ago, these books also helped me with that continuous grieving process. 

A memorable passage from Being Mortal: “I spoke to Susan Block … a nationally recognized pioneer in training doctors and others in managing end-of-life issues with patients and their families. “You have to understand,” Block told me. “A family meeting is a procedure, and it requires no less skill than performing an operation.”

My big takeaway from death is but a dream is that many, many people, upon approaching or experiencing the active dying process, have visions that seem to be very real, typically of loved ones who have already died, that almost universally help to bring them peace and closure.  

Finally, both books have quotes by Oliver Sacks on the jacket or introduction, so they must be good. 

Regarding self-care, the youtube channels:

KHansenMusic - https://www.youtube.com/@VocalWarmupsWithKathleen

&

YOGA UPLOAD with Maris Aylward - https://www.youtube.com/@YogaUpload

I have been practicing singing with KHansen’s videos for approximately 3-5 years now, and practicing yoga with Maris Aylward’s videos for maybe 8 years! I have found them both to be fantastic resources. They are no-nonsense, no-filler, basic production value, and just great. (except for brief mentions to download their apps and subscribe. I will personally not be downloading the apps, but I’ve been thinking about sending a fruit basket or something similar as a token of my gratitude.)

Personally, every time I am driving to work as a music therapist, or to a gig as a musician, I will sing along to 1 or sometimes 2 of KH

ansen’s videos along the way. I can absolutely tell that this practice makes my singing better from before the drive to arriving at the destination, and over the years has improved my singing abilities and awareness of my body and the physical processes required to produce these controlled, organized sounds. 

Yoga Upload has also helped me become more aware of my body and what my limits are physically. Yoga is simultaneously easy and relaxing, and difficult and taxing. There are many times that I have to kind of force myself to practice … (ugh, feeling lazy, I don’t wanna, etc) but upon completion of the yoga flow I have never regretted it. Well, except that one time I strained my hamstring … but that was a learning experience. The reminder at the end of almost every video that savasana (corpse pose) and relaxation/body check-in at the end of practice is the most important part of the practice is always a great reminder that rest and reflection are easy to overlook, yet crucially important and time needs to be made for them. Self-care is hard work!

Regarding art and creativity, the books:

Art & Fear: Observations on the perils (and rewards) of artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland

&

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig

Both of these books came to me via reading npr/mpr news online, maybe in a “best of” book list or something. I have also seen a musician/youtuber named Venus Theory talk about this dictionary, and upon discussing this with a friend, he brought up a person named Rich Hall who came up with a similar concept, although Rich’s words were more silly/humorous. I’ll start with the dictionary. It is full of newly created words that match very specific and poignant feelings. Any one of these words could be a prompt to write a song or just create art. I’ll flip the book randomly open 3 times and write the first word I see. 

1. daguerreologue 

n. an imaginary conversation with an old photo of yourself, in which you might offer them a word of advice - to banish your worries, soak it all in, or shape up before it’s too late - or maybe just ask them if they thought you had done justice to the life they built for you.

(from daguerreotype, a form of early portrait photography + dialogue. Pronounced “duh-gair-uh-lawg.”)

2. amoransia 

n. the melodramatic thrill of unrequited love; the longing to pine for someone you can never have, wallowing in devotion to some impossible person who could give you life meaning by their very absence.

(Portguese amor, love + ansia, craving. Pronounced “ah-moh-ran-see-uh”)

3. suerza

n. a feeling of quiet amazement that you exist at all; a sense of gratitude that you were even born in the first place, that you somehow emerged alive and breathing despite all odds, having won an unbroken streak of reproductive lotteries that stretches all the way back to the beginning of life itself.

(Spanish suerte, luck + fuerza, force. Pronounced “soo-wair-zuh.”)

These words could be fruitful prompts for discussion, songs, poems, painting, drawing, coming up with your own new words for newly experienced feelings or combinations of feelings …. many potential applications.

Moving on to Art & Fear, this book is awesome, and bonus, it’s a short read at just over 100 pages. It is deeply insightful and immediately strikes at the core of what creativity can feel like, and why that can be a very scary (and amazing) thing. I’ll just include the paragraph at the end of the first chapter, and encourage basically everyone to read this book! 

”Artist” has gradually become a form of identity which (as every artist knows) often carries with it as many drawbacks as benefits. Consider that if artist equals self, then when (inevitably) you make flawed art, you are a flawed person, and when (worse yet) you make no art, you are no person at all! It seems far healthier to sidestep that vicious spiral by accepting many paths to successful artmaking - from reclusive to flamboyant, intuitive to intellectual, folk art to fine art. One of those paths is yours.”

Thanks again for reading and I hope these resources are of some use to you, blog reader! 

To close, here is a passage from book The Music Lesson written by one of my musical heroes, Victor Wooten: (whom I have found to be a very kind and insightful human, who also happens to be one of the most amazing bassists on the planet - also he is currently dealing with focal dystonia and I wish him all the best in dealing/healing/growing with that condition.)

“It [music] does not take work; it takes remembering, enjoying, rejoicing, recognizing, playing, and knowing. It should be easy. When you were a child it did not feel like work, and it should not feel like work now. If it does, you are going about it the wrong way. At that time, take a moment to go ‘inside.’ Remember what I [music] truly feel[s] like. Then you will know where to be and what to do next.”