Michael Bard

Original Air Date: October 15, 2023

Renowned classical guitarist Michael Bard of Harvard has studied the relationship of music and cognitive function, specifically treating Alzheimer’s.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,Conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Greasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to Michael Bard. He's arenowned classical guitarist and he collaborated on a
Music of the Mind's course with HarvardUniversity which delves into the connection between classical

(00:23):
music and neuroscience, particularly its impacton Alzheimer's. And he has an upcoming
performance at Carnegie Hall November fourth,and a portion of those proceeds will go
towards supporting veterans. Okay, so, welcome Michael. So tell us all
about this connection between classical music andAlzheimer's and does that also include classic rock?

(00:51):
Absolutely? And thank you so muchfor having me, Kellie. I
really appreciate it. It actually spansa much greater spectrum than just Alzheimer's page.
In fact, back in twenty seventeen, I read a book called Waking
the Spirit and it was written bya classical guitarist in New York based classical
guitarist Andrew Schulmann, and I contactedhim because I was just so taken by

(01:14):
the stories in the book. Howmusic really heal, how it helped heal
him, how it brought him backto life, and coincidentally he invited me
to become to come to a coursethat the Berkshire Medical Center was hosting that's
in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It wasbasically music is medicine and it's the name

(01:37):
of the organization is called the MedicalMusician Initiative. So anyway, I took
part in that and I learned alot about the positive vibrations of music,
how it can you know, affectpatient outcomes in a positive, hopefully positive
way, and how each patient isdifferent. It's finding the right musical prescription.

(02:00):
One patient might want to hear alittle Bach, another patient might want
to hear some rolling stones. Butduring my time that first summer there taking
the course, I realized that Ihad to be very intuitive and very sensitive
to each and every patient. Andif a patient didn't want music, fine,

(02:20):
I was not insulted at all.I would just turn on a diamond
and leave them be. But Ifound that more often than not, patients
responded in a positive way if Iplayed a song that maybe they were familiar
with, or if they couldn't speak, which was often the case. Sometimes
a patient would be in a coma, the relatives or you know, family
friends would say, could you playsuch and such? I think it would

(02:45):
really really help, and it reallysets a just sort of a beautiful positive
vibe, not just for the patients, but for the families of the patients,
the friends, the nurses, thestaff, of all parties involved at
the hospital. And it was justsuch an eye opening experience. I went

(03:05):
back the next summer, and thenthe next summer, and then of course
COVID happened, and that didn't happenthrough a stick in the spokes for all
of us. But shortly after thefirst year I was involved in the program,
I got to play at the NIHhere in Bethesda, Maryland National Institutes
of Health, And essentially I wouldgo in three days a week, Monday,

(03:27):
Wednesday and Friday and play at thebedsides of patients. And it was
through the pain and Pelly to Caredepartment. So I would walk in and
they'd have a list of this patientmight want to hear some classical music,
this patient I want to hear somerock and pop. But the thing that
I guess I need to impart isthat it's it's not entertainment. You know,
it's not like buying tickets and goingto a concert and go. It's

(03:52):
more of a healing, healing processalong with all of the other medicine that
the patient might be be taking.And I really believe that it has healing
properties. I know it does becauseI've got testimonials, I've got stories,
I've got letters and you know,thanking notes from patients and families, and

(04:13):
you know, it's just a reallycool thing to have had that relationship,
those relationships with all those people.Just because of this instrument, I was
able to help out in some smallways. So I'm very curious for the
patients who were in a coma.What sort of reaction would you get after
playing some of their favorite music atthe bedside. Yeah, and as you

(04:38):
know, there was probably very littlereaction whatsoever. But you know, they're
hooked up to the telemetry screen andyou could see that the blood pressure would
go down, the heart rate wouldcalm. The nurses would come in and
say, oh, wow, youknow, it's something's working. You're playing
something that this person, even thoughthey're not to speak, apparently they like

