Why are we all singing together during quarantine?
Whether it’s balcony singing in Italy or Zoom “choirs” on YouTube, group singing has become extremely popular.
So why might that be? Well, Bessel van der Kolk, MD has an idea. Have a listen.
Click here for full transcript
If you’d like to hear more from Bessel on how to help patients regain a sense of agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find it here.
Now we’d like to hear from you. How are you helping patients to feel more calm and safe during a frightening and unsettling time? What has been most helpful?
Please let us know by leaving a comment below.
I am a Board Certified Music Therapist in Orange County, CA. I am grateful for the Zoom platform which enables me to provide service to at least some of my clients.
One of the groups I do is the Orange County Tremble Clefs, a therapeutic singing group for people with Parkinson’s Disease and their care partners. We are meeting 3x/week and have been getting 30 – 40 people at our “rehearsals”.
At our last meeting, one of our singers commented that she enjoys seeing people’s faces and names on screen. We have groups in 3 different locations in Orange County and so not everyone knows people from locations other than their “home” area. Her comment reminded me that even during these challenging times, the community that music creates is a beautiful thing – even virtually.
As a Registered Psychotherapist and Music Therapist who specializes in neuroscience-trauma rehab, video conference technologies have kept me singing with, for and too my clients.
It seems to be chipping away at the extreme isolation some of them are experiencing right now.
I am a Creative Arts Therapist-MT-BC (music therapist). Since Covid-19 conversion to Virtual Care and Telehealth, our outpatient MT sessions are facilitated via VHA VVC system. Most the sessions include various techniques such as music mood modulation, song writing, lyric analysis, attention control training, GIM, music relaxation, breath work, and constructive music education using guitars and/or voice (or other instruments if available) via active music making of various forms. Other sessions include motor control through clapping/tapping and adaptive drumming. Really just depends on the Veterans needs. Definitely a challenge treating virtually, but well worth the outcome! We are preparing to facilitate a group virtual session where those participating in individual sessions have the opportunity to share their music with others Veterans in the virtual music therapy program. Criteria for sharing is that the music selections are personally meaningful and convey a positive or supportive message. It would be awesome if our technology was such to allow our therapeutic choir to sing simultaneously. Call and response works to a degree but not as effective, especially in a group setting. Has definitely been a learning experience but one that allows much creativity and opportunities to support others.
There is a world wide organisation called”Interplay” which encourages body awareness (and hence reduces anxiety) through play, using movement, vocalisation, story telling and where appropriate touch (though obviously not at the moment!). i have found this very helpful for a number of people. sessions are also held online by Zoom. check it out at interplay.org, interplay.uk and interplay.org.au
I have encouraged clients, family, friends, work colleagues to try and adapt a new routine, but a predictable one that can foster elements of safety and normalisation. People have claimed this has helped them to feel in control of something (controlling their response to the pandemic rather than control the outcome which they can’t). I also work with families and I have encouraged them to create visual fun timetables with their children to help them connect with each other, have down time, fun time, exercise time, some learning time and general chores. encouraging them to still get up and get dressed again fostering that element of normal life, motivating them to get up and do something rather than fall into there own thoughts on external issues out of their control.
Perfect. I’m in a choir that practices and performs virtually. Have also been participating in virtual open mics, Choir x3, and Bobby McFarin improvs. It’s what keeps me going.
My kids have great memories of camp (everywhere we lived) and school while we lived in New Orleans. There, each day began with music, a song along of some sort. Time to get back to the basics and maybe even create some new stuff!
Cool reflections about how singing & moving TOGETHER can create conditions for us to feel safe. I would add also that when we act in sync we also can experience joy that uplifts & definitely more parasympathetic activation — both of which have many health benefits.
