Facing the Dread and Desolation of Cancer Through Music Therapy: A Client’s Perspective

Authors

  • Maria Logis MA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47513/mmd.v3i1.262

Abstract

When I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, it plunged me into a crisis. Unexpectedly, I found myself with a desire to sing, not knowing why. I started by searching for a singing teacher but wound up in music therapy, a journey unlike anything I had experienced. Improvising in music therapy made it possible for me to face the desolation and dread of cancer and to express my deepest lament. I found new wellsprings of life in myself, while my cancer went into temporary, spontaneous remission.

Keywords

cancer, client’s experience, Nordoff-Robbins, improvisation, lymphoma

Author Biography

Maria Logis, MA

Maria Logis, MA, has written and produced several theater pieces. The Lemon Tree, her most recent work, was performed in November 2009. And You Gave Me Music was shown at the NY Fringe Festival in 2003. She is a management consultant with expertise in training, lead- ership development and succession planning. In 1994, Ms. Logis, a successful corporate executive with Con Edison, was diagnosed with stage four, non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Something unusual happened— she started to sing her way through her illness in collaboration with a music therapist and discovered her voice as an artist. This discovery went well beyond her cancer and transformed her life—from illness to wellness, from the life of a corporate executive to that of a perfor- mance artist, writer and singer. She has presented her music at many conferences including the World Congress of Music Therapy in Washington DC, the Training Institute for Mental Health, the New School, Beth Israel Hospital, and New York University and on NPR and Cosmos FM radio.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2011)

Section

Full Length Articles