JoyRx Music brings music lessons to the doctor's office in Austin
With his blue guitar on his lap, Lian Lott picks out the notes to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Happy Birthday." He finishes each song with a strum of the guitar.
Lian, 15, has Down syndrome as well as heart conditions, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism. Each week he goes to the Dell Children's Medical Center's Comprehensive Care Clinic, though not for another checkup at this clinic for kids with complex medical conditions. He goes for lessons from JoyRx Music.
He started with virtual music classes. "He was drumming everywhere," said his mother, Rosa Lott. Then he shifted to guitar. At first his JoyRx music therapist strummed the guitar for him. Now he is doing it on his own.
"He can play guitar with no problems," Rosa Lott said. "Now he is successful."
"They let him be Lian," said his da,d Eric Lott.
"I like all the songs," Lian said. "It's good."
The nonprofit JoyRx started in 1995 as the Children's Cancer Association, specifically for kids with cancer in the Northwest. It now serves 31 children's hospitals with a virtual program.
As it has grown, the program has expanded to Austin. At first, JoyRx Music brought in-person classes to kids at St. David's Children's Hospital in 2018. The program then expanded to Dell Children's Medical Center with music classes for kids through the closed circuit TV system.
Now, music specialist Christy Medley goes to Dell Children's Comprehensive Care Clinic on Monday and Friday mornings. She spends her Thursdays at the Children's Blood and Cancer Center on Dell Children's main campus. The rest of the time she splits between the two children's hospitals.
"In Austin, we're making our unique footprint here," said Allison Moore, JoyRx's director of programs for the South region. "Things like Lian's music sessions, music classes with groups of kids, unique and different things we can do here. We're being creative in different ways."
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That means Medley gets to work individually with kids like Lian.
"Music is this special way to connect to him," Moore said.
At first, playing guitar was a struggle for him. Now, Medley said, "We play a pretty good duet of 'Twinkle Twinkle' for his family. It's something to work toward. It's concrete goals."
Sometimes, they communicate through pictures. Lian loves female rock stars such as Rihanna as well as all the Disney princesses.
"On days when he's feeling a little more shy, he would communicate through pictures to request certain songs," Medley said.
Medley uses a lot of adaptive techniques. For kids who have delayed motor skills, for example, she'll wrap Model Magic clay around drumsticks to make it easier for them to hold the sticks.
When Medley comes to the cancer center at Dell Children's Specialty Pavilion, she brings a cart filled with guitars, a keyboard, drums, a xylophone and other percussion instruments.
Sometimes she'll place a shaker in a child's hand and help the child shake it.
"The connection between a child and a caregiver in a nonmedical way is beautiful," Medley said.
"When I show up, I'm someone who is not going to poke them with a needle. I'm not someone who tells them they have to do something, because it's completely optional. It's child-led. You get to use a different part of the brain and maybe feel some levity or peace or happiness for one moment."
Sometimes she'll get a teenager to come out of a shell and sing a few songs with her. Sometimes a teen teaches her a song.
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One mom pointed out that the kid who usually looks so anxious when she comes for treatment looked happy singing.
"Music can have that effect," Medley said.
For Lian, this is one more thing he can do. His parents were told he wouldn't be able to ride a bike, but he can, and that he wouldn't be able to play tennis, but he does.
They had thought about getting Lian into music classes but couldn't afford it with the costs of his medical care.
"We're just grateful," Rosa Lott said. "We have what he needs. Lian has so much joy."
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More music coming to Dell Children's
On Tuesday, the Texas Music Project donated a Yamaha electric piano from Coldplay to Dell Children's. It is the 100th instrument donated through the project to a children's hospital via its Music Heals Therapy Program. The keyboard will be used by the hospital's music therapy program.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: JoyRx Music brings music lessons to the doctor's office in Austin
