South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Stroke patients tune in to music during recovery
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra program began in 2015
It could have been any day at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts: musicians from the U.K.’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra practicing on musical instruments in Steinmetz Hall.
What made Tuesday different was stroke survivors and AdventHealth clinicians were there too, sitting in a circle of folding chairs and drumming along.
The nonprofessionals had only a few hours of practice, but accompanied by a London violinist, bassoonist and trumpeter, they created a beautiful and spirited medley of music.
Stroke survivor Brandon Watson, 39, described the tune as “funky” and emotionally cathartic.
“I can say that I cried; I cried in the middle of this. You just develop these feelings, emotions, that you can’t talk about, but you have them. And this taps into it,” said Watson. “When you have other people, you all share in the same emotion.”
The program, Strokestra, uses music-making to help stroke survivors recover emotionally and physically. Since a successful 2015 pilot, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra musicians have partnered with clinicians to touch hundreds of stroke survivors, according to the orchestra’s website.
On Monday and Tuesday, Strokestra musicians were in Orlando to demonstrate the program to local stroke patients and AdventHealth clinicians in a learning exchange hosted by the Dr. Phillips Center. This program has happened only once before in the U.S., at Emory University in 2019.
Though Strokestra is unique, the performance echoed the decades-long practice of using music to help patients recover. Music has been a catalyst for healing and Central Floridian stroke survivors have access to treatment such as music therapy and other performing arts.
Funded largely by donations, both Orlando Health and AdventHealth Orlando offer music therapy to patients.
Music therapy became a formal profession in the mid-20th century. It uses music to help patients reach non-musical goals, according to Rich Moats, director of integrative and creative arts therapies and a board-certified music therapist at AdventHealth Central Florida.
Strokestra is not music therapy, but professional clinicians and musicians can learn from each other, said Moats, who attended Monday and Tuesday’s demonstration.
“My hope is that music therapists in the nation could collaborate more with things like an orchestra to really bring more music to people out in the community,” she added.
Watson has participated in music therapy before to help his stroke recovery. He actually credits music therapy at Orlando Health with sending his well-being “through the roof.”
“I drop my worries about my limitations and I can just be free,” Watson said.
His journey began on a July night three years ago. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and back, called 911, then passed out.
When he woke up, AdventHealth doctors told him he had an aortic dissection — a tear that occurs in the inner layer of the body’s main artery — and a stroke, which is when blood supply to the brain is blocked, often causing brain damage.
Though he had high blood pressure, he never thought something so serious would happen to him. He needed open heart surgery.
“They came into my hospital room, and they told me my life was changed forever,” Watson said.
Initially, his body was partially paralyzed, he was in a wheelchair, and he could barely speak.
He began music therapy alongside physical rehabilitation within weeks of the event.
Three years later, though he’s still in recovery, he’s walking and talking.
He credits music more for his emotional well-being than his ability to speak again, but it could have helped in that area, too.
Music therapy is theorized to stimulate patients’ brains, helping the brain heal after strokes in what is called a plasticity process, said Dr. Indrani Acosta, neurologist and medical director for stroke at AdventHealth Central Florida.
Repetition exercises and songs are especially helpful for people who struggle to talk after strokes, such as Watson. Repeating after someone is often easier than formulating an original sentence, Acosta said.
“[There are not] only changes that happen in the actual brain tissue, per se, but you know, we humans love music, right?” Acosta said. “It also affects the mood of the patient, the sense of self.”
Music can also help people recover from other conditions.
Orlando Health and AdventHealth Orlando’s programs offer credentialed music therapists to help pediatric patients, cancer patients and others whose doctors think they may benefit.
The Dr. Phillips Center uses dance, plays and music to connect with other groups, said Kathy Ramsberger, president and CEO.
The center has hosted programs for children with autism spectrum disorder, Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers, Ramsberger said. It is one of only a handful of performing arts centers in the country to earn a Certified Autism Center designation from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards.
“We’re very much a young organization. So it’s very easy for us to say: let’s try it; let’s do it,” Ramsberger said. “How can [we] be uniquely different amongst art centers around the world?
And also, how can we really make an impact in a very welcoming environment?”