Music and the 4th of July!

Many, many holidays are associated with very specific music but the music associated with the 4th of July is jubilant and festive in a way that wins out over most other holidays! No other holiday is so filled with parades, picnics and fireworks as the 4of July! This YouTube clip is from a celebration at the famous Hollywood Bowl in California. Enjoy!!

Music Therapy and Bone Marrow Transplants

In some medical settings, such as mental health services, music therapy has been used widely to decrease patients' perception of pain, anxiety and depression, and boost their feelings of relaxation. It's also used in hospice to comfort terminally ill patients. But it's not commonly used with bone marrow transplant patients, who are often hospitalized for a month or more. Because their immune systems have been wiped out, visits are kept to a minimum to avoid infections, and feelings of isolation often set in. Patients can have a variety of side effects, including pain, nausea, fatigue, anemia and dehydration. 'One reason we began this study was because patients were requesting new ways of treatment,' says Sahler, a behavioral pediatrician who works with children who have chronic and terminal illnesses. 'The patients told the staff, 'I know I'm about to go through a major challenge that will be very painful and isolating. What do you have to offer me to help me get through this?' Music therapy was one answer. We originally began the study with children but quickly decided to enroll adults as well.' Sahler teamed up with Bryan Hunter, Ph.D., an associate professor of music and the coordinator of music therapy at Nazareth College and adjunct associate professor of pediatrics at the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, who has established music therapy programs in several hospitals. Hunter's students visited patients at the Wilmot Center's Samuel E. Durand Blood and Marrow Transplant Center, providing a range of music-therapy services. Sometimes students simply brought and played music the patients requested; other times they helped the patients play music themselves, or write their own songs, or talk about a favorite set of lyrics. Patients were also encouraged to visualize a peaceful and joyful setting during each session. 'The program has been very well received,' says Hunter. 'When a program like this is first introduced, typically we get mixed reactions. Some in the health care field are skeptical at first. But when they see the positive effects on patients, they usually change their mind. And other doctors and nurses are excited when it's introduced - they think it's a great idea right from the beginning.' An early problem with the study, Sahler says, was that staff members frequently turned the music therapists away, saying the patients were too ill. 'It's taken awhile for staff members to recognize that music therapy can be very helpful to people when they feel most distressed,' Sahler says. 'Nurses and doctors originally thought that the patient had to be playing an instrument or singing along, but passive listening or simply the presence of the therapist providing music itself can be therapeutic.' Now with funding from the National Institutes of Health, the team is conducting a larger study to check its results. In the current study, scientists will also measure the amount of medicine that patients receive for pain and nausea, and they'll monitor levels of the patients' cytokines - molecules in the body that are key to helping a patient's immune system establish itself after a transplant. In addition to Sahler and Hunter, immunologist Jane Liesveld, M.D., medical director of the bone marrow transplant unit, helped direct the study.Contact: Tom Rickeytrickey@admin.rochester.edu585-275-7954University of Rochester Medical Center

What do you know about "Bedside Music?"

About "Soothing Music Played Live at the Bedside"

"Music has been recognized through research as a safe, inexpensive and effective non-pharmaceutical way to relieve anxiety" Dr. Brian Seeney, National Naval Medical Center, Maryland

"Half an hour of music produced the same effect as 10 milligrams of valium." Dr. Raymond Bahr, Baltimore's St. Agnes Hospital

"Music can be a crucially important aspect of therapy..." Dr. Oliver Sacks, Neurologist

A music practitioner plays healing and relaxation music at the bedside of ill and dying patients. There have been many studies written on the benefits of music for patients and families. Bedside healing music is a new field being introduced into the medical profession, and it is quickly being accepted. Bedside music benefits patients, who are scared or anxious, and allows them to relax or even possibly fall into a deep relaxing sleep. Music can affect the heartbeat, pulse, respiration, equalize and slow down brain waves, reduce muscle tension and improve body movement. It can also affect body temperatures and release endorphin levels, as well as regulate stress-related hormones, boost the immune system, stimulate digestion and a feeling of well-being. Please call or email me if you're interested in this service in the Louisville, KY area! Thanks!

Are you watching the KY Derby today?

The KY Derby will be run at 6:05 EDT today! It’s a beautiful day here in Louisville and the favorites include Big Brown, Pyro and Colonel John.
I want you to watch the crowd as they pan across faces of people from all over the world singing together “My Old KY Home.” There something about this beautiful melody from Stephen Foster that just touches the heart of everyone and makes them feel overwhelmed with love for their fellow man (and woman) on this beautiful day. For two minutes everyone has a dream that their turn will come today! It’s just magical…do not miss it!

