Grief often involves powerful emotions. Listening to, composing, moving to, and performing music can offer opportunities to explore and express grief. You don’t need to be an experienced musician to include music as part of your healing journey.
Grief Stories features short videos, podcast interviews, and blog posts offering ideas for incorporating music as a healing part of your grieving. You’ll also find some songs created by or for grieving people for inspiration.
There may be times when your response to music touches upon intense feelings and vivid memories. If you feel raw, vulnerable, and overwhelmed right now, it may not be the right time in your journey to use music for healing.
Alternately, it might be just the time you would benefit from the support of a certified music therapist, who can consider your unique personal and cultural needs to help you create or receive meaningful and healing musical experiences.
Your responses to music can change, shifting over time as your experience of grief changes. Consider using music, based on your personal needs as they evolve, or perhaps working with a music therapist, might be helpful for you as you grieve.
Music can touch us deeply, bringing up vivid memories and strong emotions. During times of grief your experiences of listening to music or making music may be surprising or not what you expect. In grief, you might find:
- Music feels overwhelming, and powerful
- Memories that come up are distressing
- Feelings come up in waves
- You feel numb or you may not connect to the music at all
- Some music experiences previously shared with a lost loved one feel empty or painful
Adrienne Pringle MMT, RP, MTA
Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO), Certified Music Therapist (MTA, CAMT)
Adrienne brings 20 years of clinical experience in end of life care and bereavement care in sharing her perspectives with grief stories. She believes strongly in the power of music and creative expression to heal, and has experienced this first hand in her work with clients she supports.
She is a past President of the Canadian Association of Music Therapists (CAMT) and Music Therapist at Carpenter Hospice and CHM Therapy. Adrienne is co-founder and Director of Beyond the Studio and Sing it Girls!®.
Adrienne created the Singing Well bereavement program, her research conducted in collaboration with Dr. Laurel Young and Concordia University is published in Bereavement Care. Adrienne is a proud east coaster, growing up in Halifax, these days she lives in Burlington, Ontario, she and husband Travis stay active keeping up with their teenagers, Bailey & Alec.
Laurel Young PhD
Certified Music Therapist (MTA), Psychotherapist (Québec), Fellow of the Association for Music & Imagery (FAMI)
Laurel is also an Associate Professor of Music Therapy at Concordia University (Montréal). Prior to joining Concordia in 2011, she was the Professional Leader of Creative Arts Therapies at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto). Dr. Young has received awards from Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo) and Temple University (Philadelphia) for outstanding contributions to her field.
In 2014, she received the Canadian Association of Music Therapists’ (CAMT) Research & Publications award. She has over 25 years of diverse clinical experience, authored several publications, presented internationally, and served on the CAMT and Canadian Music Therapy Fund Boards. She is a research member of Concordia’s PERFORM Centre, Concordia’s Arts in Health Research Collective (AHRC), and the Centre for Research and Expertise in Social Gerontology (CREGÉS).
She currently serves as the Associate Director of engAGE: Concordia’s Centre for Research on Aging. In her spare time, Laurel pursues her own musical interests and hangs out in the country with her partner James (artist and art therapist) and their two cats Gladys and Monty.
Meaningful & Healing Music Experiences Playlist
View video playlists related to specific topics, including both participants and grief professionals.
Music & Grief Playlist 2
Music & Grief Playlist 2
Listen to more thoughts and insights from people and families living with grief.
Music & Grief Playlist
Music & Grief Playlist
Listen to the thoughts and insights of people and families living with grief.
Music-Related Videos
We’ve gathered information and insights from music therapists, music and songwriting educators, composers, performers, and audiences who know how music can serve as a vehicle for communicating deep thoughts and feelings.
There may be times when your response to music touches upon intense feelings and vivid memories.
Justin – Song writing and lyrics
Justin – Song writing and lyrics
Justin explains how lyrics can help convey feelings and how loss has impacted you
Cheryl B – Music and how it affects me
Cheryl B – Music and how it affects me
Cheryl explains how songwriting and singing has helped her with grief and with the pandemic
Murray – The power of music
Murray – The power of music
Murray discusses the power of music and how it accesses your heart
Murray – Giving space for grief in song writing class
Murray – Giving space for grief in song writing class
Murray talks about song writing, death and making space
Justin – My story with music and grief
Justin – My story with music and grief
Justin how he came to find music as grief therapy and how it helps him express his grief
Cale – Music is my net
Cale – Music is my net
Cale talks about his background, music and how music helps him express and process grief
Adrienne – Music and grief
Adrienne – Music and grief
Adrienne talks about the many ways music can help during a time of grief
Maureen – Music as a tribute
Maureen – Music as a tribute
Maureen talks about how music can connect and comfort
Cheryl B – My story
Cheryl B – My story
Cheryl discusses her husbands mental illness and then death from a heart attack
Maureen – Funeral music
Maureen – Funeral music
Maureen talks explains how music can bring back positive memories
Cheryl B – Lyrics, melody and story
Cheryl B – Lyrics, melody and story
Cheryl discusses story and the power of lyrics
Cale – Music and processing
Cale – Music and processing
Cale talks about death in the family and writing about the experience
Cheryl B – My dream of creating a choir
Cheryl B – My dream of creating a choir
Cheryl talks about she created a number of choirs including children, female physicians and seniors... Voices Rock Canada
Mary – What I would say to my younger self
Mary – What I would say to my younger self
Mary talks about what she has learned about grief
Adrienne – Gloria’s story
Adrienne – Gloria’s story
Adrienne tells the story of Gloria writing a song based on her husband's whistling
Adrienne – Music Therapists Can Help
Adrienne – Music Therapists Can Help
Adrienne explains different ways that music can help grievers
Murray – Be patient
Murray – Be patient
Murray explains the most important thing he has learned about grief
Cale – Advice for writing music about grief
Cale – Advice for writing music about grief
Cale discussses the relationship between your art and how you feel
Justin – Expression and grief
Justin – Expression and grief
Justin talks about what his grief is like and hope
Mary – Music as a tool
Mary – Music as a tool
Mary talks about her involvement in songwriting and in hospice
Cheryl B – How music can help anyone
Cheryl B – How music can help anyone
Cheryl talks about escaping into music
Cale – Grief/music and his community
Cale – Grief/music and his community
Cale discusses musicallity, community and grief.
Maureen – Writing a song for a friend who is dying
Maureen – Writing a song for a friend who is dying
Maureen talks about writing as song for a dying friend
Mary – Taking songwriting classes
Mary – Taking songwriting classes
Mary explains two reasons why people take songwriting classes
Matt – Music helped my grief
Matt – Music helped my grief
Matt discusses how creativity and music help his grief