How Music Therapy Helped Joni Mitchell Recover From A Stroke
Daniel Levitin, the musician and neuroscientist who helped Joni Mitchell recover from a stroke has spoken about the process to The Guardian.
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According to Levitin, after Mitchell suffered a catastrophic stroke in 2015, the chances of her playing music again were believed to be virtually non-existent. “When she got back from the hospital, she couldn’t walk and she couldn’t talk,” he says. “The doctors were so pessimistic about her recovery, they hadn’t scheduled any follow-ups”.
Mitchell’s nurses noticed her condition improve when she heard music and so they contacted Levitin in the hope of him giving them suggestions for songs to play her. Levitin and Mitchell had previously worked together compiling a CD of her favourite tracks for Starbucks’ Artist Choice series back in the early 2000s.
Along with speech and physical therapy, Levitin’s music therapy became intrinsic to Mitchell’s recovery. “One of the things we know is that music you like increases dopamine, and dopamine is the neurochemical that motivates you to do things,” he says. “Having that music as a reminder of who she is, who she was, and what she cares about, helped her to do the very difficult job of recovery, and to follow through with the protocols of the therapists.”
In Levitin’s book, Music As Medicine, he recalls bringing Mitchell flowers when visiting roughly a year after her stroke. She walked over to a cabinet by herself to get a vase for them,” he writes. “She moved some vases out of the way to find a particular one in the back, a glass vase with a single handle and flowers painted on it. ‘That’s a beautiful vase, where did you get it?’ I asked. ‘I bought it when I was living in Laurel Canyon with Graham.’ Oh. That vase.”
With the help of music therapy, Mitchell re-learned how to walk, talk and play guitar. Seven years after her stroke, she returned to the stage with a rapturously received set at the Newport Folk Festival. Since then, supported by her Joni Jam band, Mitchell has played her first headline shows since the 2000 Both Sides Now tour. Last week it was announced that she will be playing FireAid, the benefit concert for the Los Angeles wildfires.