I am engaging clients by asking them how they are filling their time. It is amazing what comes out. Either very creative and inventive activities or serious lonliness and worry. I can address whichever way their answers come out. I make suggestions of how to connect with others – phone, skype, zoom, letters. I also suggest they go through their contacts and update people listings and contact those they may have not contacted in a while and revive healthy relationships. Once the quarentine is over, there they will be with many more people in their lives. Just a few ideas!
Thank you for your post! I have been singing old hymns over the phone with my mother, who is in a retirement community, and by governor’s mandate, can’t have visitors. She has Altzheimer’s, but remembers every word from many years ago. We both leave the call uplifted!
I sing with My clients as I am a vocal psychotherapist and Creative arts therapist. It is very hard to sing together on zoom because one voice can blocked out the other voice. Unless you are very technically savvy and can figure out a way to sing slightly behind the beat because that is another difficulty. But sometimes I have clients sing and I witness. them. That is very helpful to them. We also sing call and response.
Hello, thank you for this video. In my psychosocial practice, I am finding that helping my clients go deeper into self-care, and also offering mindful circles where I hold space for people to just share what is on their heart, no agenda or pressure, and aligning this to how important and what true self-care actually is.
Just gently being there helps me in my self-care practice and helps those I reach out to, to know that there is someone there when they need to reach out.
Gentle movement, gentle singing and swaying, chi gung, breathing and mindfulness are all tools that I am doing and sharing with others. They create calmness and connection. And most of all being in nature, connecting with the elements and feeling the power of nature keeps us connected with ourselves, with each other and with the whole world. We are all under the same sky and walk on the same earth. That creates an awareness of oneness.
Be blessed and safe. Nidhi Chaitow (www.premnidhi.com)
Thanks for this nugget
I sang while my son my dying due to cancer some years ago, and I spontaneously sang during his funeral
To answer your question, I think it’s very crucial to receive at no charge talks and chats from speakers who we respect as leaders in different fields that are relevant in such times like these -Covid-
Fields like: psychology, spirituality, health, arts, etc. We need to give and receive in generosity, not out of business motive. Witnessing and experiencing generosity and altruism, heals!
Thanks for asking for our contribution
Blessings,
Beatriz
I’d rather replace the “social distancing” expression for
“Physical distancing” as we are very socially close, maybe more than before Covid.
I tell my clients to make a playlist of uplifting songs that give them a sense of a brighter future and to call long lost relatives and stay connected with close friends. Sending photos and FaceTiming throughout the day helps us live together apart. Text messages don’t do it. A face with a voice is restorative and calms the brain. Blessings to all on the frontlines of this illness and if you have anxiety, if you can’t get out you can get help. Many counselors offer Telehealth sessions and it’s better than suffering alone.
I also ask my clients to write down three things this crisis has taught them. It gives the senseless tragedy purpose. Then I ask them to write what they want to do when it is safe to go out again. These two exercises combined are alchemy from helplessness to hopefulness. Thank you for the work that you do, too!
I have been listening to a lot of singing. I also wrote a song titled ‘Sing I am Strong…that will be uploaded as a utube in 2 weeks, with fellow composer Scott Hamilton, vocalist Bridget Allen and artist/animator James Congdon.
It has been a time to reflect. Focus on my relationship with myself, my family, and the divine. To be still. Kerry Susan
I like to sing. At work i listen to music, hum and sometimes sing a line or two unconsciously. I find music relaxes me, gives me joy, reminds me that there is a lot to be thankful for. We have been wearing masks at work, but my superior at work last week told me to stop singing because singing can spread the corona virus. I sing at home.I have not been singing at work anymore. But I caught myself humming today.
I feel so blessed to have received specialized EMDR training to do remote protocols which work beautifully through the Telemental Health platform. The two protocols that I find so helpful are the ASSYST-R and the PRECI-R, both pioneered by Dr. Ignacio Jarero and Lucy Artigas, for the treatment of Early Intervention and Ongoing Traumatic Stress, available through scalingupemdr.com.
