♪ I am brave ♪
♪ I am bruised ♪
♪ I am who I'm meant to me ♪
♪ This is me ♪
♪ Look out 'cause here I come ♪
- Evie is eight years old.
We adopted her from China when she was four.
She was born without eyes and music
and music therapy is just her link to safety
and to enjoyment of the world.
♪ This is me world ♪
As soon as a doctor or nurse touches Evie
she just goes into PTSD anxiety.
You cannot reason with her.
Music is medicine.
It works on a different level
and I think it's important that we wrap around
patients in all areas,
and music is an international language,
and it breaks down barriers and it gets to our emotions
in a way that a pill can't do, a shot can't do.
♪ Reaching for the sun ♪
♪ We are glorious ♪
♪ Yeah, that's what we'll become ♪
- With music therapy we're really using music
to kind of target those therapeutic goals
that are kind of set in place for some of these kids.
Once music was introduced into her environment,
it was almost like a switch was flipped
and she was then calm, she was able to kind of
redirect her focus onto what was going on,
to the music she was singing,
and for a lot of kids I found it really helps
to kind of have their mind elsewhere
to get through a scary situation.
♪ Twinkle, twinkle little star ♪
♪ How I wonder what you are ♪
Every single patient has different needs.
With a baby, we're just kind of normalizing
the environment for him.
Working on some bonding between him and mom.
We're really just kind of getting them used to being
outside of the womb and in the environment.
♪ Will be all right ♪
Almost immediately he calms down.
Music therapy is a way to let kids express themselves.
As kids in school and at home
you're singing songs.
So this way we're kind of bringing some of that
back into this environment
to kind of show them, all right,
maybe this place isn't so scary.
♪ Go around and around ♪
♪ Around and around ♪
♪ The wheels on the chair go around and around ♪
♪ All through the hospital ♪
And then kind of getting into like
the older school age and teens,
we really focus on more of instrument learning,
something to kind of enhance our self-esteem
while they're here in the hospital
not feeling the greatest.
Also we have done song writing in the past
with some of our teens just to kind of
get out on paper what they're kind of thinking
and feeling, and putting some music to it.
In order to kind of validate their feelings
and kind of express themselves with their medical journey.
Yeah, you got it.
(peaceful ukulele music)
A minor.
You go girl.
And then we're gonna end on a C.
♪ Tonight. ♪
What!
That was beautiful.
- Kids like Evie will grow up now
and being able to know she can come
and this will happen and eventually I hope
and I pray that she's okay coming to a doctor.
She doesn't need to be strapped down or swaddled
because music therapy is helping her understand.
She can cope with this.
This will keep going and she'll be okay.
♪ These empty walls ♪
♪ Just watching the hours tick by ♪
♪ Do you wanna build a snowman ♪
♪ It doesn't have to be a ♪
- I can't sing!
- Snowman.
- Snowman. - Okay.
- Bye. - Bye.
(laughing)
- Please get my video going.
(laughing)
- We're getting your video going, okay?