THANK YOU Dale Rabiner of DHR Guitar Experience

THANK YOU to Dale Rabiner, owner of DHR Guitar Experience in Oakley. His sponsor gift supplies a large FLEA ukulele set to mental health applications of music therapy. And it enables the “Ukulele Art” fundraiser to zip past the base goal (not a finish line)!

Please meet Dale in this video. Discover what his special guitar shop in the heart of Oakley is all about. If you love guitars, pay him a visit, don’t miss out.

I personally can testify to the DHR Guitar Experience. Delivers everything promised in the video. You experience the depth of Dale’s knowledge and passion for fine guitars. The shop is quaint, comfortable and amply stocked with well-displayed variety. Especially if left-handed and want to play naturally vs. told just play right-handed (by right-handed staffers at other stores). Paul McCartney never settled for that.

Browsing and play opportunities are guided without pressure. Easily extend the experience via: exceptional accessories and supplies, lessons to start or build talents, hosted events with outstanding musicians. And letting that “healthy guitar contagion” stimulate repeat visits to discover and set your sights on your next dream guitar!

Remember those SAT analogies? Dale and DHR Guitar Experience is to Guitar Enthusiasts as Music Therapy is to Patients. The parallels are striking. It’s all about customizing live musicianship with quality instruments to create joy in life, no matter what obstacles stand in the way.

I am proud to have Dale join me in dedicating this ukulele set to the College Hill campus of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Devoted to PSYCHIATRY. Two music therapists serve individuals and groups – complementing their many other life saving and stabilizing interventions. PLEASE watch this video. We all can work together to shatter the stigma of talking, learning about and seeking Mental Health treatment.

Please consider making a contribution to our ongoing “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe. Steady growth beyond the base goal brings more holistic music therapy to those in critical care settings.

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

THANK YOU to The Magic Fluke Company

THANK YOU to Phyllis and Dale Webb, plus all of the terrific folks at The Magic Fluke Company, for donating a FIREFLY tenor banjo-ukulele and custom TKL case.

This is a gift to Brian Schreck, MA, MT-BC, honoring how he touches hundreds of patient and family member lives with heartfelt music therapy.

Music therapy does not get any more HEARTFELT than actually incorporating patient HEARTBEATS in the process. Brian’s innovation has been featured by media big and small over the past few years. Adoption by other music therapists is growing. This May 2014 feature at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital shares the heart of it:

What is a FIREFLY banjo-ukulele? One of many creations of The Magic Fluke Co.

The FIREFLY is much like a traditional open-back banjo. Packs distinctive “banjo twang” and “driving rhythm”, yet is strung with nylon strings. Plays with ease and fun of a ukulele. Lighter, easier to hold than a traditional banjo. We donated several SOPRANO size versions of the FIREFLY to hospitals and they are a huge hit. The TENOR size has a longer 17″ scale with 8″ Remo banjo head, steel tone ring, beautiful maple.

The Magic Fluke Company – Sheffield, Massachusetts USA

USA innovation spirit and premium craftsmanship doesn’t get any better than instruments handmade by The Magic Fluke! This family run business in Sheffield, Massachusetts melds creativity, ingenuity and fine workmanship into an expanding line of superb acoustic instruments. CLICK HERE or photo above for an inside glimpse.

Their novel FLEA ukuleles are the heart and soul of True Joy Acoustics. Perfect for players of any ability. Ideal “tools” for supporting music therapy in critical healthcare settings where each one helps hundreds of patients.

Please consider making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe. Soaring past the goal will bring more holistic music therapy to those in critical care settings.

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

THANK YOU Kathryn Bruno, MT-BC for brightening lives!

Two brand new FLEA ukuleles with cases are being donated to Kathryn Bruno, MT-BC in honor of her music therapy impact at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and her present role at Eating Recovery Center Cincinnati.

Our direct instrument donations (supported by sales proceeds) are not traditionally “counted” toward GoFundMe and sponsorship goals. However, we’re stretching beyond limits to recognize Kathryn’s special impact and collaborative relationship.

Seeing is believing. In this video (May 2011), young Milosh is in ICU awaiting a heart transplant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He responds to a music therapy session led by Kathryn, who engages a guitar-strumming nurse and musical mom in the process.

