My friend Abigail Robinson, who has died from cancer aged 53, was a pioneer of music-thanatology in the UK, providing therapeutic music to patients at the end of their lives.
This practice of harp and voice vigils for the dying, using Gregorian chant, folk lullabies and improvised music tailored to the patient’s breathing and pulse, was developed in the US at the Chalice of Repose Project in Missoula, Montana, where Abigail trained.
She studied there from 2000, and described her training, which included learning the harp, as “spiritual boot camp”, but she thrived on it. Her expansive personality found a natural home in the US and her empathy found expression in her work with the dying and their families. In Montana she visited hospitals and hospices, partaking in the vigils, and made short films to publicise her work.
Abigail returned to Devon in 2003 and gave workshops on music-thanatology to medical professionals and patient groups, and made recordings of her music, which were used for pain relief.
She was a visiting lecturer at Plymouth and Plymouth Marjon universities and continued to give vigils privately, one of a very small number of music-thanatologists practising in Britain. She also collaborated in a range of arts and community projects, painted seascapes and published a volume of her poetry.
Born in Petersham, south-west London, Abigail was the daughter of John, a business consultant, and his wife, Antonia (nee Gianetti), a film researcher and teacher, and she grew up in a house full of books and antiques. She attended St Paul’s girls’ school, west London, and then studied graphic and performance art at Dartington College of Arts, in Devon, where she was president of the student union.
She moved to Cambridge in 1990 to work as an administrator at Choices, a service for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. She then worked in childcare, privately and in afterschool clubs in Cambridge. She helped young children to increase their resourcefulness by teaching them creative visualisation, and coached lonely children in the art of making and keeping friends; she considered this her most valuable work.
Though not trained as a therapist, Abigail was a gifted communicator. Her own life was far from easy; she struggled with difficult personal circumstances and many health problems, and fought a hard campaign to get the support she needed from the NHS and benefits services.
Throughout her life she cultivated a wide circle of friends, and was known for her warmth and intelligence, her wonderful, wild sense of humour and for her love of nature, especially Dartmoor.
Abigail is survived by her parents, her brothers, Matt and Justin, nieces, Ciara and Noelle, and nephews, JJ (Justin) and Dylan.
