Dr. Kathy May Tran practices her instrument while on break at Massachusetts General Hospital. Photo courtesy of Boston Hope
“In a six-week pilot collaboration between New England Conservatory and Massachusetts General Hospital this fall, the Boston Hope Music Teaching Project connected teaching fellows from NEC with frontline health care workers for weekly private music lessons,” writes Zoë Madonna in Friday’s (1/8) Boston Globe. “The goal wasn’t to teach them skill or technique, but to provide a refuge from day-to-day life on the COVID ward, said Boston Hope Music codirector Dr. Lisa Wong … a pediatrician who codirects the Arts and Humanities Initiative at Harvard Medical School and formerly served as the president of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra…. The pilot program was an encouraging success…. Trauma informed care is typically directed at patients…. And in its initial phase, Boston Hope Music was focused on patients…. The patients weren’t the only ones who benefited from the music therapy; it touched the doctors and nurses as well. So when Boston Hope closed down as the spring surge receded, Boston Hope Music devoted some attention to caring for the caregivers…. Dr. Kathy May Tran, who … plays violin and viola, says, ‘Our teaching fellows say that the MGH students actually practice more than their other students. I think that shows the excitement for this project.’ ”
