Next week is the final week of my music therapy internship as I prepare to go back home to Taiwan.

It is surprising how time flies. Not only have I learned a lot from many experienced music therapists in the United States and at West Music regarding the clinical and musical skills, but also the clients I encountered and interacted with from last summer to now.

From the clients’ responses, you can tell how deeply music can touch their feelings. From the clients’ eyes, you can tell how music can brighten their day. From the clients’ faces of loved ones, you can tell how music can bring them together, just like a silent bridge between the edges of their hearts.

I have a short story to share with you.

Let me call my client “David” today.

When walking into the room, I could feel the atmosphere today was a little different than before. In addition to David and David’s wife, Mary, two more people were in the room and talking with him. After the warm introduction from Mary, we, my supervisor and me, realized that one of them was David’s sister, and the other is David’s brother-in-law. However, we didn’t do a lot of small talk as seeing David was our main purpose for that visit.

David is a person with mid-stage dementia. He used to sing in a choir, and that’s the reason why he is so good at harmony. Whenever we sing, he either tries to sing with us or harmonize with us, even though he has a had hard time with reminiscing or verbally describing memories. As you can imagine, David’s sister or brother-in-law could be shocked or feel helpless by seeing that his abilities are declining.

We were singing songs about Thanksgiving on that day since Thanksgiving was coming up the following week. While we were singing some songs, David’s sister sat back and sang with us. You can tell what a musical family it was from that moment. As usual, we brought him some hymns to close the session. “In the Garden” is a beautiful hymn, and David always sings it enthusiastically.

Once we started to sing the song, David’s sister moved her chair forward and closer to him. She put her hands around his shoulders, singing softly near his ear with perfect harmony. Meanwhile, even David’s brother-in-law and Mary sat back in the room, holding hands. By hearing his wife and David singing together and “talking” to each other again through music, David’s brother-in-law slowly wiped off his tears and nodded his head without words.

That was a beautiful moment.

Mary, David’s sister, and his brother-in-law may find it difficult to initiate a typical conversation with David. This means it would be difficult to talk about the weather, the food, or even memories from their youth. However, music can bring them a light from the grey sky. You rarely hear David reminiscing about events that occurred a long time ago, but you can hear him singing songs that were popular when he was between 20 and 30 years old. You rarely see him fold his clothes or brush his teeth, but you can see him playing the handle drum so well. You rarely see him talk to his family actively, but you can witness him singing harmony with them.

Yes. There are so many touching small stories happening in the world. Use your heart to feel it, and you can feel that you are learning, enriching, and growing all the time. And this is just one of the touching moments during my internship. I have too many to share them all…..