Interview: GRS Music for Health Coordinator Diane McElfish Helle
GRSMA musicians are in awe of our colleague, violinist Diane McElfish Helle, for the outstanding work that she has done in envisioning and implementing the GRS Music for Health initiative. We caught up with Diane to explain the program to us, and to find out why this is important to our community.
GRSMA: What led to the creation of the GRS Music for Health program?
DIANE McELFISH HELLE: There were several inspirations for starting Music for Health. My personal interest grew out of experiences I had visiting people in the hospital as a deacon for my church. I began bringing my violin so patients and family members could just shut their eyes and rest and have some beautiful music surround them for a while. I noticed other people, including medical personnel, would stop outside the room to listen, to take a moment’s respite.
Twice, when I was Orchestra Committee chair and a musician representative on the Board of Directors, I was involved with GRS strategic planning. The final plans suggested that we find a way to engage with our large West Michigan healthcare community, but there had been no related action plan. It occurred to me that what was needed was for someone to step up and take it on as a project. In 2013, I volunteered to explore this for the GRS.
Finding an enthusiastic and creative first partner, Spectrum Rehab and Nursing Center on Kalamazoo Avenue (RNCK), set us on the particular and extraordinary path we’ve been on ever since. What became central to our program was offering music therapy support rather than the kind of music wellness programming that other orchestras were starting to do. Working in actual therapy sessions, Music for Health has enhanced treatment for all kinds of patients and has given music therapists opportunities to create unique therapy experiences for their patients.
GRSMA: How long has the program been going, and how has it evolved over the years?
DMH: We are just coming to the end of our 12th season of Music for Health. In that time, I’m pleased and astonished to report that we have served over 14,000 people, including patients, family members, and healthcare staff.
Our pilot partnership with Spectrum RNCK began in the fall of 2013, with six musicians (three duos) going each month to play for neuro-music therapy sessions with patients in varying stages of recovery from traumatic brain injury.
Spectrum Health archival photo: GRSMA horn player Paul Austin, Diane McElfish Helle, and Music Therapist Erin Wegener, with music therapy group participants (2013).
DMH: Together, we explored many ways that GRS musicians could contribute to therapy sessions. When we were ready to expand, RNCK helped connect us with the cancer program at Lemmen-Holton. By 2019, we had 17 trained musicians, with 14 going out each month. By that time, additional partnerships included Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital (HDCH), Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, and a pilot program with Mary Free Bed.
One large special project we did was a recording of over four hours of “Meditations” that were available to patients on the TVs of HDCH, Lemmen-Holton, Meijer Heart Center, Butterworth, and Blodgett hospitals, 24/7, for five years. These 24 improvised duos and quartets of approximately ten minutes each used charts that were commissioned as part of our MFH Music collection. I’m happy to report that soon the Grand Rapids Symphony will be releasing, for download, a 40-minute set of four of these "Meditations" so they will be available for personal use.
Diane and former GRSMA cellist Jeremy Crosmer, in post-production for the four-hour Music for Health “Meditations” recording (2017).
GRSMA: Can you describe a typical Music for Health session?
DMH: We perform as duos, with one treble instrument and one bass instrument. Our music collection is written so that any treble instrument can perform with any bass, so we can mix and match instruments and players as desired. Music therapists send out a therapy plan in advance that includes the interventions and the music suggestions. The musicians may contribute ideas for the music as well.
When starting a partnership, we ask the healthcare partner this question: “If you have two highly-trained musicians, available to do anything in your music therapy sessions, what would you have them do?” Their varying answers to this question mean that each partnership is unique, as are the types of sessions we do.
Music therapy sessions in cancer infusion spaces, for example, tend to be more concert-like, with the flow of pieces designed to foster a peaceful atmosphere and help patients reduce anxiety. Sessions for neuro-rehab are highly interactive, with the music therapist leading patients through different physical actions and mental challenges that may involve responding to or producing music.
GRSMA: Are there any memorable moments that you can share?
DMH: There are so many, but here are three that stand out for me.
After the first day that our recorded "Meditations" were available on all the hospital TV stations, we heard from a leukemia patient at Butterworth who told us, “I had your "Meditations" on all day. I didn’t even feel like I was in the hospital.” I remember a woman at Lemmen-Holton who came up and grabbed my arm, saying, “Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much this beautiful music meant to me. Today was my first day of chemotherapy, and I didn’t think anything good was going to happen. And then… this!”
