"I wish all our patients could hear this,"

2/11/2015

We transferred my father from Albany Medical Center to a local hospital where he could take dialysis and be closer to us for daily visits. This is where my ritual of playing and singing for him began.

Sometimes patients pushing walkers or sitting in wheelchairs accumulated outside his room and stayed there as long as there was music. Other patients and visitors poked their heads in his room as my music escaped into the halls of the hospital.

"Can you stop in next door?" a visitor said. "My mother could really use some music."

"I wish all our patients could hear this," the nurses often said.

I began to think there was really something more. I was not just a daughter singing her father's favorite songs.

Dad loved all the old folk music and hymns. I can see hear him now belting out "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad."

Can you still hear a particular family member singing a favorite song?

Share in the comments.

25 Comments

Donna Castaner

2/11/2015 11:20:11 pm

speaking with SCORE mentor told a story of Puff the magic Dragon along the same lines, except his story happened in a piano bar in Hawaii :)

robin

2/12/2015 04:31:20 am

Hah! Wouldn't a piano bar be great for healing?

Linda Williams

2/11/2015 11:24:00 pm

I immediately thought of dear sweet Ellen, the lady who worked for my mother. Her principal job was to iron my father's white shirts. She sang as she worked, and my sister and I played at her feet under the ironing board, singing along, "Do Lord, oh, do Lord, do remember me!" and "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home!"

2/12/2015 04:33:05 am

Love the image of you and Carol under the ironing board ....and you NEVER forget these songs.

Khin Zaw link

2/12/2015 12:12:05 am

Music possessed numerous powers, including healing.
Thanks for sharing your benevolence with others.
I appreciate it from far little corner of the world

2/12/2015 04:33:57 am

It is my privilege to bring music to painful places.

Cheryl Zabel link

2/12/2015 12:20:04 am

My father sang to us all the time. A few of my favorites included Tell Me Why and That Lucky Old Sun. I sing and play harp with both of these. A good option to You are my Sunshine. Cheers Robin!

2/12/2015 04:35:40 am

Will have to check out Lucky Old Sun.......but Tell Me Why was a fav.. Can hear my dad on melody, and me on the harmony line.

Carol Davis

2/12/2015 01:44:40 am

Sounds good, You are my sunshine is a favorite of my family and I am glad I have it on your cd.
When I would visit my mom at her assisted living, it was always wonderful to see how much the residents enjoyed live music and the songs from way way back!

2/12/2015 04:37:48 am

You Are My Sunshine is such a great song......often an opener for a really sad, lost in there patient. Glad you enjoy the CD version. I changed the words, to reach out to the grandson who is on the opposite coast. To tell him he is my sunshine!

Sandy Hitzhusen

2/12/2015 02:13:09 am

A light buzzing of voices can often be heard while I play the piano before a funeral service begins. When the familiar "Jesus Loves Me" wafts from the strings, the place falls silent. Wm. Bradbury may have thought he was composing the tune for children, but it strikes a healing, humble chord in us regardless of age. Praise God for music and those who deliver it.

Robin

2/18/2015 10:02:08 am

I thought I responded to your beautiful comment about "Jesus Loves Me." Maybe I didn't hit some button of technology! I sang that song as an anthem with church choir not two months ago and it was so lovely to see the lips of the congregation moving with the lyrics. the arrangement was gorgeous.

Lee Entrekin link

2/12/2015 02:59:44 am

My Dad loved Hank Williams; he would sing "Hey, Good Lookin'" to my Mom when he walked in from work and she was cooking dinner.

2/12/2015 04:41:35 am

Cute image. What do you sing to your wife, Lee?

Lee Entrekin

2/12/2015 05:05:04 am

Some times "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You." Sometimes "Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog."

2/18/2015 09:55:58 am

Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog.......love it! It was popular when I found out we were expecting our first child.

Nancy

2/12/2015 09:59:25 am

My mother, who was born in 1907, had a lovely, clear, untrained soprano voice. Her Flemish immigrant family worked hard, and there was no money for music lessons or college. But she would listen to the radio and sing the popular tunes of the time as she went about her housework when I was a little girl in the '50s. I inherited some of her talent, and am now a Certified Music Practitioner like Robin. "Que sera sera, whatever will be will be..."

Janet Hawkins

2/13/2015 12:08:40 am

Our mother loved music and she loved to dance. When she was living in an assisted living community soon after my father died, I attended a Christmas program with her. She belted out all the verses to silent night without a hymnal. I was impressed since she couldn't remember what she had for lunch.

2/18/2015 09:57:58 am

It just amazes me every time that the seemingly "lost in there" comes to life with familiar music!

Janet Trester

2/13/2015 03:14:08 am

I think it's wonderful that you're doing your music now. I remember how talented you were @GCPC when you'd perform, what a comforting sound to hear for the patients, especially. Our best to you!

2/18/2015 09:59:12 am

Have joined choir.....love it. Just saw two hospitalized friends today. Did music for one. Nice response.

Joanna Knoles

2/19/2015 01:09:42 am

My Father played his Gibson faithfully every day. Our music times were in the small Pennsylvania kitchen. My Mother on the comb, and as children, we sang along - the old songs as he played his Gibson. To this day, I still get tears in my eyes when I hear "You are my Sunshine"...........

2/19/2015 10:42:49 am

Love the image you paint of your dad on the Gibson and your mom on the comb, you kids singing. Who got the Gibson?

Terry Houff

3/9/2015 02:11:03 pm

One of my favorite memories of my father is when he would randomly go around the house singing "I ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gonna study war no more...".

3/9/2015 03:31:04 pm

I bet your dad had a great voice........like yours! And given his Brethren beliefs his song was right on!

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"I wish all our patients could hear this,"

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