I realized the importance of dance, music to the psyche. I was passionate about this as I experienced shifts in moods while dancing with others, and felt closer to them. I saw danger in moving fast in time for production and efficiency. It is speed over depth. I researched the synchrony between sound and movement which starts in the womb between Mother and Fetus. I studied dance therapy and found the power of the witness in authentic movement. I researched the healung power of music. I integrated authentic movement into EMDR therapy for trauma treatment.I wrote with passion and heart across 30 years these topics..published in my book, Dance of Psyche:Rhythm of Consciousness(2003)
See christinacampbell.com under publication link. Thank you for the opportunity to share. Now writing a second book.
focusing on quiet, being silent, watching calming or funny movies, reading, being out of doors into nature, encourage calling or zooming with family and friends. Do whatever works for sense of spirituality.
Thanks for these short videos–good basic info.
It is only now that people are beginning to talk about fears. Now only when they believe they might be safe. But they are not and never have been. This is the underlying problem. Everything “I believed in is not” so…..
Everyone’s perception of the reality is different. No one fix fits all. So what to do? Open the door and begin…
Really happy to be present.
Deirdre
I have been sharing a lot of vagus nerve self-touch (heart, stomach, etc.) and sound healing techniques (/vooo/) for clients via telehealth. Also, using orienting to the present time/space using sense of sight and perhaps other sense along with breath awareness has helped. With any of these techniques, I resonate with the client by doing them too. Different techniques seem to help different people—some find all of them useful to ground and calm themselves. My training in Somatic Experiencing has been professionally and personally enriching to use especially now more than ever. Be safe and well.
In our neighborhood, we have a website called Nextdoor. We post back & forth with neighbors we have never met. We get to know each others concerns, interests & how to help them. What do they need? Example: One lady needs elastic for making masks. I happen to have extra that I can leave on my porch. Thus, I have just made a new friend! Brings joy!?
Karleen Dewey, MA
As an end-life therapist working from home obviously I’m not seeing to people face-to-face. However as I work through the telephone checking generally with their caregivers I sometimes can actually speak with the patient. If appropriate I sometimes offer a short bit of a song that I know they would relate to, enjoy and generally find a bright moment in. Singing over the phone is a lot like some of these folks might remember listening to the radio. And although it’s not very much of a song that I offer perhaps a verse I still provide something to which they might relate and perhaps find a moment of brightness.
I try to find something on my video sessions with clients where we can laugh together. Shared laughter is so healing! Daryl Elizabeth Gedney, LPC in Colorado
I have been encouraging clients to find movement in their surroundings and enjoying nature. His suggestions remind me of Kelly McGonigal’s book, “The Joy of Movement” getting in sync with others can be so healing!
Thank you,
Wendy Everson, MS, LMHP, LPC
Omaha NE
It is gratifying hearing Dr. van der Kolk describe synchronous music making as a regulatory mechanism. In my practice as a music psychotherapist at the Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine in the Mount Sinai Medical Center in NYC, we are using virtual technology to provide integrative music therapy experiences to help isolated patients and staff down-regulate sustained sympathetic states produced by fear and anxiety, and find moments of respite in a chaotic environment. Face-to-face interaction (albeit through a virtual medium) through music and verbal processing have been effective. Also group sessions for staff with music driven guided visualizations have been helpful in creating a sense of community and unity, as well as providing a context to safely release emotional and physical tension.
Many of my clients are Christians and they are turning to God. In the midst of this horrific trial of a pandemic, they see God refining them, teaching them new ways of living, new ways of being. The dynamic of not being able to be with our families and our loved ones has caused people to appreciate their relationships even more. I am helping my clients to reflect on life before Covid, life during Covid, and what they want life to look like after Covid. We process their grief, giving them space to share all of the things that they have lost during this time. By exploring life after Covid, clients are able to feel a sense of greater control when so much control has been taken away from them and we land on feelings of hope for a better future.