I’ll never forget a session with one particular stroke patient who could not speak and, as yet, could barely move. We played the Prelude to “Carmen” as she conducted us, indicating her desired tempo changes with the only motion she could make, a slight turn of her arm. Instead of what I’m sure was regular frustration with everything she couldn’t express or do, there was such joy and laughter in the group as she made the music speed up and slow down to her heart’s content.
GRSMA: Where do the Music for Health sessions occur, and who participates?
DMH: Music for Health sessions occur in treatment spaces. At Lemmen-Holton, we play in the chemo infusion areas, where the goal is to help with anxiety and pain management. With neuro-rehab patients, we work with groups, which can be as small as four or five patients, doing sub-acute therapy for brain injury, or up to 15 patients in long-term care. At Butterworth, we usually play in common areas, and the target audience includes the patients, their families, and medical personnel.
GRSMA violist Olga Ziabrikova and GRSMA bass player Mark Buchner play a Holiday Special concert at RNCK Neuro-Rehab (2023).
GRSMA: Describe the training that the Music for Health musicians received in advance of their first session.
DMH: Therapists and musicians do an annual service together where musicians learn about some of the types of interventions they will be accompanying and have a chance to practice them. For instance, speed and volume requirements are often different from what we might choose if we are just approaching music as a performance. Patients participate with drums, shakers, and other instruments, so we learn to work with them. We learn about the different conditions that patients may have, and we learn about behaviors we may see so that we are comfortable around them. Learning to be patient and give participants time to respond is very important. We also learn about hospital requirements and HIPPA rules (medical privacy laws) that we are required to follow.
In addition to this training, the musician duos get together with the music therapist 15 minutes before each therapy session, to go over anything happening in the sessions that day.
GRSMA: Tell us about the music that is performed by the musicians in a session.
DMH: The music therapists choose music from our large collection to coordinate with the interventions they have planned. We need everything to be scored for a treble/bass duo. In 2015, we commissioned Jeremy Crosmer (then the GRS Assistant Principal Cellist and one of our Music for Health musicians) to arrange 70 pieces for us. In addition, in consultation with our neuro-rehab music therapists, he wrote short excerpts to be used with different types of physical and cognitive exercises. Finally, he wrote 12 improvisation charts for us to use in accompanying guided meditation. These ended up being what we used to make our four-hour "Meditation" recording. In addition, we use several of the “Music for Two” collections, Disney tunes, folk music, and pop tunes.
Something few people know is that our former GRS Assistant Principal Second Violinist, Steve Brook, did a lot of work for us in his final days, making viola and horn parts for all the pieces we had that were only available as treble/bass C instrument parts. It was his gift to our Music for Health program, even as his own condition was declining.
GRSMA: What do you think are the benefits of these music therapy sessions?
DHM: Led by a certified music therapist, music therapy is defined as the evidence-based use of music as a tool to achieve defined therapeutic goals which may be physical, emotional, or cognitive in nature. Our Music for Health duos give music therapists an extraordinary tool to work with. We can calibrate every aspect of our playing to the nth degree and can perform independently or follow real-time direction as each intervention requires. Our ability to provide music and effect change exactly as needed frees the therapist to concentrate on the patients. The aesthetic beauty of what we offer and the personal interactions allow our sessions to be particularly uplifting, and the highly respected reputation of the Grand Rapids Symphony means that there is added excitement and visibility to the partners’ music therapy program when we appear.
GRSMA: How does the future look for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Music for Health program?
DHM: The future looks bright, indeed. In addition to our current partners RNCK, Lemmen-Holton, and Butterworth Hospital, we are developing a new partnership with Trinity Health/St. Mary’s Hospital. As I leave my program and administrative role, the GRS will soon announce who the next Music for Health musician administrator will be. I am confident that they, together with Jennifer Ognuibo (the new senior GRS administrator for community engagement), will lead our Music for Health program to new heights.
GRSMA: Is there anything else that you wish to share with us?
DMH: We have an extraordinary video on the GRS website that shows our program in action: