A musician at the bedside of palliative care patients

His book, Le Pansement Schubert, recounts his twenty years of practice.

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Before entering, she consults the patient's medical file and listens to the transmissions, these few words given by the caregiver.

"I need to know elements of her life, how her day went, how her treatments work", says Claire Oppert.

The time for the visit comes: “I ask the patient what he or she wants to hear.

»Something sweet or joyful, which brings back memories or on the contrary erases them for the instant of a song ...

“In this art therapy process, we address the healthy and living part of the person.

The result: patients are transformed.

"The most bedridden, aggressive, calm down," says the musician.

The farthest move their toes.

"

A scientific approach to art therapy

She says she's neither the first nor the last to use music to calm anxiety, lessen pain.

Certainly, but his approach is more scientific than it seems.

His book

(ed. Denoël), which relates more than twenty years of practice begun with a disabled audience, is initially a scientific study.

She shows how music helps to recover motor and cognitive skills.

Is this a virtue specific to the cello?

“Let's say that in this area the cello is king.

Thanks to its vibrations, it is the closest instrument to the human voice.

The harp, the guitar or the voice also work well.

"

It also evokes the effectiveness of other forms of art, painting, photography or dance.

For Claire Oppert, the link between care and music has always been natural.

For a long time, she wanted to be a doctor, like her father.

Then she hesitated with the music, in which she excelled.

Direction the Moscow conservatory.

Open lines of communication

“The treatment caught up with me when I met Howard Buten [autism psychologist], with whom I worked for seven years.

I was already convinced of it, but I noticed on a daily basis that music opened up channels of communication.

»Today, Claire Oppert is a member of the medical team of the palliative care unit of the Rives de Seine hospital in Puteaux and works with medical students.

She loves to tell a story that is dear to her.

That of a young autistic.

For six months, she played Bach suites for him without any reaction from him, before he came one day to stick to the instrument to feel its vibrations.

“In music there are no words and there is no need for an intellectual circuit.

It is purely instinctive.

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A documentary on autism to "bring out this voice from within"

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