Often, when I am feeling downhearted or sad, as I have for the past couple of weeks since I posted “The Heart of Hospice” message, I find myself turning to music for comfort. Music has always played an important part in my life, whether it was strumming my guitar and belting out the songs of Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, or performing feminist songs at coffee shops and rallies in my twenties, or dancing and singing with my babies. My younger daughter studied the clarinet, and played with a sensitivity and musicality that filled the house with beautiful music for many years.
In this, the final third of my life (if I’m lucky!) I’ve taken up the ukulele, a much easier instrument to transport than my guitar, and much easier to play. I bring it along to the Kindergarten class at a local inner city school where I lead the music program once a week. And I sing at every opportunity I get, whether in the choir I joined a year and a half ago, or in the NAC pop-up choir that took place last Thursday, or in my bedroom, listening to music that touches my soul.
Today, as I faced the sadness and grief I’m feeling at a change that is dramatically affecting my life, I found myself singing along with Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Carole King, and the music of my twenties and thirties. Sometimes I sing those songs to dying people at the hospice, as I did for my sister when she was dying 21 years ago. We shared a taste in music as we did in many things. When her best friend died of cancer not long after our mother had her brain aneurysm in 1990, Carol and I would listen to the Linda Ronstadt song, “Goodbye My Friend,” as we promised to care for one another in the years to come. (If you don’t remember or know that song, you can find it on YouTube by Googling it.)
On the day that Carol died, I sat by her bed, talking quietly and singing songs we loved. Carole King’s “You’ve got a friend” was the song I sang as she died. Singing it now carries me back to that time, and reminds me of the depth of the friendship and love we shared.
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qde5NMy7WTU
The final piece I’ve been listening to is the soundtrack from Departures, a Japanese film that is one of the most brilliant films on the subject of dying that I have ever seen. The soundtrack is beautiful, evocative, and, for me, uplifting, and I’m listening to it now as I write. Here’s the link to a review of the movie. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-departures-2009
I hope that you have music that touches your soul in good times and bad, in joy and in deep sorrow. Perhaps you can share your favourite here.
