Since 1995, Music in Hospitals and Nursing Homes Using Entertainment as Therapy (MIHNUET) has brought undergraduate musicians to 17 different sites in Cambridge and Boston to share the healing gift of music. The program has the potential to address social isolation, build understanding of culture and history, and create long-term friendships across generations.
During the term, MIHNUET recruits students based on their availability for visits every Saturday and Sunday. Over the summer, the musicians strengthen their relationships with their audiences by returning to the same sites every week. The team of four resident performers, who commit to trips every day of the week, have gotten to know most of the elders and patients by name. From discussing the music, which ranges from Bach to the Beatles, to chatting about first-date experiences, they have learned to incorporate personal interaction into their performances.
Combined with intergenerational friendships and legacy-building, the arts can improve the quality of life in long-term care facilities, where life is often a regimen of doctors’ appointments and a blur of medications. The team seeks to bring hope to the residents of long-term care facilities, as well as empower youth with arts, service, and advocacy learning.
1Music across the decades. Drawing on 92 years of experience, Anna LaFosse, a patient at Beth Israel’s Transitional Care Center, warmly advises student musicians Junne Kamihara ’97 and Mary Farbood ’97 to “be sure to stay friends for a long time.” Kamihara founded the music-therapy program.
2Symphony Plaza Apartments resident Marie Smith takes in the performance by Jennifer Tu ’16.
3Marie Smith applauds after a performance.
4Tom Somi ’14 (from left), Jennifer Tu ’16, and MIHNUET co-president Kevin Sikah ’15 offer a song.
5“The performing arts have the power to lift the ordinary to the extraordinary, to make hearts beat faster and spirits fly,” said pianist Jennifer Tu ’16.
6Dee Martino attends a MIHNUET concert.
7Tom Somi ’14 greets Symphony Plaza Apartments resident Dee Martino.
8Kevin Sikah ’15 takes a turn on the piano.
9Jennifer Tu ’16 thanks Dee Martino for attending the performance.
10Jennifer Tu ’16 plays the piano as Kevin Sikah ’15 sings.
11Residents Richard Dorfman and Julie Sophos enjoy the performances.
12Tom Somi ’14 looks on as Kevin Sikah ’15 addresses the audience.
13Jennifer Tu ’16 tests an out-of-tune key while performing.
14Tom Somi ’14 (from left), Jennifer Tu ’16, and Kevin Sikah ’15 enjoy a laugh.
15Jennifer Tu ’16 rides her bike back to Harvard after the show.
