Kate Munger's Singers Bring Harmony to Bedsides
of Sick, Dying
By
JoAnn Mar
Kate Munger first discovered the power
of music nearly 20 years ago when she saw the profound
difference it made for people in the end stages of life,
even for those who were comatose. It was 1990, and she
was visiting a friend who was comatose and dying of HIV/AIDS.
"I sat down by his bed and wondered what to
do next," she recalls. "And instinctively I
began to sing. And he had been restless, and as I sang,
he calmed and so did I. At the end of that experience,
I felt I that I had done something that was a special
gift that only I could give at this moment to that person.
And it was very penetrating as an experience for me."
Every
waking moment devoted to music
After years of leading informal singing groups, Munger
started her first Threshold Choir with 15 women in the
San Francisco Bay Area. The idea of singing to ease the
pain of passing away caught on, and Munger was soon busy
adding new choirs around the Bay area, leading rehearsals
and scheduling bedside visits.
At that point, Munger says, the Threshold Choir had turned
into a full-time job.
"Every single minute
of my waking time is devoted to this work," she says,
pointing out that she has a degree in psychology; had
been a music teacher for 10 years, and had a private practice
in deep-tissue massage.
"Everything I've
done has led me to do this. There is a satisfaction that
I've never felt the likes of before, of knowing that you're
doing what you're supposed to be doing with your life.
I had no idea that this would be as big as it is. So it's
exceeded by far my original intention."When Munger
started her choir in 2000, singing to the terminally ill
was a relatively new concept. This was at a time when
medical students were not required to study palliative
care and ministering to the needs of dying patients was
not considered a high priority.
"I think we've gone back to a more traditional, more
tribal way of thinking about death and about caring for
our elders," she observes. "This choir has been
so well received. It's a sign that there's a graciousness
about attending respectfully to people who are dying."
When Munger started her choir in 2000, singing to the
terminally ill was a relatively new concept. This was
at a time when medical students were not required to study
palliative care and ministering to the needs of dying
patients was not considered a high priority.
"I think we've gone back to a more traditional, more
tribal way of thinking about death and about caring for
our elders," she observes. "This choir has been
so well received. It's a sign that there's a graciousness
about attending respectfully to people who are dying."
Singing
for others, and each other
It's
rehearsal time for members of the Threshold Choir. Munger
meets with choir members around the Bay area twice a month
to practice the songs they will sing at bedsides. At today's
rehearsal, Munger has the women sing over her cell phone
to Shirley, a choir member with terminal cancer."
The all-women's choir performs for free, usually in groups
of two or three, in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices,
private residences and for their own members facing death.
Munger calls the songs they sing "lullabies for the
end of life."
"There's generally two
or three of us at a time, no more," she explains.
"We're singing songs that are simple and that are
repetitive. And we sing very, very close to the person's
ear. We like to recreate the distance between a mother's
mouth and a baby's ear. So we sing very, very softly."
An
exclamation point at the end of life
As patients lay
dying, bearing witness to their struggles can be difficult.
But for Susan, who has been a choir member for three years,
singing for the terminally ill has been deeply rewarding
and satisfying.
"Recently, I sang for a member of our choir who was
dying. And she had the most beatific smile on her face
when we were singing for her."
Susan says she comes away from these experiences feeling
more enriched and less aware of her own problems.
"I think I'm giving something more than I'm
getting. Death doesn't have to be a painful experience
or a fearful one. That we can go into it with song and
with joy and come away from it, feeling that there's an
exclamation point at the end of our lives, not just a
period."
Kate Munger's tireless efforts have eased the passing
of many patients and touched the lives of many more -
their families and friends. And the tradition she revived
is spreading. There are now Threshold Choirs in more than
70 U.S. cities and around the world, including Iceland
and Australia, far from the San Francisco Bay-area bedside
where the idea began.
MORE
INFORMATION
This article first appeared
in the Voice of America in April 2009. Their website can
be found at www.voanews.com.
Music without words means leaving behind the mind. And leaving behind the mind is meditation.
Meditation returns you to the source. And the source of all is sound. — Kabir
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After years of leading informal singing groups, Munger
started her first Threshold Choir with 15 women in the
San Francisco Bay Area. The idea of singing to ease the
pain of passing away caught on, and Munger was soon busy
adding new choirs around the Bay area, leading rehearsals
and scheduling bedside visits.
It's
rehearsal time for members of the Threshold Choir. Munger
meets with choir members around the Bay area twice a month
to practice the songs they will sing at bedsides. At today's
rehearsal, Munger has the women sing over her cell phone
to Shirley, a choir member with terminal cancer."