“One of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s biggest ongoing success stories is its Music & Wellness Program,” writes Carol Shane in Thursday’s (4/26) Knoxville Mercury (Tenn.). “Introduced by Lucas Richman in 2003, the program began in hospital lobbies with small groups and individuals providing live music in order to enhance the healing process and benefit patients, visitors, and staff. In 2016, the KSO was one of 22 American orchestras to receive a Getty Education and Community Investment Grant” from the League of American Orchestras, “and board-certified music therapist Alana Dellatan Seaton was brought on board to advise the musicians.… The grant also funded teacher certification training through the Music for Healing and Transition Program. Of the five former and current KSO musicians who participated, four are now Certified Music Practitioners … and one continues to collect practicum hours toward certification. Cellist Stacy Nickell and violist Eunsoon Corliss recently sat down to talk about their experiences as therapeutic musicians.” Among issues covered are how playing therapeutic music differs from other types of performing; and playing for acute and non-acute patients, those in high pain and anxiety, hospice patients, and the cognitively impaired.
Posted May 1, 2017
Pictured: Knoxville Symphony musicians perform in the University of Tennessee Medical Center lobby.
