Music That Moves and Heals --- Lord & Weber

HAI
Left to right: Susan Weber, Fred Eptein, M.D.,
and Kathy Lord
Note: Latin Percussion was asked to donate percussion instruments to the project, Music that Heals, a non profit organization that is located in New York, New York. The following article tells the story of this unique and heartwarming project developed by two musicians, Kathy Lord and Susan Weber.)

In an effort to broaden arts opportunities for institutionalized and hospitalized individuals, HAI's (Hospital Audiences, Inc) In Facility Performance Program has created partnerships. The most recent project is Music that Heals. Initiated by two HAI artists, Kathy Lord and Susan Weber, with Patty Reitkopf, Director of the In Facility Performance Program, this collaboration attempts to address the cultural needs of under served audiences, especially children who are hospitalized, sheltered with a homeless family, or living in an AIDS facility.

Since 1984, Kathy Lord and Susan Weber have inspired countless audiences with their music. As singers and musicians, they have worked in all types of situations: facilities for the blind and aged, AIDS units, shelters for homeless individuals, large psychiatric centers, group homes and day programs, as well as in all types of hospital settings. Lord and Weber have made younger audiences their personal concern. On one occasion, they recall, they were in a pediatric intensive care unit in Beth Israel Medical Center in NYC, strolling from bed to bed with a guitar and some hand percussion instruments, singing to some very sick children. There was one little girl, two or three years old, who had just been brought up from brain surgery. She was crying as staff members transferred her to her bed. Someone asked the musicians to sing for her and, as they did so, she gradually stopped crying. Three songs later, her mother gratefully remarked that "music is the only thing that calms her down."

Lord and Weber's efforts have not gone unnoticed. Dr. Fred Epstein, world-renowned neurosurgeon, Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Beth Israel Medical Center, as well as the Director of the Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery, has had a firsthand opportunity to recognized the impact live music has on the lives of afflicted patients and their families. From his perspective, "the performances that Kathy Lord and Susan Weber have made available are of importance in facilitating recovery, easing pain and helping patients and families fine emotional tranquility."

Lord and Weber share HAI's conviction that live performances can benefit people's health and well being. Music That Heals endeavors to harness this healing power.

For further information on Music That Heals, please contact: Kathy Lord and Susan Weber or HAI.