Music, room by room

At TriStar Centennial in Nashville, Alex King performs at patients' bedsides. Five years ago her duet with leukemia patient Penn Pennington went viral while he was in treatment.

A doctor on the calm

Dr. Rhea Rogers says music creates calm in the body, and that calm is chemical as much as it is mood. Feel-good hormones like dopamine are part of it.

“Anytime you can create a calm within the body it creates a sense of being able to heal”

Lowering the stress load

The point is subtraction, not entertainment. Rogers says patients are already carrying a lot, and a song gives them something tranquil to aim their attention at instead.

“This gives their self a way to focus on something else that's very tranquil and calming”

Musicians on Call

The visits run through Musicians on Call, which sends volunteer artists into hospitals. Allie Lamb brings her guitar on rounds a couple of days a month.

“Give my voice in a way that matters”

What patients feel

Cancer patient Mayra Martinez says the performances lift her outlook and help her hold onto optimism through treatment.

“It definitely boosts my spirits up. It helps me stay positive.”

The connection is the medicine

Rogers says the human contact matters as much as the song. For a few minutes the patient is focused on another person rather than on their own body.

“You're focused not on what's going on with you or around you, but really this new connection with somebody else”