Harry Oxley settles deeper into his oversized recliner, his deep-set eyes glistening as Sarah Newberry snugs her guitar into her lap.
"Here's a song you requested," she says. "If you feel comfortable singing and enjoy it, sing your heart out."
As her lilting voice glides into "The Girl That I Marry," Oxley smiles, then manages to sing a few words here and there, despite the oxygen tube running into his nostrils. When the song ends, he sighs.
"Your voice is so soothing. … It makes me feel young again," he says, then adds a teasing plea: "Will you marry me?"
Oxley isn't marrying anyone. The 88-year-old is in hospice with congestive heart failure. The music Newberry sings for him won't help him live longer, but it's one of several hospice therapies designed to help him live better. "What we're doing is not entertainment, per se," said Anna Lee Roberts, who, like Newberry, works with Allina Hospice and Palliative Care. "It's working toward specific objectives — relieving pain and anxiety."
Hospice music therapy is a relatively new and quickly growing offshoot of music therapy.
Unlike traditional music therapy, which often is used to help children with special needs and people who are recovering from traumatic injuries, such as former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, hospice music therapists work with patients and their families, using musical instruments, songs and conversation to encourage reminiscence.
"We help patients review their lives through songs and projects to leave a legacy for their families and to process their thoughts and feelings and experiences at the end of life," said Newberry.