Fast forward 2 years (August 2013), beyond the heart procedure. Milosh is home, enjoying a FLEA ukulele gifted to him in honor of his beaming smile and spirit.

Beyond asserting positive impact on patients and families, Kathryn has a skill of sharing what Music Therapy is all about with the general public. CLICK our prior post where she visits Cincinnati’s local NBC studio to explain her pediatric hospital role. Along with music therapist Mimi Sinclair, Kathryn enages the host in a lively demo.

Since April 2016, Kathryn expanded beyond pediatrics to lead the music therapy program at Eating Recovery Center in Cincinnati. ERC is the nation’s largest network for treating eating disorders; they also treat mood and anxiety disorders.

Emotional coping is involved with any life-threatening disease or physical impairment. Mental health can also pose a “front and center” challenge. Music therapy adds to other interventions to create successful outcomes. Please CLICK and read a blog co-authored by Kathryn, telling how music therapy responds to this mindset:

‘I’m hopeless,’ I sobbed to my therapist, ‘I’m never going to get better’ … I was convinced that nothing was going to change.

Talking openly, becoming aware and seeking helpful interventions for mental health is often blocked by stigma in our culture. We hope this post and Kathryn’s continued music therapy successes help chip away that stigma.

Please consider making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe. Soaring past the goal will bring more holistic music therapy to those in critical care settings.

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

THANK YOU Rainsong Graphite Guitars

THANK YOU to Rainsong Graphite Guitars for donating their newest model (CH-OM), fully equipped with LR Baggs electronics and hard shell case.

Special thanks to Dave who viewed and shared the innovative music therapy role of Brian Schreck, MA, MT-BC within Rainsong. He secured fast, special case agreement to donate this guitar to Brian and his work at Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville – shipping it cross country with my latest guitar adventure. Love Rainsong guitars!

Rainsong is an innovative USA designer and manufacturer of carbon fiber guitars. Located in Woodinville, WA (Seattle area) which has logging roots, densely wooded neighborhoods, sweeping winery grounds. But not a speck of wood in their guitars!

What is “carbon fiber”? How is it formed into superior acoustic instruments?

Carbon fiber is composed mostly of carbon atoms bonded together at high temperature (up to 2,800°C). Lightweight yet extremely strong, chemically resistant and woven into fabrics. Rainsong blends and layers these fabrics with ingenuity – creating a guitar with stunning tonal properties, classy appearance and lightness. Very comfortable to play. Resilient to swings in temperature and humidity. Musical notes form and flow freely from the guitar’s soundboard and smooth interior since no bracing is required.

In other words: take a premium wood acoustic guitar. Design IN the visual elegance, articulation, tonal balance and sustain of a concert hall piano. Design OUT natural instabilities of glued wood construction (swells, contractions, warps, looseness). Now CROSS IT with the lightweight sleekness of an Indy race car. Voilà!

Why is this guitar well suited for Music Therapy? If you play all day, every day and subject a guitar to rigorous sanitization protocols, the advantages listed above are obvious. A not-so-obvious benefit is a Rainsong guitar’s superb tuning stability since the instrument is not expanding/contracting with changes in room conditions (which causes tuning to drift). Time is spent making live music, not tuning and retuning.

What’s special here is this guitar’s matchup with an innovative Music Therapist. The pioneering work of Brian Schreck is featured in this preview of a heart stirring documentary entitled “The Beat of the Heart”:

 

For more information about Rainsong Graphite Guitars, please visit: www.rainsong.com. You can also see an exceptional review of Rainsong’s CH-OM guitar by Teja Gerken of www.pegheadnation.com:

Play guitar. Play ukulele. And please consider making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe. Reaching and soaring past the goal will bring more holistic music therapy to those in critical care settings.

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

 

Dayton Children’s Hospital – Music Therapy In Action

It was an honor last week to connect area sponsors and support Lindsey Steinbrunner, MT-BC with versatile instruments at Dayton Children’s Hospital. Lindsey is a board certified music therapist and graduate of University of Dayton’s program.

The five donated instruments are ideal “tools” for music therapy. They would not be possible without the generosity of Dayton area sponsors: Together We Fight and Hauer Music. Please click on their names to see, share and support their missions.

