LSO on Call: A healing experience for the Whole Community

by Lisa Wong, M.D.
A thought occurred to me last Saturday afternoon, as I made my way through the rain to the warm and sunny little room that is the Child Life space in Boston's Shriners Hospital for Children --that some might find it curious that on a day off from the hospital, so many of us are instead returning to the hospital.
Why?
The reason: To play music for the kids.

The answer is more complex than that, and summed up in the motto of the Longwood Symphony, that we are "Healing the Community through Music." It's because the healing goes both ways: healing for the patients, their families, yes. But also for the caregivers and musicians themselves.

On April 11, six musicians spent an afternoon with the children of Shriners Hospital, sharing music and laughter and a bit of themselves. I got to go along for the blog.

First, the musicians introduce their instruments: "This is a viola. It's a litttle bigger than a violin, sounds a little lower, and is even more fun to play!"

"This is a flute. It's called a "woodwind" even though it is silver, because the first flutes used to be made of wood, and the name stuck."

Then they introduce themselves:
"I'm studying the heart."
"I'm studying the brain and the nervous system."
"I'm doing research on cancer."
"I used to be a dentist, then I started a school for little children to learn the violin."

"I am a pediatric intern and I remembered visiting this hospital when I was a medical student. I always wanted to come back to play for you."

And finally, the real magic begins. The musicians share music, first in duo combinations-- two violas, two violins, flute and violin--and finally in larger groups of four and five.

Then they invite the children to touch the instruments, learn how the music is made, and be a part of the music-making themselves.

Stephanie Clark, a Shriners Child Life specialist and Music Therapist, (also a French horn player), explains to us that the kids are from the Honduras, Peru, and Boston. Some have spent months in the hospital as they recover from their burns. Others have been flown in and out of their home countries over many years for the multiple revisions necessary after severe burns.

While the hands and faces of these youngsters bear the painful scars from another day in another place, on this day, their smiles, enthusiasm, and curiosity lifts us all: patients, families, caregivers, and musicians alike.

That's Healing our Community through Music.

Visual Violins- Art for Healing

Two years ago, Longwood Symphony Orchestra held "VISUAL VIOLINS," a special fundraising event that brought together artists, musicians and healers to create art for healing.

Twelve artists were given violins to create into art, which were auctioned to raise funds for the cancer care centers throughout Boston. A Virtuoso Violin was signed by violin soloists and Yo-Yo Ma and a Sports Violin was signed by the 2006 Red Sox.

At that time, Boston Medical Center was just completing its state-of-the-art cancer center bringing "Exceptional Care without Exception" right into the heart of the inner city.

With the funds raised by LSO that evening we became a sponsor of the Joseph Moakley Cancer Center and got our name on their donor wall! When the center had its official opening in the fall of 2007, LSO was there, providing chamber music for the celebration.

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This year, the journey continues. "Visual Violins II: Creativity, Leadership, and Healing" will raise funds for LSO's Healing Art of Music Program, a unique program that empowers smaller medical charities to raise awarness and funds through our concert performances.

This time we have created the Academic Violin, which bears the signatures of the presidents, provosts, adn medical school deans from all four of our Massachusetts medical school


Dean Karen Antman, BU School of Medicine, herself a musician and parent of musicians











Harvard President Drew Faust and Longwood Symphony President Lisa Wong

Interviews with David McCarroll and Edward Jones

On February 28, Longwood Symphony Orchestra will perform its 3rd concert of the season with our wonderful Guest Conductor Edward Jones, and the 23 year old violinist David McCarroll, who is already on the international stage, but is also a student of Donald Weilerstein at New England Conservatory of Music.

Longwood Symphony plays at the intersection of the arts, medicine, and healing.

David and Ed have also come from a background where music and caring go hand in hand. Here are some thoughts they have shared with LSO:

Q: As you know, Longwood Symphony Orchestra's concert will be a collaboration with ALS Therapy Development Institute. Does the Longwood model affect your music or change your perspective in any way?

EJ: Longwood's model of presenting concerts to highlight medical causes is a laudable one. In terms of audience demographics, it's fascinating: half of the audience comes to support its colleagues in the medical community, and in the process hears wonderful music; the other half, I suspect, come to hear the music and in the process become educatino in the fight against disease. Symphony orchestras and other arts organizations should be central players in any community, and yet so frequently they are marginalized. Longwood has found a way of reaching out and bridgin disparate groups of people, and it does so very successfully. It's always a thrill and a responsibility to introduce new audiences to music, and this group is a great ambassador for the future of classical music.

DMc: This sense of the healing power of music is very personal for me. My parents have cared for children with AIDS since I was very young--in Romania, Uganda and South Africa-- but also in my home in California. They adopted and fostered several generations of children with AIDS with whom I grew up, some of whom are no longer with us. I began playing when I was four and quickly realized music was much more important to my family than just entertainment. I try to bring this sense of healing and transcending everyday problems to all performances, but it is especially meaningful to me to be playing with this very special group of peole and know that it will be benefiting ALS patients.

Q: Have you performed other concerts for medical needs or medical causes?

EJ: Many of my earliest musical experiences were playing for the pupils in my mother's school--a school for severely mentally handicapped children. I would play the trumpet and piano for them, and it was during these formative years that i really experienced the power of music-makiing to physically transform and heal. Children who were in constant pain and torment seemed to experience slight relief and even enjoyment from the music, and that is something I have tried to keep constantly in mind since. For many people, music can be--and should be--a truly life-changing event. Too often in our culture, music is seen as an elitis past-time with no real relevance to the world--as witnessed by the endless cutting of music education budgets: the work of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra proves this to be completely false.

D Mc: I've done a lot of performing in hospitals and healthcare settings and it is definitely a very different experience from performing in a concert hall. You really feel first hand how important music is and I think it's also the act of going to play for one person or a small group of people in need of music that sets this apart. I've also played concerts for the peace organization Fellowship of Reconciliation and Doctors without Borders, which I feel are important causes, especially with the many conflicts facing the world today.