We began our morning’s work in the Sunflower Ward, as has been our habit for the last few weeks. We trialled a new tune “Astley’s Ride” which worked well in 4 time with the potential for patients to join in and turned into a waltz quite easily too – much to explore with that one in the future?
We entered the post / pre op ward behind the reception area with some caution. A young boy was being asked to take some medicine by his father, and he appeared worried about this prospect. A mother lay curled up in a chair, waiting for the return of her child. A three-year-old girl sat with her mother, obviously distressed and possibly feeling sick. Another little girl sat with her parents at the end of the room, and a teenaged girl lay apparently sleeping. This was quite an array of different situations presenting themselves at the same time in the one room, so some careful consideration was needed as to what music to play and with what character and volume.
We chose “Mari’s Wedding”, normally a jolly polka, but we started it as a relaxed and calm waltz, knowing that if the mood required it we could pick up the pace and change the dynamics according to the space. We played around the tune and improvised the melody and structure about 5 times as we slowly moved down the room. However, it did not seem appropriate to change the tempo and mood, so we remained in three time.
The little girl at the end of the room with her parents engaged with us and locked an intrigued stare with me as i played the piece and moved towards her, the teenager awoke slightly and lay in bed listening. The little boy relaxed and took his medicine and found something else to play with. The distressed little girl cried more, cuddled with her mother, relaxed and almost drifted off to sleep by the time we left the room.
It was only a matter of minutes that we were in that space, but it felt as though our music had provided an opportunity for the mood of the whole room to transition from distressed to relaxed; from unrest to calm. Hard to quantify something like this, but I was moved to tears on exiting the room.
