BMC Neurology Patients Collaborate with BU Students to Display the Healing Power of Music
What do you get when you combine students from the Boston University College of Fine Arts, talented BMC neurology patients, and a few instruments? A concert to remember.
For the last seven years, Boston University’s Arts|Lab program, which aims to help people reimagine art in society, has sponsored a production that features a unique musical collaboration between CFA students and BMC patients. The concert, befittingly called “When Patients Heal You,” offers those living with a variety of neurological disorders the opportunity to present themselves in a different light – as artists.
This year, patient performances ranged from gospel to classical music and were dedicated to the BMC neurology team as well as patient friends and family that were in attendance.
“What makes this concert so magical is that it displays the universality of music, with patients and students representing a variety of cultures and still being able to communicate through song,” said Moisès Fernández Via, MD, director of the Arts|Lab. “We only give patients and students one day to rehearse and create something beautiful. This challenges everyone to trust their individual talent, each other, and their instrument.”
Patients showcased their skills on the saxophone, bass and electric guitar. Some also played and sang their own composed music with the support of CFA musicians, including violinists, pianists, and singers.
The newest patient to join the production this year called the event, “life-changing” as it helped reconnect him with the instrument he fell in love with as a young boy – the saxophone. “I got the chance to improv with a CFA afro-jazz percussionist, and it was one of the best moments I’ve had in a long time,” said the patient.