Healing Harmony: Brynn Albanese shares the Power of Music

At Dignity Health, healing takes many forms.

For patients on the Central Coast, it often includes the soothing sounds of Brynn Albanese, a Certified Music Practitioner who uses music to enhance the recovery of patients and also improve the well-being of everyone in the facilities where she plays – health care workers included. 

A successful concert violinist, Brynn felt a profound calling to use her musical talents for healing after witnessing the emotional toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. This led her to the Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP), where she learned to tailor her music to individual patient needs—calming anxiety, easing pain, and even aiding stroke recovery.

“I had a career playing for thousands and thousands of people in various ways,” she says of the considerable time she spent playing in auditoriums. “Little did I know I would be able to move into my role as a Certified Music Practitioner later on in life.”

Another thing that spurred on the change was Brynn’s love of “making people feel a certain way with my music,” she says.

Charting a new path

Brynn’s transition to becoming a Certified Music Practitioner shouldn't surprise those who know her. At 18, Albanese nearly chose a path implementing music as medicine, before ultimately opting to share her gifts with larger audiences, performing worldwide.

Once Albanese began to truly understand the nuances of using music as medicine, she discovered it was unlike performing in sold-out theaters.

"I have learned that playing music as a service, as opposed to playing a performance, is truly polar opposite,” she says. “I have been trained to use the intrinsic elements of music to meet an individual patient’s needs or condition, in-the-moment; meeting the patient where they are.” 

According to the Music for Healing and Transition Program, music can have a wide-reaching impact on patients, with the potential to do things like decrease pain, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and stabilize heart rate.

Getting in tune with those in need

Albanese says she has developed a playlist of songs that "resonate" deeply with people. 

She uses “songs that reach deep into memory, sometimes drawing out emotions that have long been dormant.”

“Being that the educational program that I graduated from is science based, I have added an element of sound that has played a very important part in the healing process,” Brynn says.

Over the years, she has become a master at using her abilities to deliver appropriate types of music that will aid in the healing process of specific conditions of individual patients.

For example, if a patient has suffered a stroke and brain activity is limited, Brynn says she “must play certain selections in a very specific way in order to be safe and also to help them. I have also been taught to understand the power of silence."

Albanese isn’t only a Certified Music Practitioner, she’s also an End-of-Life Doula, “which plays an enormous part in making the work that I do successful.”

As an End-of-Life Doula, Albanese is someone who provides companionship, comfort, and guidance to those planning for death, diagnosed with a terminal illness, or facing imminent death. 

End-of-Life Doulas offer nonmedical holistic support encompassing emotional, spiritual, and practical care, according to INELDA.org – home of the International End of Life Doula Association.

Persistence pays off 

Though she is an incredibly gifted musician, her persistence and drive to make an impact with her music also played a key role. 

“The most important thing was just to get the music into the facilities,” she added. “I just showed up week after week to get my certification and I knew that it would eventually make some type of an impact that was noticeable. I was right ,it did, it really did – people started noticing when I wasn't there.”

The impact of Brynn's work is undeniable.

As Sue Andersen, the President and CEO of Dignity Health’s Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, French Hospital Medical Center, and Marian Regional Medical Center, notes, “Brynn's dedication to our patients is truly inspiring. Her work has not only improved the well-being of those in our care, it has also had a profound impact on our staff, enriching their experience and fostering a compassionate healing environment."

Heidi Summers, the Central Coast Market Director of Mission Integration, says “it is amazing to walk with Brynn in the hospital and experience what happens.”

Summers says the clinicians “find hope in a new way to help patients” and in the gift of “self renewal” and “healing.”

“For staff, they walk out, stop, take it in,” Summers says. “The shoulders relax, a little jig comes to their feet, a smile, a tear…but always renewal.”

Summers also notes how Brynn’s music has also helped family members “who are bearing much and love much.”

“The music creates a space for them to lean into their pain safely and tenderly…moments of healing,” Summers says. 

Albanese’s dedication and the tangible benefits of her music as medicine program are a testament to the power of human connection and the profound healing influence of music, allowing those lucky listeners a moment of gratitude and hope. 

To learn more about Dignity Health on the Central Coast, click here.