15 Sep 25 - Resident stories
The sound of healing
Pauline Grogan has lived and breathed music all her life. Her mother taught piano. Her father loved singing and storytelling.
Pauline was just 17 when she entered the convent, where sacred music became her daily companion and spiritual balm. “Music has always been my solace; it touches my soul. I could listen to it and feel love and laughter, or sob and sob,” Pauline says, reflecting on the deep emotional connection that music offers her.
During her 12 years as a Catholic nun, Pauline discovered her calling as an educator. Thrown into the classroom with little preparation, she flourished – connecting with children through creativity, empathy and song. After leaving religious life, she married and began building a new kind of ministry – one rooted not in church pews but in community service.
In 1996, her book Beyond the Veil – which lifted the curtain on abuse in religious orders – brought Pauline into the public eye. What followed was a whirlwind: inspirational speaking tours, a one-woman play and a new path as a celebrant for weddings and funerals. Music remained Pauline’s constant.
Pauline has seen the restorative power of music in others too. In 2009, her childhood friend Colleen suffered a stroke and friends became unrecognisable. But Pauline refused to give up. In 2013, she wrote a song for Colleen and sang it to her during one of their weekly visits. “Suddenly, she stirred, making slow, almost static movements… She peered into my face, scrutinising it with full focus and intention. In a clear voice she said, ‘It’s you, it’s you.’” Pauline’s voice breaks as she recounts the moment – proof that music could reach what medicine could not.
But music’s most powerful healing may have come when Pauline needed it most. At 75 she believed she was having a heart attack. Hospital tests revealed otherwise. When angiogram procedures caused brain bleeds, Pauline was left with debilitating neuropathic pain. “My entire life changed irrevocably. I would never again be pain free. Everything stopped. It is now five years.”
No longer able to lift objects or participate in community life, Pauline was forced into an unwanted stillness. “Who are you when everything you stand for has gone?” she asks. “Going from motivational speaking, highly sociable, teaching and interacting, to stuck at home with only one working hand and in pain?”
Again, it was music that brought hope to her when she was in despair. In 2020, in collaboration with a team of supporters, My Music Ignites My Soul was born.
The initiative bridges generations through the shared power of music.
In partnership with Age Concern NZ, Rotary and the Duke of Edinburgh community service component, the project pairs tech-savvy students with senior citizens.
Summerset’s National Therapeutic Recreation Lead Orquidea Tamayo Mortera has supported Pauline’s initiative since they met at the 2018 Age Concern Conference. “She was my first visitor after my stroke,” Pauline says. After Covid scuppered the planned launched of the programme at Te Papa, it was moved to Summerset at Monterey Park. Students from Pinehurst School spoke to the seniors about co-creating personalised playlists – soundtracks to a life – that at the touch of an icon, brings healing, memories and emotions flooding back.
“The aim is for young people to prepare a playlist for a senior, so they can listen with ease.” But its impact goes far beyond convenience. “This programme’s ambition, alongside the musical legacy for senior citizens, is to foster inter-generational and cross-cultural relationships and understanding,” Pauline explains.
Pauline’s latest book, Miss Adventure: Healing with Music documents her health recovery with music as her anchor. The project has also recently been embraced by a local Auckland Steiner School.
“MP Greg Fleming was canvassing and I told him about the project. He put me in touch with the principal of Michael Park School. We are discussing a collaboration.”
Pauline says her goal and dream is to get back into the community, work she held so dear to her heart. Pauline chose to move to Summerset at Heritage Park to be closer to the Greenlane pain clinic and to have a community around her. She works closely with the diversional therapist at the care centre to bring music to the residents. Pauline is energised by a force within her that is deeply spiritual although not tied to a religion. “Music always animates my spirit.”
This is an article from the Spring 2025 edition of Summerset Scene magazine