The Power of Hospice is Captured in Song, Joy in a Teardrop Launches New Music Project Inspired by Hospice and Palliative Care.
Proceeds from Joy in a Teardrop will Support National Hospice Foundation
(Alexandria, Va) – National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is proud to announce an exciting, new project using music to express the essence of compassion and caring as experienced by hospice and palliative care professionals, Joy in a Teardrop: The Hospice Music Project.
This project was initiated with the creation of a song, Joy in a Teardrop, which can be seen on YouTube.
Joy in a Teardrop was written as part of a songwriting workshop at NHPCO’s Interdisciplinary Conference in November 2018 in New Orleans. Led by GRAMMY award winning songwriter Tricia Walker and John Mulder, hospice professionals shared reflections of their work and put words to the many emotions experienced in caring for those at life’s end. Walker and Mulder shaped those words and added music to bring Joy in a Teardrop to life.
“It is a wonderful statement of the beauty and poignancy of the work that we all do in caring for people at the end of life,” said co-creator John Mulder, MD, who is a hospice and palliative medicine specialist as well as a musician.
Joy in a Teardrop was subsequently recorded by Walker and Mulder, and is available for purchase from Amazon, iTunes and Spotify music services and in CD from NHPCO’s Marketplace. NHPCO staff added photographs that have been shared by member hospices to create a video version of the song, which is the version available on YouTube (linked above).
Joy in a Teardrop was officially presented to the hospice community at the opening plenary of NHPCO’s Leadership and Advocacy Conference on April 15 in Washington, DC.
Spurred on by the hospice community’s positive response to Joy in a Teardrop, NHPCO is launching a new program, Joy in a Teardrop: The Hospice Music Project, which will result in a full album of songs that reflect the experience of hospice professionals in the work that they do – the joys, sorrows, difficult and challenging times, and even the lighthearted and humorous moments that are a part of everyday end-of-life experiences.
Joy in a Teardrop: The Hospice Music Project, will be led by Tricia Walker and John Mulder, they will be assisted by other highly decorated songwriters, including Beth Nielsen Chapman and Marcus Hummon. These writers will take the thoughts and ideas provided by hospice and palliative care professionals and craft original songs, just as Walker and Mulder did with Joy in a Teardrop.
“We feel that this will be one more effective way of communicating the sacredness of our work and establishing a testament of our wonderful legacy,” added Mulder.
During his introduction of Joy in a Teardrop at the Leadership and Advocacy Conference, NHPCO President and CEO Edo Banach quoted the musician Ed Sheeran, “Music is a powerful tool in galvanizing people around an issue. There’s no better way to get your point across than to put it in a beautiful song.”
All proceeds from sale of the song will go to support the work of the National Hospice Foundation, NHPCO’s philanthropic affiliate.