Music and emotion in palliative care

Music and emotion may share certain essential characteristics allowing the depth and breadth of music to resonate with that of emotional experience. It is perhaps this resonance which facilitates the experience, expression and working-through of feelings in music therapy work with the the terminally ill. The author explores five characteristics common to both music and emotion using clinical examples to illustrate how these might be at play in music therapy work in the palliative care setting.