Together We Fight provides newly diagnosed cancer patients with colorful totes packed with care items. Hauer Music helps everyone bring music into the world –– offering virtually any musical instrument, accessory and lesson you would want plus a stage.

Dayton Children’s captured the event on their website, along with area news stations:

Lindsey and instrument sponsors also shared their programs via live studio appearance on “Living Dayton” at WDTN (NBC affiliate) – CLICK on photo to watch:

Please consider joining this heartfelt cause. Making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe will bring more holistic care to those in critical care settings:

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital – Music Therapy In Action

Last May, a Sapphire Blue FLEA ukulele was donated to Maya Charlton, MA, MT-BC and her music therapy team at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. Made possible by generous GoFundMe sponsors. While “basic” ukuleles are used, Maya wanted to try out a FLEA ukulele in her intensive care work given its special features.

Her response below shares what this innovative ukulele can achieve.

“We are so very grateful for your very generous donation of the beautiful ukulele. It has had constant use since it arrived and has brought so much joy and relaxation to patients, families and staff.

I’m attaching pictures of a young patient of ours who was in both intensive care and rehabilitation. In the ICU the ukulele brought him great joy and relaxation in my work with him. His mood was very low, pain management was a big issue.

When he moved to rehabilitation our music therapist, John Mulcahy, MT-BC, continued use with the ukulele to help strengthen his motor skills, motivate him in meeting his physical therapy goals and give him success-based experiences. Today he finally gets to go home, having met all his rehabilitation goals. Thank you again for all you do and having such a positive impact on so many!”

– Maya Charlton, MA, MT-BC, July 2017

Watch and hear the power of this program. Not just described by Maya, but many testimonials from MD’s, RN’s and PT’s. Kathryn Garcia-Rivera sums it up well at 4:20: “When I see kids participating in music therapy, I see them come out of their shell, they lose their fear, and it’s replaced by joy”.

Maya would love to have a larger set of FLEA ukuleles to reach more patients from Oakland, San Francisco and broader California region. Each instrument lasts for years, reaching hundreds of patients. Contact me directly (info@truejoyacoustics.com) or visit GoFundMe page below if you or your organization would like to help.

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

THANK YOU “Together We Fight” in Dayton, OH

THANK YOU to Together We Fight for sponsoring a colorful set of THREE concert FLEA ukuleles for the new music therapy program at Dayton Children’s Hospital.

Together We Fight is a Dayton based foundation started by the families of Ally Barnett and Caulin Booher. Both children successfully battled leukemia at Dayton Children’s.

What’s it like to be a child receiving a cancer diagnosis and life saving interventions? How does it feel as their parents or sibling? Caulin Booher and his family provide an inspirational glimpse in the hospital website’s Patient Story and video:

Together We Fight supports kids diagnosed with cancer via gift bags packed with ample supplies: pillow pets, gas cards, parking tokens, gift cards, games, other items for a long hospital stay. They send a powerful message: you’re not alone, we’re in this together. Follow on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TogetherWeFightCancer/) to see and help their fundraising.

We share a similar mission of togetherness. FLEA ukuleles donated via True Joy Acoustics weave a heartfelt MUSICAL connection among patients, families, therapists, purchasers, sponsors and broader community.

Music therapy started May 2017 at Dayton Children’s main campus. Lindsey Steinbrunner, MT-BC packs a 3-day schedule serving up to 15 patients (going basis) in their rooms using a basic instrument set. FLEA ukuleles will boost the hospital’s music therapy capability and joy.

Each FLEA ukulele can reach hundreds of patients in the years ahead given their ease of play, durability, resilience to sanitization procedures. They are central to our hospital donation concept (i.e., instruments well suited for Music Therapy sessions AND loaning to patients for 24/7 therapeutic play) at leading pediatric hospitals since 2009.

Please consider joining this heartfelt cause. Making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe will bring more holistic care to those in critical care settings:

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

THANK YOU C. F. Martin & Co.

THANK YOU to C. F. Martin & Co. for donating two premium “0X Uke” instruments with colorful red and blue bamboo finishes, plus Martin cases. Special thanks to Kristi B.

C. F. Martin & Co. (Nazareth, PA) is America’s premier GUITAR maker. Over 180 years! Fun fact: Martin turned out more UKULELES than guitars during the 1920’s given the ukulele boom triggered by a 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.

What makes this donation special is that True Joy Acoustics originated its hospital donation concept (i.e., instruments well suited for Music Therapy sessions AND loaning to patients for 24/7 therapeutic play) in 2009 with a “Little Martin” guitar. Brian Schreck, MA, MT-BC relayed its instant reception and full-time utility at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The Little Martin’s impeccable quality and “high pressure laminate” construction (holds up to rigorous sanitization) enabled it to become a versatile TOOL for music therapy in critical care settings. Due to various factors, however, the program expanded with FLEA brand ukuleles to broaden patient reach beyond guitars: smaller body, fewer and softer nylon strings, easier mastery.

Since our 2010 launch, Martin introduced “0X” bamboo ukes which have cheerful colors and the same rugged construction as their Little Martin guitar. The company’s donation of these instruments is a reflection on our program roots, plus a heartfelt gesture that will undoubtedly touch hundreds of patients in the years ahead.

These colorful Martin ukuleles will be presented to Brian Schreck in recognition of his pioneering spirit and impact. Now located in Louisville, Brian’s music therapy team at Norton Healthcare serves adult and pediatric patients.

For more information about Martin guitars, visit: https://www.martinguitar.com. Treat yourself or a family member to a beautiful Martin! And please consider making a contribution to our “Ukuleles for Hospital Music Therapy” campaign on GoFundMe:

https://www.gofundme.com/ukuleleshospitalMT

Reaching the goal will bring more holistic music therapy to those in critical care settings.

Everybody Has A Story – Vanderbilt Music Therapy Project

Image from website of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt

Inspirational stories of Music Therapy are produced and shared at growing frequency.

Not just news headliners , e.g., congresswoman Gabby Giffords’ remarkable recovery from gunshot trauma, but stories of everyday folks facing crisis with music.

They enable an inside glimpse of what it’s like to be a child and their family facing a difficult health challenge. How sheer musical power can create connection, expression, hope –– even physical and spiritual healing –– during such times.

Here’s one featuring Jenny Plume, music therapist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Her Everybody Has A Story program enrolls the help of Nashville stars. Patients write their own songs with Jenny’s help, then watch their music come to “star power” life in the studio with Amy Grant, Alison Krauss, Faith Hill, Vince Gill and others.

Watch and share this 7″ video. Feel and share the inspiration!

True Joy Acoustics proudly donated the Red FLEA ukulele shown in the video (at :30) to Jenny’s pediatric hospital program a couple years back. Still going strong!

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Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

click to visit our website

Bloggers, visit us on: WordPress (True Joy Acoustics – Community), WordPress (Ukulele Shops), Tumblr (Ukulele Shops) and Blogger (Ukulele Shops). Comments and connections welcome!

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS

The Power of Music In Final Months – Zach Sobiech

Zach Sobiech. Incredible. A high schooler with only a few precious months to live, choosing to create and share his music. Helping everyone find joy and courage with his “Clouds” song. 2+ million views already. I thank CNN Student News for sharing his story, my daughter made me aware of this week’s school broadcast.

Click here for the CNN Student News feature. Zach’s story is 3 minutes (start 3:31, end 6:40). Starts with Zach on ukulele.

Our program continually advocates and donates FLEA ukuleles for music therapy, helping many kids deal with challenges similar to Zach.

Wanna’ PLAY or PLEDGE a FLEA® ukulele? Visit www.truejoyacoustics.com to learn more plus connect to Amazon and eBay listings. Purchases are convenient, secure, delivered FREE (continental USA) and backed by Buyer Protection Programs on these two well established e-commerce stores.

Email me at info@truejoyacoustics.com if you would like to sponsor a donation of one or more FLEA ukuleles to the music therapy program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s easy and will certainly bring joy to your heart as well as many kids spending weeks in a hospital.

click to visit our website

Bloggers, visit us on: WordPress (True Joy Acoustics – Community), WordPress (Ukulele Shops), Tumblr (Ukulele Shops) and Blogger (Ukulele Shops). Comments and connections welcome!

Greg, TRUE JOY ACOUSTICS