Music for Joy and Healing

Live music at the bedside to help ease pain and anxiety during illness and end of life.

Alex Jacobs

Certified Music Practitioner (CMP®)

Guitar and Voice

Alex Jacobs, CMP®

Alex is an accomplished musician. His main love of musical expression is on the guitar. He has been studying, arranging, songwriting, performing and recording for over 20 years. Alex has fulfilled every requirement of the Music for Healing & Transition program, including 80 hours of classroom instruction and 45 hours of internship.

The guitar is a wonderful instrument to play at the bedside due to the sweet melodic sound and earthy tone that can be very grounding. Alex uses a subtle finger picking technique, or very gentle strumming, that has a very soothing effect.

"Alex comes every other Thursday afternoon to perform for our residents. Alex plays Guitar and sings. He has a light and melodic style of playing which our residents find soothing. We find it is particularly beneficial for some of the folks with advanced dementia as there is no pressure for them to perform. Often times, people will have some fear or discomfort around being with people who are at the end stage of life or affected with a disease which complicates their ability to communicate. I have not found this to be the case with Alex. He has a calm and ease with the residents that they respond to quite well. I see a real need for music in the over all well-being of elders and I think Alex has a gift for it."

--Faith W, Skilled Nursing Facility Coordinator, Berkeley, California

Medical research proves that
live acoustic music at the bedside can:

Reduce blood pressure
Stabilize heart rate
Affect respiration
Accelerate surgical recovery and physical healing
Boost the immune system
Reduce need for anesthesia and pain relievers
Increase endorphin levels
Decrease muscular tension
Improve body movement & coordination
Relieve anxiety and stress
Slow down and equalize brain waves
Elicit emotional catharsis
Induce mental imaging
Foster a sense of safety and well being
Sharpen mental focus
Provide companionship
Help with the transition of death
Evoke memories
Promote joy & healing

For research abstracts relating to therapeutic music: For research abstracts relating to therapeutic music: http://mhtp.org/research.aspx

What do
Certified Music Practitioners (CMPs)
Do?

Music Practitioners provide one-on-one palliative care to the ill and the dying in hospitals, hospices, homes, and other clinical settings. By focusing on a single patient at a time, the practitioner can provide therapeutic music that meets the patient’s needs in the moment, creating a nurturing environment that facilitates healing.

Music Practitioners provide unobtrusive, soothing music as a service, not as entertainment. They have found welcoming ears in nursing homes and private homes; delivery rooms and special care nurseries; bedsides of the dying; intensive care, burn, Alzheimer’s, and ambulatory surgery units, psychiatric wards, dialysis centers, operating rooms, dental offices, massage and acupuncture clinics - and the list goes on.

Alex Jacobs
Certified Music Practitioner (CMP®)

What healthcare professionals have to say...

"Half an hour of music produced the same effect as ten milligrams of Valium"

-Dr. Raymond Bahr, St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore

"Music... is a service modality that can help to facilitate communication between the family and the patient who is actively dying, while also providing a comforting presence."

-American Journal of Hospice and Palliative medicine

"Music has been recognized through research as a safe, inexpensive and effective non-pharmaceutical way to relieve anxiety."

-Dr. Brian Seeney, National Naval Medical Center, Maryland

"Music is such a powerful tool for alleviating many of the symptoms that the seriously ill and dying experience."

-Dorothy L. Pitner, President and CEO, Palliative Care Center and Hospice of North Shore

"No visitors but the harp lady."

-Bone marrow transplant patient at Strong Hospital, Rochester, NY

The Music for Healing and Transition Program™

The Music for Healing & Transition Program™ (MHTP™) is a course of study that prepares a musician to create, with live therapeutic music, a healing environment that serves the ill, the dying, and those who care for them. MHTP™ recognizes the therapeutic benefits that music can bring to people of a wide range of ages and disabilities. Its mission is to provide training in this service, broaden public awareness of the value of palliative music and develop affiliations with healing, charitable and educational organizations. Graduates of MHTP™ are certified as Music Practitioners® (CMP®). The MHTP certifies many different types of instrumentalists as well as vocalists.

MHTP™ is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, exclusively for charitable, literary and educational purposes, funded from tuition and donations. Donations are tax-deductible.

MHTP™ became accredited in 2008 by the National Standards Board for Therapeutic Musicians (NSBTM). The MHTP completed the full application process proving and demonstrating that the program fully meets the standards for training therapeutic musicians as set forth by the NSBTM.

For further information, our Newsletter and a current schedule of class locations, or to contact our Central Office, go to www.MHTP.org

Please contact me for more information

Therapeutic Music for Wellness

Music is Healing!
I provide prescriptive bedside music for home visits
and individuals in healthcare facilities in the Bay Area.

I am a Certified Music Practitioner (CMP®).
My certification is from the Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP™)

What is Therapeutic Music? Please watch this video:

Think of a song you really enjoy hearing, and how it might affect your sense of well being. Sound affects our nervous system, our pulse, our breathing, our mood. Music is healing.

Prescriptive music, played skillfully and accompanied by careful observation, can be a tremendously healing support for people facing health challenges.

I am available to play music for people in health care settings, including hospital, hospice, skilled nursing, or home visits.

I am a "Certified Music Practitioner" (CMP®) and received my certification through MHTP.
The Music for Healing & Transition Program, Inc. (MHTP™) professionally trains and certifies musicians to provide live therapeutic music at the bedside to create a healing environment. I am currently working at hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and make home visits as well. CMPs serve the critically, chronically, temporarily ill, and the dying of all ages and in any clinical/care site including hospitals (intensive care, pre-op and post-op, neonatal, etc., as well as in patients' rooms), hospice/home care settings, nursing homes, clinics, and offices.

I also received my certificate in "Sound, Voice, and Music Healing" in 2008. The program was led by Silvia Nakkach (performer and founder of the Vox Mundi School) at CIIS in San Francisco.

I am grateful to be able to offer live music for healing and palliative care throughout the Bay Area, including Berkeley, Oakland, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond, Alameda, Emeryville, San Francisco, San Rafael, Fairfax, Novato, Petaluma, Mill Valley, Orrinda, Walnut Creek and all surrounding towns.

Please contact me for more information

"J. really enjoyed you playing the guitar for him and he was expressive about his enjoyment. Good job! J. is almost never interested in anything!"

--Sandi P, director at a Berkeley skilled nursing facility.

"A thousand thanks for the gentle, soothing music and presence".

--Sandy A, director at a Bay Area senior living center.

"Alex comes every other Thursday afternoon to perform for our residents.

Alex plays Guitar and sings, sometimes bringing guests to accompany him. His is a light and melodic style of playing which our residents find southing. It is an opportunity for people to gather in the living room and relax while enjoying familiar songs.

We find it is a particularly beneficial activity for some of the folks with advanced dementia as it allows for a social atmosphere without any pressure for them to perform.

Often times, volunteers will have some fear or discomfort around being with people who are at the end stage of life or affected with a disease which complicates their ability to communicate. I have not found this to be the case with Alex.

He has a calm and ease with the residents that they respond to quite well. I see a real need for music in the over all well-being of elders and because I think he has a knack for it."

--Faith W,
Activity Coordinator at Berkeley Skilled Nursing Facility.

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Some material for this web-site provided through the Music For Healing and Transition Program www.MHTP.org

The Music for Healing & Transition Program, Inc.™ (MHTP) professionally trains and certifies musicians to provide live therapeutic music at the bedside to create a healing environment. We collaborate with healthcare facilities and community organizations to educate about, and promote research in, the effectiveness of therapeutic music in the healing process and the life/death transition.

Please contact me for more information.