Amy Lott

MUS 352

Star Center MT Conference Commentary

March 8, 2021

Friday, February 5th, 2021

“Music and Memory Care”

Avery Toy, MT-BC

Avery Toy, the presenter for this conference session is employed as the Life Enrichment

Assistant at Bellevue Place, a senior living community in Nashville, TN. She graduated with a bachelor’s

degree in music therapy from Belmont University, and completed her internship at Star Center in

January 2020. Ms. Toy begins her power-point presentation with a virtual tour and description of the

facility she works at. Its is very nice, and I would imagine very pricy.

After the tour of the facility, the presenter outlines many of the challenges her and the other

staff at Bellevue have faced due to the Covid Pandemic. This was my biggest take-away from the session.

It was informative to hear her discuss these obstacles and the solutions they found to provide music

therapy to the residents in a safe environment.

Next, Ms. Toy gives a rough outline of a group session plan she uses to work with clients on the

memory care floor at Bellevue place. She begins with a hello song and ends with a goodbye song to

provide predictability and stability to the session explaining the importance of routine to this

population. After the hello song, she utilizes a movement intervention, followed by instrument play,

then a cognitive intervention before closing with a goodbye song. She then provides a slide with tips and

tricks she has learned working with a population at a memory care facility. She concludes her power

point presentation with a wish-list of instruments useful when working with older adults. This included
the following; paddle drums, maracas, tambourines, rhythm sticks, cabasas, jingle sticks, jingle bells,

scarves, and a blue-tooth speaker. I also found this a very useful “take-away” from the session.

Saturday, February 6th, 2021

“Supporting Cancer Survivors Through a Therapeutic Lesson Model”

Alejandra JH. Ferrer, PhD, MT-BC

Dr. Alejandra Ferrer, Coordinator of Music Therapy at Belmont University in Nashville, TN,

begins her presentation by defining the term “cancer survivorship” as the time frame between a patient

receiving a diagnosis of cancer throughout the end of that patient’s life. This term does not just describe

the patient, but also includes any family member or friend affected by a client’s cancer diagnosis. The

presenter uses a power point presentation to outline many key topics of this discussion. The next slides

in the presentation discuss current statistics and facts relating to Cancer and outlines the most common

types of cancer one may encounter while practicing music therapy.

After establishing this base of knowledge, Dr. Ferrer then describes the biological, social, and

emotional needs of a client experiencing cancer. Biological needs include any medical needs a client

encounters related to the disease itself or the negative physiological side effects of medical

interventions used to treat cancer. Psychological needs refer to any mental health needs a client faces as

they go through a cancer diagnosis and treatment. The social needs of a client experiencing cancer can

include but are not limited to adjustment to role changes due to physical limitations related to cancer

treatments, isolation, family issues, and so forth. The presenter uses examples of actual clients from her

practice to describe the needs a cancer patient can experience. This was my biggest take-away from the

presentation as it gave me a more personal view of the hurdles and difficulties a patient receiving a

cancer diagnosis can entail.

 The remainder of this presentation focuses on the positive therapeutic music therapy can

provide a client with a diagnosis of cancer. Biological improvements related to music therapy include

decreased pain perception, decreased nausea and emesis, improved respiratory functioning, improved

sleep quality, and reduced fatigue. Psychological and social improvements include increased QOL scores,

enhanced mood, decreased state anxiety, enhanced self-confidence, enhanced communication and

emotional expression, increased spiritual support, improved hope of survival, enhanced relaxation, and

an awakening of playfulness and creativity.

I enjoyed this presentation. I found the use of actual client cases from the presenter’s music

therapy practice to be an effective method of communicating the needs a cancer survivor may face. I

can easily envision many of the interventions described to address the social and psychological needs of

a cancer survivor. In contrast, I find myself lacking adequate knowledge of interventions used to address

the physical needs of this population. I would like to receive more information about these

interventions, and the appropriate time during the cancer experience they are appropriately utilized.