Mandolin in health and disease

[Rick Albertson]

Don't know if this has been posted before. Some excerpts from an article in the NY Times in 1897:

Music has not been used in medicine before, we believe... But all music is not alike, and we can well understand that the right sort of music properly performed might exert such an influence upon a human being in a trance as to awaken him. The subject is certainly worth much thought, and in the case of Miss [Mamie] Steinhaus the experiment was worth making.

But it was not made. Instead of using music to awaken the patient, a creature in human guise was permitted to pick "Sweet Rosy O'Grady" on the mandolin by her bedside, the result being that Mamie presently barked like a dog, snarled, and foamed at the mouth... while the circumstances show that the girl was awakened by noise, there is no proof that any other noise would not have answered quite as well. Few noises are so disagreeable as the sound of the picking of a mandolin even when the formula followed is not that technically described as "Sweet Rosy O'Grady."

But no well informed person ever called the picking of the mandolin music. To be sure, it has been exalted by a lot of third-rate poets with unmusical and rather too obvious ears; but facts are facts, and the mandolin really is no more closely related to musical instruments than a xylophone or a comb wrapped in a bit of paper... She did exactly what many sensitive persons with difficulty restrain themselves from doing when they are compelled to listen to the mandolin.

See: New York Times Article (http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C04EEDF1330E333A25753C2A96E9C94669ED7CF)

Rick

[catmandu2]

Not long ago I was employed full-time as a musician in a long-term care facility. I played sometimes as much as seven hours a day in a variety of contexts--I began to use mandolin a lot due to its size, volume, melodic and rhythmic capacity. We had so much success that we hired a second full-time musician: I was seeking a piano player, but a bluegrass bass player who also played rhythm guitar applied and I hired him. I did this for 1.5 years and was some of the best work I've done in my life.

[SGraham]

Rick,
That excerpt was awesome. My wife has not been in a trance for years, but my mandolin picking has the exact same effect on her!

Catmandu,
I don't mean to highjack this thread, but I'm sure some of us would like to hear more about your use of mandolin in that long-term care facility...(maybe start a new thread?)

Steve

[Potosimando]

I went to a Modern-Mandolin-Quartet concert perhaps 15 years ago (when Mike Marshall was with the group). #I happened to be sitting next to an acquaintance, who was with his wife and young son. #We sat in the front row, and the fellow (a non-musician) was enjoying the concert immensely.

About ten years later, I learned that the fellow was dying of cancer in a local hospital. #I called his wife and asked if I could visit him and play a few mandolin tunes. #She told me that Charlie had not been conscious for weeks and warned me that he thrashed about most of every day and that his appearance was quite upsetting. #I told her that I did not mind such things, and she gave me her enthusiastic OK to drop by and play the mandolin, adding that I should visit sooner rather than later. #

The family was taking turns sitting with Charlie around the clock. #The father-in-law was there when I arrived, Charlie in a state of continuous thrashing, jerking, and groaning as I had expected. #I talked to Charlie for a minute or two with no change in his second-to-second unrest. #Then I picked up the mandolin and began to play. #Within the very first few notes Charlie became still and remained almost entirley still for the next hour and a half that I played. #Who could possibly know the trigger for the change in Charlie's demeanor that day--a memory of the Modern-Mandolin concert, , a focus brought about by sweet pure musical tones, perhaps something deep in our evolutionary past...

When I left the room, the father-in-law followed me into the hallway to tell me that he had not seen Charlie in such a state of peace since Charlie had first arrived at the hospital weeks before. #Charlie died the next day, as I recall.

One of the nurses told me, as I was leaving, that I had filled the entire wing with sweet #music, and that several of the other patients had commented on wanting to hear more of that mandolin music. #She told me that I was more than welcome to return at any time, scheduled or not. #Unfortunately I didn't take the high road and did not return to play mandolin at the hospital, but surely that door is always open to all of us in similar institutional venues.

[squirrelabama]

I think I know who my Wife was in a past life................:D

[Clyde Clevenger]

That may have been my first wife?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[TonyP]

I'm glad that my mandolin playing has not had the reaction of the Times guy, or the mentioned patient.

Reading Potosimando's account brought back mine. When I played guitar, most of the family seemed like it ok. But not until I took up the mando did my Okie grandpa and Portuguese grandma both mention they had played mando as children.

When my mother was dying of lung cancer in the early 90's, there was a period of steep decline that had her in the hospital several times. Not really having much to say, and hating being in a hospital, it was a blessing for me to just sit and play for her. She was in three different hospitals, then home. And in each place I would play for an hour or so. The reaction by her and everybody in earshot was always a peaceful one.

