Takeaway
Playing and listening to music with patients can ease anxiety and reduce pain. It can also reach people when words fall short.
Connecting with patients | August 20, 2026 | 2 min read
By Catherine James, medical student at Imperial College London and Vocal Scholar at the Royal College of Music
An older woman with advanced dementia gestured for me to help her to the piano in the foyer of the nursing home. Moments later, as music flowed again through her fingers with grace and certainty, the confusion that so often clouded her face gave way to joy. In these precious moments, she rediscovered a glimpse of herself as a concert pianist, radiant and fully present.
This experience has stayed with me through my medical studies, reminding me that exceptional care includes helping people to feel seen, known, and connected to their unique sense of self.
Music reaches far beyond words
Whenever I’m singing with nursing home residents, I notice how music reaches far beyond words, engaging people who appear withdrawn, calming those who seem agitated or frightened, and awakening memories or emotions that seem lost. It fosters happiness and cohesion in a room, allowing the personalities, histories, emotions, and identities of individuals to emerge. For those living with dementia, neurological disease, chronic illness, or approaching the end of life, this can be especially meaningful.
Why this matters in clinical care
Music eases physiological responses to anxiety, lessens perception of pain, improves communication in people with neurological disease, and supports rehabilitation for stroke, Parkinson’s, or movement disorders. Music also aids breathing in asthma, elevates mood, reduces social isolation, and brings comfort in end-of-life care.
Of course, music can’t replace treatment or provide a cure to illness, but it can deepen care, reaching the person beyond the illness. Asking about a patient’s favorite song and listening to it together can lead to a deeper understanding of the patient’s culture, identity, and what matters most to them.
Music for clinicians, too
Music also sustains those who give care. It can offer healthcare professionals restoration, emotional release, and perspective, helping us to bear suffering, uncertainty, grief, and responsibility, while mitigating burnout. Practicing music sharpens listening skills, teaches us to be attentive, and to be comfortable with silence. It also fosters discipline, patience, and humility through practice and imperfection. Above all, it keeps clinicians connected with beauty and emotion, protecting the empathy and humanity that medicine asks of us each day.
I’m grateful to Imperial College London for the opportunity to be an Ash Royal College of Music Vocal Scholar alongside my medical studies, and for the enduring reminder that medicine, science and art enrich one another, deepening our understanding of people and enhancing care.
Practical applications:
1. Ask patients about a song that they love and then listen to it together.
Listening to music together can help you to more deeply understand a patient’s identity, culture, and what matters most to them.
2. Remember the power of music when words fail.
3. Take time for your own creative practices.
Finally, “Beethoven’s Ninth Unwrapped” was a 200th Anniversary BBC Proms Concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London. It was an honor to sing this dramatic, fully memorized performance with the BBC Singers and Aurora Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Collin, and paired with an exploration of Beethoven’s deafness using British Sign Language.
This piece expresses the views solely of the author. It does not necessarily represent the views of any organization, including Johns Hopkins Medicine.