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Music therapy in the hospice offers the possibility to meet patients’ needs in terms of listening, support and accompaniment during the advanced stages of illness, helping to improve the quality of life for patients and families/caregivers. The presence of a music therapist inside the multidisciplinary team gives the opportunity to enhance the clinical-care project, offering a way to communicate when words fail.
Through analysis of documentation gathered from case data and videos, using examples from 18 years of work, the presenter describes the value of the music, voice, and silence during the accompaniment of the terminally ill.
Particular attention will be given to:
• how musical improvisation is central in the relationship with terminal patients to confront the complexity and the challenge of the final days
• how to face through music the abrupt end of the relationship when a patient dies unexpectedly, which often occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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