By Ray Martinez, “Unbridled Inspiration”
During the recent tragic shooting massacre at a midnight showing of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, one of the many victims who were either killed or suffered severe injuries was a young 22-year old violinist Petra Anderson of Aurora, CO.
Petra, an artist of tomorrow was shot in the head. Amazingly, the doctors expect her to make a full recovery. How can a person survive a bullet that traveled through the nasal passage, up through the brain, and out of the back of the skull? The answer may be baffling to the medical staff, but to some experts, they believe that music plays an integral part to a person’s recovery.
Music? Yes, music!
I had the opportunity to experience firsthand just what great medicine music can be for the soul. I was asked to perform for a 21-year old young man named Marty, who has stage four cancer. He had a dream to travel to Las Vegas, but due to the advanced cancer, making it to Las Vegas was not possible.
I, along with other local vendors donated services to make this dream come true for Marty. We decided to bring Las Vegas to him. Casino tables, decorations, photographers and music were all provided at the hospital. Marty was wheeled into a room, with a series of IV’s accompanying his fragile body.
With the sounds of Elvis singing “Viva Las Vegas” setting the backdrop, it was as if Elvis himself helped resurrect Marty to his feet as he ditched the wheelchair aside. The amazing part of that scene was a few hours earlier Marty barely had the strength to even lift a blanket over his body.
Friends, family and complete strangers all came together to celebrate Marty’s life, but with many different songs having to do with the Las Vegas theme, Marty started to realize his dream that he was in Vegas.
Music was indeed therapeutic for this young man, and for him to give me a big hug with what little strength he had left to muster up, he thank me for setting the atmosphere for such a special three-hour affair.
Hidi Hidi Ho
There was also another report of a man who was suffering from Alzheimer’s and sat doubled over in a chair for nearly ten years without uttering a word or even a smile. But when a nurse inquired about his early years and the type of music he enjoyed, a family member said, “Cab Calloway was his favorite singer.”
The nurse then put on a few Cab Calloway songs on an I-pod and placed the headphones over his ears. Miraculously, the elderly gentleman sat upright and for the first time in ten years started to sing along to “Minnie the Moocher.”
Singing, “Hidi Hidi Ho,” the music of Calloway, reached deep into the man’s soul and lifted him up. Studies show that there is something t0hat music does, that simple spoken words just cannot do. There is really no medical explanation except that doctors believe that music can bring someone back to a happier time in someone’s life.
Performance Beyond Expectation
With all this being said, the role a DJ/Entertainer plays in making one’s event is vital. Our job as entertainer’s is to capture one’s attention not only by playing great music, but as I have as my company slogan, “Performance Beyond Expectation.”
The next time you receive a phone call from a prospective client trying to convince you that their budget for DJ/Entertainment is only $300-500, and that they only want music only, with no announcements, etc., just remind them, that music is the pulse of the event, and it is what pumps energy and life into that event, without it, think of Petra, Marty, and the elderly Alzheimer’s patient, they would not get a second chance of life.
