Music Thanatology

Definition

Thanatology, from the Greek word “thanatos,” meaning death, refers to the study of the death and dying process from various interdisciplinary perspectives including physiology, psychology, and spirituality. Music thanatology is a contemplative practice within the field of thanatology, where prescriptive music, usually via the medium of harp and voice, is delivered live in clinical settings as a form of palliative medicine for patients who are dying.

While there is little doubt that many forms of live and prerecorded music delivered to an audience can be experienced as profoundly healing, prescriptive music differs in that it is intentionally delivered solely for the dying patient. The practitioner of music thanatology uses her instrument in a way that attunes to the dying person’s unique and individual needs from moment to moment, as opposed to a performing musician who delivers a preset program which is informed and shaped in advance by the energies of desire.

Origins

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