I found your suggestion of encouraging clients to explore life before, during and after Covid helpful. Thank you.
Helping clients restore structure and balance, at the same time encouraging them to look at their worst fears and think beyond them is proving useful. Getting them to identify their core strengths and how they can be used in the current situation is also effective. Finally…start a gratitude journal.
I have done a number of things with clients and with friends and neighbors. I have sent them links to wonderful uplifting and calming music. On Palm Sunday I organized a car caravan with signs commemorating Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We drove around the neighborhood waving palm branches or whatever branches we could find and honking horns. People came out of their houses and waved their own branches, gave us ?, joined in praise, took videos, etc. it was a wonderful joining. Then the plan was to open up the windows in the front of my house in the back and have neighbors sit at great distances in the front yard or the back stone patio and listen to Godspell, upbeat music telling the passion story. We all would’ve been singing, “ Prepare the way of the Lord“, except it rained! Want to make God laugh, make a plan! I’ve been sharing and encouraging clients to share all the wonderful stories of people‘s creativity and humor during this time. I have reminded them that laughter and positivity boosts our immune system.
Practicing pranayama breath work together with my clients has helped to soothe agitation and mild anxiety.
A herd behaviour!
I would love to learn to sing at this time. It would raise my vibrations which is very important in this time of change.
Would be great to include some clips of people engaging in singing together during Covid! With hope, someone will create that. Would ge powerful. Thanks for the idea. I may just start a song a long!
Thank you Ruth and NICABM team.
A very nice and timely 8 min video.
It is a great response to my email.
As we say downunder “cheers” (sometimes maybe unfortunately … but not on Good Friday for many here 🙂 Ray / Melbourne
I just wanted to speak as a psychodynamically trained music therapist- I absolutely agree with this. I have been prevented from working with most of my very vulnerable client population during this pandemic due to the rules around non essential therapists and visitors. I have managed some Zoom sessions and absolutely agree- music work around attuning to another human’s rhythms and movements and sounds really does make a difference. Think of a mother singing to her child and rocking with them. It is so basic and sadly, so very absent from the lives of so many currently. Bravo to you all for acknowledging this important aspect of work.
While it is true that we have ‘discovered’ what it is like to experience social isolation on mass it is hardly an experience produced by covid-19. I believe that one of the things covid-19 is meant to teach us is to have a real long look at how paradoxical our lives have become, being able to connect instantly across the oceans while living increasingly segregated from our communities – we don’t even speak to our neighbours the way our grandparents used to. Our so called smart technologies had driven us to cocoon in our homes long before covid-19, yet we are only now recognizing how isolated we are?Is this how ‘self centered’ we’ve become? Most of us are upset because we have lost our freedom to do as we choose whenever we choose it. Yes we would keep in touch with those we love and care for, but the technological connection was a cop out, a way of avoiding actually spending good quality time together. Do we remember a time when we couldn’t get strawberries out of season? I remember, and I remember how extraordinary strawberries tasted every June when they were in season, such a good reminder of the need to be grateful for the simplest things in our lives. Now we shop on amazon, and have everything brought to our front door, anytime anyplace of our choosing, all to avoid the line-up in the store, all to avoid waiting… are we spoiled? Perhaps we are, so covid-19 is teaching us patience, and the value of having to wait for things we took for granted would always be one click of a button away. My wish for humanity is that through this covid-19 pandemic is that we look at how we can make the lives of people who will remain isolated after our lives return to so called normal… will we reach out to one another and truly make contact, and connection with those around us, or will we go back to living in isolation? I applaud all of you who are acknowledging the importance of ‘attuning to another human’s rhythms and movements and sounds’ it has made me hopeful that we really do have the power to make a difference in one another’s lives beyond covid-19.
I’m a psychotherapist and continue to see my patients on Skype, I run mindfulness practices for groups on Zoom, also. In any of these contexts, I find helpful the grounding exercises, mindful chair movements, breath, anything that may help to feel stability and be centered. The other intervention I find helpful is to schedule their time, introduce some healthy routine like a meditation or yoga session in the morning, learning something new (language, music, ecc.) and virtual meeting with friends (es. schedule an appointment for “happy hour”, ecc.)
My church has a 20 minute week day Zoom service in the mornings. There are parts for volunteer readers, and a worship ‘leader’. We haven’t tried singing together yet. There is usually time before starting and time at the conclusion to talk about how we are and what’s up. It carries me happily into the day.
Sarah, thanks a lot for your insight of the effects of this intervention. I have been using it with my clients and has been helpful to alleviate their anxiety . Your explanation will reinforce my efforts. Namaste ??
I have found that helping clients establish daily routines has been very beneficial on a number of fronts. First, it helps prevent circadian disregulation that often occurs when we drift away from regular sleep/activity/nutrition cycles and contributes to depression and anxiety. Second, it reduces the cognitive load of having to decide constantly what to do next, and thereby reduces stress. Third, it is a way of giving clients agency over their lives when they feel relatively helpless, and finally it creates a sense of comfort and normalcy to have rituals and routines to anchor this otherwise nebulous time.
I am a registered, board certified art therapist and licensed professional counselor. I have used Zoom to watch a client make a sculpture. She said that she found it centering, grounding and relaxing. I have also had a client draw while I waited quietly on the phone, having given her a directive based on our phone conversation. The drawing she did helped her see things differently, in a more holistic way. I functioned as witness and therapist. Thankfully, I am finding ways to continue providing art therapy as well as counseling.
Wonderful!
Indeed, we function as a witness to one another’s sorrow and suffering in life.
But, we also have the joy and privilege to witnessing one another’s growth and inner transformation as we work through our suffering to healing.
I am a pediatric occupational therpaist, on sabbatical. The end of December, I needed to leave my profession for a while due to PTSD and compassion fatigue. I have a hx of sexual abuse age 6-12 and was triggered by seeing at risk students’ needs not being met by adults in the envionments I practiced. For example, when I have a student with autisitic tendancies, who never bit anyone, bite the prinicipal (!) in the ankle it concerns me (why was he at his ankle and what pushed him to bite?!). Situations like these sent my lympic system into default, eventually moving into fight/flight/fear when not appropriate and I needed to step away. So, ironically I had been doing my own stay at home protocol, practicing mindfulness, writing, starting a psuedo blog with a handful of close friends, attending 4 day a week career transitions program through our local WorkSource, and practicing yoga. This all in addition to the past year of EMDR and life coach counseling. These past few months have enabled me to lean into this time of COVID19, writing more, sewing face masks, and shopping for a few elderly friends and family. If interested, I would love to share my latest (pseudo) blog writing that pulled me from my bed at 3 am 4/4/20.
Thank you Dr.Bessel van der Kolk. Your book The Body Keeps The Score is one tool that literally saved my life.
Stronger Together,
Susie in Spokane, WA
I’d love to receive your pseudo blog, Susie. Thanks!
Just managing what is in your circle of control and acknowledging but ‘parking’ the rest. Also one day at a time as trying to look into the future ahead at the moment can become quite overwhelming and increase people’s anxiety and sense of panic.
I am able to provide this through online small group yoga and meditation classes. We have been practicing namaskars together while sending lovingkindness outward and inward. We also chant together, without concern for how we sound. Participants can opt to see and be seen/heard. This is a quote from a student:
“The zoom classes you are offering are very special because you are so attentive to the needs and wants of your students, …and you are also very attentive to the needs imposed by the COVID emergency. Clear instructions, instead of demonstrations, help a lot. An added ‘benefit’ is that instructions gently force us to really listen and stay present. This encourages a meditative state. Unlike a non interactive video, your zoom class makes me feel a sense of belonging. I’m grateful for the opportunity to chat briefly after the practice. It provides comfort and makes me hopeful that these new… found connections will carry over when the emergency will be behind us.” -SG
Healthyhappyyoga.com
i have been singing together with other people and having virtual church meetins and connecting with my students and friends. Thank you.
