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Fairfax Hospital


     Twice monthly since April 2011, four NDC members (including a banjo player) have been leading a singalong in Child Life Services - the pediatric wing of INOVA Fairfax Hospital. The audience includes the children, their siblings, parents, and, on occasion, hospital staff. Flexibility is a must since the children's ages range from infancy to mid teens and it is never known with whom we are going to be singing. Sometimes we croon in the colorful playroom among piles of toys and artist supplies, sometimes we sing in the enclosed outdoor play patio, and sometimes we visit the patients in their rooms. One visit found us in the room of a blind child who loves music and enthusiastically drummed away on the tambourine that we brought. Then we moved on to the room of a special needs child. Both she and her dad happily swayed to the music. Still another occasion found the banjoist playing duets with a talented teenage patient who had brought her guitar to the hospital.


      Research has shown that not only can singing boost the brain’s auditory and language processing, but that music also can lessen stress, help alleviate pain, and help with sleep. From Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain, to Kumbya and Michael Row the Boat Ashore, music truly is one of the healing arts.


New Dominion Chorale - PO Box 6691 - McLean, VA 22106
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