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What do we do?
What do we do?
MIHNUET is a volunteer based group that allows members to sign up for pre-scheduled trips to various nursing homes, hospitals, or homeless shelters throughout the semester. Performances are scheduled on an individual basis, giving our sites and performers maximum flexibility. Members are free to choose the type of music they wish to play (solo and ensembles both welcome) and this can also be coordinated with requests from the facilities we serve. Our current locations include Susan Bailis Assisted Living, Hale House, Brigham House, VNA Senior Living, Harvard Square Homeless Shelter (HSHS), and Y2Y Harvard Square.
For more information, please fill out or check in form to join our mailing list, check out our instagram (@harvard_mihnuet), and feel free to contact us at mihnuet.harvard@gmail.com!
Why do we do it?
Why do we do it?
Patients in nursing homes and hospitals often find themselves battling with illness, infection, or disease. They have enough to worry about without having to also battle feelings of loneliness, isolation, or displacement. Studies have shown that live music meets some of the needs of patients by providing not only a source of diversion and entertainment, but also a sense of texture, time, and place, a situation that can be therapeutically very beneficial. Live music gives the performers and listeners a chance to interact, and the patients can not only hear the music but can become actively involved and stimulated by the performance. As David Bihari, Director of Intensive Care Services at Guy Hospital, said, “We so often forget the soul of the patient. Music helps us to speak to that inner being and to bring some extra comfort.”
Wards and rooms are also filled with the worried family members and friends of patients who welcome a source of diversion to share with their loved ones. Doctors and hospital staff need an interval of enjoyment as well in their highly stressful routines. MIHNUET seeks to respond to these needs of the health care community. It does this by sending groups of Harvard student musicians to provide live music in nursing homes, hospital wards, and at the bedsides of terminally ill or comatose patients. Additionally, it serves as a link between musical groups on campus and establishments throughout Boston by arranging for guest concerts. While we do not expect to cure the physical ailments of patients, we do seek to facilitate the healing process.
New Initiatives
New Initiatives
In the 2023-24 academic school year, MIHNUET also expanded its locations to include performance opportunities at homeless shelters (HSHS and Y2Y) as well as Spaulding Hospital. We hope to continue performing at new locations in the Boston Area!
Another project that MIHNUET has recently been working on is putting together an album! The hope of this project is to give other nursing homes and hospitals a way to listen to music even if we are not there in person to perform live. Stay tuned for more updates!
In fall 2024, MIHNUET also hosted a symposium featuring Dr. Lisa Wong, Dr. David Silbersweig, and Dr. Michael A. Casey who each talked about the transformative role of music in healing and brain function!
Fall 2024: "The Musical Mind" Symposium
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