Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital has released a series of YouTube videos featuring the recording experience of our “rock star clients.” Holland Bloorview Rocks is a unique community music therapy program offered as part of music and arts programming at Holland Bloorview where clients can explore their inner rock star. The program showcases kids of Holland Bloorview's music therapy programs in a one-of-a-kind band performance.
Click here to review the videos
Recently we interviewed Andrea Lamont, the music therapist and coordinator of this program:
Can you tell us about the HB Rocks program?
HBRocks was initiated by a successful businessman in 2015, who is a long-time Holland Bloorview donor and a musician and, a member of The Jam club for local musicians in Toronto. He wanted to give back to the hospital in a different way, by providing actual music and interacting with the kids through music. It was a different kind of volunteering. Entering into our community music therapy programming with this community partner, The Jam, we were able to offer, a real life rock star experience, something we wouldn’t have been able to manage on our own. He was able to initially provide us with the space to have a stage, a wonderful audience and musicians to cooperate with. All of this helped the kids feel the joy of being able to access music.
Can you tell us more about the founder?
The founder’s name is Garson Hoffman, a successful businessman in the community. He loves rock and roll. He has done a lot for Holland Bloorview in our major fundraising through the years. He’s been a consistent member who’s always lent his leadership to make sure that we get community involvement, including donations. He connects us with donors in the community to help with program equipment or even t-shirts for the kids. Garson is a great musician, so he’s able to provide leadership for the kids in accessing key boards or guitar. He’s a good singer and a lovely, forward-thinking individual.
What are the ultimate goals of this project?
Initially, our first desired outcome was to provide a rock star experience for the kids to help raise funds for the Holland Bloorview Foundation. The foundation generously supports music and arts programming and we felt this was a wonderful way to help bring awareness and generate support. After several successful years we certainly continue to have a focus on that but the transformation of the kids as well as raising awareness to change perceptions became more important. It led to an interesting conversation with some jam members who say they have been transformed in this experience as well. One of The Jam members told us he has benefitted from this musical relationship and he realised that he could imagine hiring some of them one day. From his interactions over the years, he sees our clients as having a potential place in the workplace, with the ability to interact and form relationships and to express themselves musically, just like him.
Though the pandemic meant we could not have a big public performance this year, we were able to adapt the program and bring the rock concert to the general public by filming YouTube videos to show off our talented crew during a recording session.
There are many stigmas about people with disabilities, how is this project challenging those stigmas?
I think we are sometimes stuck with an image of who a musician “should be”. Many people think that they are not allowed to sing or enjoy music because they are not at a “Canadian Idol” level. The truth is, our clients are showing that we are all musicians and that we all can embrace our inner musical child. Everyone has the right to music and everyone should be able to express themselves as musicians. We are broadening the notion of the rock star and offering the opportunity for our clients to imagine and actuate this identity.
Are the kids trained?
Some of the kids have been taking adaptive music education classes with music therapists, but a few of the clients are brand new to any kind of musical activity. We believe that every one is inherently musical, so we have an open call for any of our clients interested to register in the program. Matthew Wan is our musical director and main music therapist for this program. Matthew is the glue and main driver of the program. Matthew first starts with intake. Potential client band members come to a first session we call the “Jam Circle”. During this session, Matthew assesses their strengths and needs to understand if they will be successful in the program. Matthew also considers their previous musical involvement and musical interests. This also includes tolerance of large groups of people and loud sound levels. If the clients appear to be suited to this experience, then we are able to invite them to participate in the program.
When Matthew is preparing the program, he considers the clients’ musical preferences and works hard to get them to music (or to play) together. Matthew is training the group members to hear and play musically with one another so they have a sense of being part of a band. He then considers those musical preferences and modifies the songs chosen to be success-oriented. This might mean having a focus on the “hook” of a song (which is the part that makes it most memorable) versus replicating the entire piece. Matthew also helps the jam members and other Holland Bloorview volunteers understand how to best support our clients to shine. This might mean providing physical support to play, communication strategies for cueing, playing their instruments or singing in a way that helps the client deepen into their music making. The excellent music from the jam members provides the underpinnings for the group music. This provides our clients a firm base or platform from which they can really succeed.
Why is music important?
Music is important because it is in every one of us. Music is a natural human thing to experience. We have beating hearts and we move in musical ways. It is something that we have a right to access. Music connects us together as a society. It is something that we can share, something that we can experience together, no matter who we are. Music is a big part of our identity and of our history. Music has always been important in Holland Bloorview. We are grateful that we have this way of expressing ourselves and being joyful in life through music.
Can you describe the day of recording the concert? What is it like?
We have Mathew setting up the stage, the key boards and other instruments and sound check while we get the kids prepared and wearing their band T-shirts. When they are ready, we bring them over to Mathew on stage. They do a little warm up to make them feel relaxed and ready, then we move into the recording session. Of course, we have lots of cheering family members near by. Their parents and families are there to be sort of the studio audience. We do audio and video recording in order to create videos for YouTube. Each video contains a QR code for folks to make a donation to our music and arts program. The videos feature a couple different tunes so viewers can see the kids in action!
What is the process of getting involved?
Parents, caregivers and clients can always contact us by phone, 426-425, 6220, extension 3317, or by email: musicandart@hollandbloorview.ca.
Of course, clients and families can also check us out on the Holland Bloorview website. Go to www.hollandbloorview.ca and find the music and arts section. There you can find our registration process. Please note that Holland Bloorview Rocks is traditionally a fall season program. We hope to have fall 2023 registration open as of June, so keep an eye out for it! Likely, it will be eight to 10 weeks of weekly rehearsals, followed by a recording session or concert at the end of November sometime.
If you’re interested in supporting this project, visit our donation page or scan the QR code in any of the videos below.
To view the videos on YouTube, visit the links below.
01 Save Your Tears
02 We Don’t Talk About Bruno
03 Break My Soul
04 Hey Jude
