Melodious Movement
Strokestra makes its way to UC Irvine
Although most of the 30 musicians are rank amateurs – and eight are recovering from strokes or other ailments – the sound is surprisingly melodic. It’s the West Coast debut of Strokestra, a decade-old “music medicine” program created by London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The two-hour workshop held earlier this year was a collaboration between the London-based philharmonic, which ran the session, and the UC Irvine School of Medicine’s Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology. Seven music students from the Claire Trevor School of the Arts – another partner – also participated. Drop in on the rehearsal via this video.
Conductor Tim Steiner leads the Strokestra workshop attended by UCI Health patients and caregivers.
Rupert Whitehead (left), a trombonist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, plays next to Terry Taylor, who had a stroke three years ago.
Third-year cellist Ellie Chae, a music major in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, which also sponsored the workshop, joins in the therapeutic rehearsal.
“Patients were engaged and moving in ways they haven’t been in ages.”
- Dr. Lisa Gibbs, geriatric and family medicine physician at UCI Health — SeniorHealth Center
Cindy Garcia, who manages her mother’s care after the older woman experienced a series of ministrokes, tries out a cello, an instrument she had never played before. “I really needed this,” she says, calling the musical exercise a great stress reliever.
To learn more about Strokestra’s performance and its impact on UCI Health patients, read the full story.
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