I’m thinking of a couple of very key issues that are emerging:
One is helping clients understand how archaic attachment systems are being triggered, for some for example, feelings of great anxiety, perceived abandonment and loss as they find themselves in isolation; for others, becoming more withdrawn and low as they run old working models of not wanting to reach out, not trusting that any one will be there for them, lonely and alone. It’s so important helping clients stay in the here and now and really keep reality testing to counteract their old scripts and also do a lot of normalising.
The other is helping clients understand how they and other people think and behave when they feel scared. Again, lots of normalising and reality checking as well as challenging ‘fight or flight’ thoughts and behaviours. For example, one client’s survival response when scared is to be in control. She is managing a team of scared people who are all behaving in less executive functioning ways, not ‘doing what she wants them to do’ (because they are shifting into fight or flight). Helping her work out what is healthy assertion and boundary-setting versus anxious ‘fight’ controlling behaviour is very important in terms of managing her expectations of both herself and of others and of managing her own self-care, attending to her own, scared inner child; recognising what she can control, letting go of what she can’t (and knowing she is still safe).
I think that probably applies to most clients, how we keep guiding them to nurture and lovingly attend to their fears and anxieties. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with the (often archaic) vulnerabilities that are bubbling-up, vulnerabilities that are used to being masked by ‘being busy, looking after others’ etc etc, defences that have been stripped away by the covid-19 situation. This can help clients emerge with a stronger inner scaffolding and sense of self agency and trust that others really do still exist for them or that they can actually develop a felt-sense of attaching more securely, both with themselves and with others.
I continue to help people stay focused just on the one day….. for example, remind yourself what day/ what the date is— and stay with that. Then, when your mind wanders into “ the land of what if,…, “ gently refocus on task at hand , etc. I empathize with how this is not a simple task. I share that I am using this same way of trying to reduce anxiety about the future.
The mental health professionals (Psychiatrist, marriage and family therapist, social work, and psychologist) all long-term members at our church, held an online program, for an hour two weeks ago where church members could call in various questions about how to deal with COVID-19 anxiety, changes in customs, children being home 24-7, and being sequestered at home. Some called those on the panel to share how helpful listening to the discussion and getting questions answered was for them.
We also have an annual Mental Health DAy at the church and deal with depression, suicidal ideation, communication in the family, and take suggestions of what to present from church members.
Taking a walk in the neighborhood is helpful, my daughter , a middle-aged adult has periodic zoom parties with 6 friends she’s had since childhood and they are now in their late 30s.
WE are considering doing that periodically until (zoom contact with family out of the area) we get back to “normal.”
Good morning! To answer your question: to try to have a sense of humor when you can, to be out of doors on a walk DAILY, to try to have a short list of things to accomplish each day ( structure), to connect w friends, family via zoom or whatever- to EXERCISE (most Important!) , TO COME OUT OF ONESELF AND SEE WHERE THERE IS NEED
I have found it the most therapeutic to relate to my clients individual fears and to be upfront and brutally honest about my own fears during this time. My clients have expressed to me more than once that by having this honest conversation it has allowed them to shift their mindset from what they can’t control into what they can.
It’s very rewarding as a therapist to watch the client do the work on their own by shifting their nagative mindset into a positive one. Also, when I point out what they have done I get to witness the proud looks on their faces and it warms my heart. Thank you for all your ideas. I appreciate them!!
What are other things happening, context.
Have you thought that the earth is taking a vacation from noise and air pollution. Clients have a reaction like an aha moment. in a way the yin yang.
Prayer, reading psalms (91,27,62,others), walk notice sun, skies, birds, buds, new growth, talking with friends/family – thank you for your ideas!