But when my grandpa ended up in ICU in a small rural hospital several hours away I wasn't sure I'd get to play. The room was a normal size room, but had desk for the nurse, and 4 beds. So there was not much room. Besides my grandpa, there was a middle aged guy, and a young guy in there also. Grandpa had a major stroke, and had been in a coma with little change for over 24hrs. My cousin was sitting with him, and after saying hi, I asked the nurse if it'd be ok if I picked. She said that was great, and the other guys said they had no objection. I played a variety of stuff I know and about a half an hour in, grandpa opened his eyes and was peering at the ceiling, intent on something. I didn't know that had been the first time he'd had his eyes open. I just kept on playing. All the while nurses came in to see where the music was coming from and were happy to have it, along with the fellow patients. About this time my grandma came in and I didn't know until later she was surprised to find him awake. She made some comments to him, used to him not being able to speak for many years by that time. He looked up at her and as clear I'd ever heard him speak, he said, "he must know we love that kind of music". That was the last coherent thing he said until his passing over a year later.

It also became my task to do all the funerals,for my inlaws and my grandpa. Mandolin was always received as a special addition.

I've also been in bands that have done senior homes. That has also been especially well received. But it's such a heart wrenching thing for me, it's hard to put myself out there to do it on a regular basis. But blessed are those that can.

[billkilpatrick]

here are some pertinent videos which just popped up - hope this isn't thread hijacking:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-VSLsqe7B8U

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rNbgZk4VvVk

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dC0l53aN2qk

[allenhopkins]

But no well informed person ever called the picking of the mandolin music. To be sure, it has been exalted by a lot of third-rate poets with unmusical and rather too obvious ears; but facts are facts, and the mandolin really is no more closely related to musical instruments than a xylophone or a comb wrapped in a bit of paper
My new quote of the day!

[Celtic Saguaro]

This is why I don't play "Rosy O'Grady." http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Ken Olmstead]

I can't believe I have spent thousands on a mandolin when all I need to accomplish the same result is "a comb wrapped in a bit of paper!"

I wonder if the author lived long enough to see what was about to happen in the world of mandolin? In the not too distant future he would have been hard pressed to escape an Orchestra of mandolins!

[catmandu2]

Well, sure...but don't you think you'd eventually develop CAS?

Allen, why don't you use that quote as your signature block? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Ken Olmstead]

CAS http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif I might actually be able to afford that!!!

[man dough nollij]

CAS http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif #I might actually be able to afford that!!!
Unless it's the new Blue Chip comb. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Chip Booth]

They made a lot of combs from turtle shell, that could be problematic.

Great post Potosimando!

Chip

[djidaho]

I remember being a pain in the back side with most of the staff at three different hospitals over the course of a couple months a year ago when I was losing my mother because I had my mando in the room with the person that gave me the passion for music. Some got it ,some didn't, Mom got it & it helped both of us.

[Ken Olmstead]

I remember being a pain in the back side with most of the staff at three different hospitals over the course of a couple months a year ago when I was losing my mother because I had my mando in the room with the person that gave me the passion for music. #Some got it ,some didn't, Mom got it & it helped both of us.
That's the way it should be! Sharing something like that together is the way I would like my time to end. I am sorry about your loss.

[allenhopkins]

I wonder if the author lived long enough to see what was about to happen in the world of mandolin? In the not too distant future he would have been hard pressed to escape an Orchestra of mandolins!
Actually, if the article quoted was from 1897, it was the heyday of the mandolin, then one of the commonest and most-played instruments in the country. Perhaps because it was popular and not the exclusive province of "trained" musicians, it might have received less respect, considered unable of producing "serious" music. Though why the xylophone was included is more of a mystery to me; xylophones later show up in the percussion sections of symphony orchestras, used for certain effects.

Perhaps the mandolin was perceived by high-brows as the ukulele later was, not capable of "real" music, sort of a vulgar toy instrument that untrained musicians used to pick out lowest-common-denominator pop tunes. Never knew that it sent comatose patients into spasms, though.

[Bertram Henze]

My wife and I once did a one-hour concert in a home for apallic syndrome patients - a rotund hall with some 50 apallic people in wheelchairs, intubated, gurgling. We had the distinct feeling that a significant percentage of them hated it, though the staff asked us later if we could do it again (I, at least, won't).

While normal concerts are exclusively attended by people who like the music you play, a mixed crowd of people who don't have a chance to utter their perference is a completely different matter. No single medication will help all people alike, neither will a given instrument or music genre.
There is a chance of success if there is some kind of "anamnesis", music-wise, as in Potosimando's story, though; but anything short of that can fail anytime and failure can't be blamed on the instrument.

Bertram

[Mandojulie]

Very funny post. I've even printed it off to give to my long suffering SO. I may live to regret that.

Interestingly, I'm reading the current issue of U.S. News and World Report at home last night and there's a 2 page article about Music Therapy especially in Parkinsons patients.

Intteresting stuff.

[man dough nollij]

Never knew that it sent comatose patients into spasms, though.
Hey, my playing can do that to conscious people! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif