While the main focus of sharing music at the Emily Couric Cancer Center is to positively influence the atmosphere, there are many benefits for the performers that result from the experience. Learning to play music in a community space helps a musician learn to play for a cause beyond their own enjoyment.
Michael Slon
Sharing music at the ECCCC is a great way to practice for an upcoming recital, competition, or other performance. According to Jeanne Jackson, playing in the community can help improve a musician's performance skills because it may motivate them to practice more thoroughly since they're bringing their music out in public. Setting a date to play at the ECCCC before another scheduled performance can improve a musician's practice, therefore better preparing them for the other upcoming performance. It's a good idea to schedule a performance at the ECCCC around the same time as another recital or performance because "you have to work as hard for both (performances),"Jackson said in an interview.
Preparing for a performance at the ECCCC can also improve the practicing experience because the goal a musician has in mind is different than that of a traditional recital, Jackson stated. A musician has in mind, while practicing for a performance in the ECCCC, that the performance is meant to put a smile on someone's face. This state of mind gives greater purpose to daily practice. Jackson said she has noticed that students, "love having a sense of purpose."
Performing at the ECCCC teaches musicians to stay present while performing. As stated by Kate Tamarkin, "Studying music is self-intensive, not selfish, but has focus on the self." In traditional performance settings, the musician and their music are the center of attention, but a performance at the ECCCC helps, "musicians learn to be present while performing."
Tamarkin said in an interview, "Your music sounds different when you’re present while playing it." Performing at the ECCCC, or in any community space for that matter, pushes a musician to listen to their own music in real time, since they must be in tune with their surroundings during the performance.
Michael Slon said that his own experience performing in the community with his high school choir "absolutely" shaped his growth as a musician. He said that doing community playing shows musicians how to perform in different environments, how to value making a difference, and teaches them to focus and listen while performing. When a musician actively listens to their music while performing it, the performance inherently improves.
Slon also stated that community playing helps musicians learn and understand that communicating and expressing - in other words, meaningful connection with others - are goals of a performance; not necessarily just technical perfection. This focus on expression over perfection does more to connect the performer and the audience.
Performing at the ECCCC provides musicians with a glimpse of a reality they may not have experienced before. Many musicians who volunteer are healthy and have been fortunate enough to receive musical training, and are not actively experiencing the reality of the patients, families, and caregivers present at the ECCCC.
Kate Tamarkin stated that playing in a hospital, "brings you to have empathy for those who are typically shut away by society." She elaborated, "It’s good to see other peoples’ reality."
The experience of sharing music in the ECCCC is good for personal growth. Grant Frazier stated about playing music in the hospital with Harmonies for Healing, "It's also given me a whole different perspective on my life - The word that really comes to mind is gratitude. I'm incredibly thankful for the life I've been given and for the health and well-being of myself and loved ones around me. By seeing the struggles that others are going through, I become more aware of the incredible gifts I've been given and to never forget what I have and to always be thankful for that."
Performing at the ECCCC gives greater significance to the process of preparing music and sharing music with others. As Jeanne Jackson said in an interview, "Performance anxiety can get you focused on yourself, and what I think playing in the community does is it reminds you that music can be a gift to the world." A saying Jackson recalled from her choir director as a student is, "Remember that you can make somebody’s day better with your music." Jackson elaborated on this statement, saying, "To have a sense of purpose, that you can contribute to the greater good of mankind through this skill you’ve learned, is a wonderful feeling." Performing at the ECCCC allows musicians to feel a higher sense of satisfaction and fulfillment from a performance.
In an interview with Kate Tamarkin, I asked if she shared music in her community as a student. She said that while she did not do much playing in the community as a student, it would have helped her grow as a musician, but it also would have helped her grow as a person. She said about her current work as a therapeutic musician, "I feel useful, and they say that everyone who feels useful lives longer." Sharing music at the ECCCC allows musicians to use their musical skills in a productive, helpful way, lending greater purpose to their work.
Similarly, Heather Hightower remarked that her experience singing as a volunteer in a church as a student strengthened in her, "the muscle of knowing that it’s not about me; that the music is an offering." She said that for anyone considering whether they should get involved with sharing music at the ECCCC, the answer is "absolutely" because you can "play and experience yourself as a vessel of music." She went on to say that performing live music is, "a powerful skill, and the world needs more of it."
Grant Frazier said that his work with Harmonies for Healing has taught him, "empathy and compassion - by bringing in my talents and efforts, I can impact the lives of those around me in a way that I sometimes can't even understand."
Evidently, musicians benefit from a sense of purpose and usefulness derived from sharing music in the community. By performing at the ECCCC, musicians benefit from applying their musical skills to contribute to a more healing atmosphere that can positively influence the treatment process for patients, families, and staff.
Performing at the ECCCC (or in any community space) can both affirm musicians in their mission and performance skills, and be a source of inspiration. Sharing music in the community allows a musician to experience touching, moving experiences that cannot be gained from sharing music electronically or even in a recital or concert setting. Musicians can develop deep connections with their audience when the audience members are physically and emotionally benefitting from the experience.
It is possible and likely that a musician may be complimented on their music when playing in a public space. Heather Hightower said in an interview, "When we love making music, the value of having somebody come up to you and share their joy or appreciation for your gifts never gets old, and it can be really nurturing as the musician receiving that affirmation."
Additionally, a musician can build confidence in performing after successfully sharing music in a space like the ECCCC that has many distractions.
Heather Hightower
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