Fall 2007

  BY: JULIE TATRO, MT-BC 

Seasons of Hope 

        Fall greetings friends and soon-to-be-friends!  I'm sure you are as ready to hear about the latest happenings of MSM as you may be for a taste of cooler weather.  Since the last writing, our hope to bring Music Therapy to the children of Shriner's Hospital has come to reality.  Jennifer Miller, one of our board certified Music Therapists, has been visiting with the patients one morning each week.  During her time there, she has had the great opportunity of working with several of the same children each week.  Over the consecutive weeks, the children have been able to not only learn and develop coping skills for medical treatments, but continue to move along their paths towards well functioning young people.  People who, with the help of music therapy, have learned to overcome difficult life situations.  But, here's the special part of this success.  Several of the children to whom Jennifer provides therapy are from Panama.  By learning songs in Spanish, Jennifer has connected with these children and empowered them to overcome the challenges and fears of being in a different country and away from family as well as the stressors of hospitalization.   Your continued support of Music Sweet Music will see that the hope of greater healing through music will now be carried well beyond Tampa Bay.

 Reasons for Joy 

     While we hope that our work will continue to spread across Tampa Bay and beyond, we celebrate the successes we have seen in the last year.  Erin Todd, our board certified Music Therapist providing services to the Speech and Language program at All Children's Hospital, continues to report on the noticeable progress made by toddlers and preschoolers attending her group sessions.  Working in tandem with ACH's Speech Therapists, Erin has integrated the children's speech goals into the music sessions.  The long-term results have parents smiling over their children's growing abilities to connect with their world through speech.

     And speaking of smiles, be sure to notice throughout the website the smiles of kids with their new Q-chords and of kids being kids, not just patients, in the Music Therapy sessions at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.  Again, your support makes our work possible, and those smiles of joy say, "Thank you."

I hope you'll join us for our next benefit in March, but if you can't wait until another season to bring more joy and healing through Music Therapy to the hospitalized children of Tampa Bay, go to our "How to Donate" page or our "Contact Us" page for information on how you can make a difference today.

"To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable."

--Aaron Copland