University of Minnesota flutist and master’s student Megan Reich is “eager to learn new music, master new techniques and be introduced to new venues,” writes Imani Cruzen in Tuesday’s (6/25) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “That’s how she found herself … standing in the lobby of a medical building, playing for surgery patients on their way to and from appointments with their doctors…. She is part of the U’s Music Outreach in Healthcare Settings class…. Led by Dr. Michael Silverman, students in the class play individually in the University of Minnesota Health Clinics and Surgery Center lobby in Minneapolis for an hour each week…. ‘It’s so soothing,’ said patient Bessie Engstrom…. Sometimes [Reich] will encounter a youngster who is seeing a flute for the first time, one of Reich’s favorite experiences…. [She is] very much drawn to the idea of music as something that can be healing and something that can help people go through those stresses of their everyday lives.” Dr. Stephanie Misono, director of Lions Voice Clinic in the Department of Otolaryngology, says “having live music be part of the environment” can make being in the hospital “feel a little bit more welcoming and a little less scary.’
Posted June 27, 2019