Korean piano prodigy...5 y.o. and also blind!

A friend sent me this video clip of a 5 y.o. Korean piano prodigy who happens to be blind. It's a rather long clip but worth watching. The little girl has never had any formal training but can play most anything by ear after hearing it once. She also composes her own music! Kids like this are truly very rare! Enjoy!

Have you hear about "Dvorak Diplomacy?"

SEOUL (Reuters) - The New York Philharmonic will try a dash of Dvorak diplomacy with an unprecedented concert in North Korea next week, hoping America's oldest orchestra can bring a change of tune to one of the world's most isolated countries.
U.S. government officials may be expecting some rare harmony between the bitter foes, but analysts say they should brace for a different note from the North's propaganda machine, which is likely to bill the concert as homage to its jump-suited leader Kim Jong-il.
The New York Philharmonic arrives in Pyongyang on Monday for a stay of about 48 hours which will culminate in a concert on Tuesday featuring the works of Antonin Dvorak and George Gershwin played before the hermit state's elite members.
"If we are gradually to improve U.S.-Korean relations, such events have the potential to nudge open a door that has been closed too long," the orchestra's music director Lorin Maazel wrote in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week.
The orchestra has tried to break the ice between Cold War foes before with a celebrated visit to the Soviet Union in 1959.
The Bush administration has called the North an outpost of tyranny and part of an axis of evil.

The North's official media say Washington is run by political philistines bent on toppling its leaders and igniting nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.The two states have no diplomatic ties, are technically still at war and have troops staring each other down across the heavily fortified border that has divided North and South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease fire.
It will be the biggest group from the United States since North Korea seized the U.S. spy ship Pueblo 40 years ago and held its 82 crew members for months.
The concert will be broadcast live in both North and South Korea.
One person who will be watching intently is Kim Cheol-woong, a classically trained piano prodigy from North Korea who defected to the South to pursue his passion for Western music.
"The message that will be delivered to North Koreans is: 'the U.S. is kneeling to our Dear Leader Kim Jong-il'," he said.
But pianist Kim believes the concert does have the potential to change hearts and minds in the reclusive state.
Access to foreign music is banned and under normal circumstances, listening to the works that will be played at Tuesday's concert could land a person in prison, he added
GIRLS AND ACCORDIONS
The concert will be a study of contrasts.
The North's "Dear Leader" is a music buff whom state media says has penned revolutionary operas. A staple of state TV are broadcasts of groups of school girls playing accordions to tunes such as "Our General is Best."
The New York Philharmonic's program includes Gershwin's "An American in Paris," about a foreigner discovering the "the city of light."
A shortage of electricity means most of impoverished North Korea is in the dark at night.
The other piece, Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," highlights an immigrant's discovery of America's music. It will be played in a country that forbids most citizens from leaving.
Brian Myers, a North Korea specialist who teaches at the South's Dongseo University, said U.S. and New York Philharmonic officials are mistaken if they think the concert will create any goodwill with the North's leaders.
"The United States is seen as a very duplicitous paper tiger. In other words, as a country that is very frightened of North Korea and its strength and is now trying to while its way into the hearts of the North Korean people," Myers said.
An emboldened North often says it developed nuclear weapons to fend off a hostile United States and that the might of its 1.2-million man military can turn back an invasion.
The chief U.S. envoy in international talks to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program said he hopes this concert will help draw the hermit state out of its shell.
"Sometimes the North Koreans don't like our words," Christopher Hill told reporters in Seoul earlier this week.
"Maybe they will like our music."

Can any music be healing?

One of the questions that I get asked most is whether or not any type of music can be healing. We know that Mozart is really great for healing purposes, as is Gregorian chant, simple vocal toning and Baroque slow movements. But what about jazz, folk music, hip-hop, or the Blues??
Well, I'm here to tell you that any music can indeed be healing for you. It's a very personal and individual process and it dependent on your personal life experience and all of the associations you have with any particular song or piece of music.
The process of choosing healing music is not a quick and easy process. When I work with people to choose music for their surgery, it takes at least an hour of my interviewing them about their life history, their own personal music history and understanding why they are having surgery.
If you're interested in having a personal consultation in preparation for surgery, childbirth, or amy other life event, please go HERE to sign up for a consultation. The price is very reasonable and either you can make your own playlist or CD or I can do it for you.
The benefits of healing music are well-documented. Give yourself and your family the gift of healing music.