I have often played&/or sung for the Rosary or funeral of a friend or the loved one of a friend or aquaintance, and when an activity director at nursing homes played various instruments such as Autoharp, Guitar, or Celtic Harp & sang for the bedfast & dying. Some residents were completely unresponsive to family & nurses, but when I played for them they would smile or sometimes open their eyes or on rare occasions speak.
But not even that prepared me to sing & play for my father. The new year was difficult this year.
In December I got the call that Daddy was dying, so my neice, her then 14 month old & I went back to the midwest. I took my autoharp as I can play melody on it or sing along. I was at the nursing home with him daily for 3 weeks. All the employees, residents & their visiting family members came in throughout the day to listen. The Drs said at that point that there was no way of knowing how long he would linger, so we came back to San Diego.
Two weeks later-in January, Daddy called me to talk-a difficult task as he could barely breathe due to pneumonia. The next day, he was unresponsive to those around him so they called in hospice. My brother & nephew & hospice were sitting with him, but the when they had no one to take the 1 am shift, my girlfriend volunteered (in my place).   About 11pm, I started hearing "in my head" Precious Lord, Take My Hand-over & over, so I began to sing it with all my heart as it has always been a favorite of Daddy & myself. Then, I heard In The Upper Room (part 2!)--both songs just as Mahalia sang them. After a while, my girlfriend called me to report that Daddy had passed on while she was singing Precious Lord, Take My Hand to him.
Never underestimate the power of Music. Music is not limited by time & space.