(05:02):
it because you can tell. Andthat's the beauty of the technology in today's
medicine. You know, one hundredyears ago, I wouldn't have been able
to gauge that. But when yousee that happening on the screens, like
just this high, whole eye openingthing, that's really cool. You know,
you just gave me a thought.I remember going in for a colonoscopy

(05:27):
and the doctors decided to put onthe music they wanted to hear. And
I'm thinking perhaps one of the questions, uh people, you know, maybe
an anesthesiologist or a nurse or anursing assistant should be asking a patient before
a procedure or before surgery, iswhat's your favorite music? And playing the

(05:49):
patient's favorite music in the o R. Yes, that's that's key, It
really is, because if they hadplayed something that maybe you didn't like,
if they have played some you know, heavy metal or you know some scream
o ron or something like that,that's just going to open up some bad
notions right there. So it's interestingthat they would ask you what you wanted

(06:14):
to hear. And you know,again that just shows the power of music,
how important it is, you know, when it when it goes into
the ears and it just affects thewhole body, the heart, the mind.
It really is just such such apowerful entity. And I've seen it,
you know, with my rounds atthe bedsides of patients and IH and

(06:35):
the Virtual Medical Center and in inretirement homes that we've we've gone to just
played for the people who are youknow, maybe in their eighties, nineties,
and just you know, if theywant a happy memory, you know,
music that helps them relive a happymoment in their lives. And it's

(06:55):
again, it's it spans the wholespectrum. It's not just Alzheimer's patients.
I mean I was playing for patientsin hospice. I was, you know,
playing for yet again, pain andpalliative care, the intention surgical intensive
care units. I remember one timethere was a gentleman. He was hooked
up to all kinds of wires andthis big machine. And I walked by

(07:20):
his room and the nurses say,come in, come in, come in.
And he turned out he was ahe was a rear admiral in the
Navy, retired rear admiral. AndI don't know if he was trying to
stop me or not, but hegot kind of a smile on his face
and he says, can you playme with the music of the classical Spanish

(07:43):
masters like Rodrigo or Pines or Bananas, I said, as a matter of
fact. And then he was morespecific. He said, can you play
the Concierto de Aarnuz by Rodrigo?And I said, And the nurses both

(08:03):
turned to each other and they said, oh my god, this man has
not smiled or shown any emotion inthe several months that he's been treated here.
He had mesothelioma, and he's unfortunatelyno longer with us. But I
went back several times. The secondtime, his whole family was there,

(08:26):
and they were so excited and sorelieved. So I played more you know,
Spanish music. Claim he was stationedin Spain for years and years,
so he just loved the music,he loved the culture. Long story short,
and he had a party proclaiming hisclean dough of health. He invited
me and my wife. He said, I want you to come over and
have some piea we're going to celebrate. And then right before we ate,

(08:50):
he gave a little speech. Hesaid, this is Michael. He's the
man who saved my life. Hesaid, Oh my gosh, that's so
nice. I said, I don'tknow if I actually saved your life,
I know I added to the qualityof your life. And he said,
well, you helped me get betterquickly, and it's because of that music.
It just flooded him with memories ofyou know, being in Spain and

(09:11):
enjoying the culture and the time withhis family when he was there. So
it was a fortuitous occurrence. ButI'm glad I watched by that day because
I was actually on my way toanother patient's room who wanted to hear Kumbayan
amazing race. And then you know, I can do all that. But
that's the other thing I would reallyin part is that with a medical musician
initiative, the program, you haveto be able to switch from style to

(09:35):
style. You got to go fromclassical to maybe the Rolling Stones, to
maybe some metallic, to maybe someDuke Ellington to maybe some Miles Davis to
maybe some you know whatever. Andif you can do that, then you
know, hopefully it's going to bea successful journey along the way. I'm
speaking with Michael Barrd, a renownedclassical guitarist, and he collaborated on a

(09:56):
Music of the Mind's course with HarvardUniversity, which delves into thennection between classical
music and neuroscience, especially its impacton Alzheimer's. He has an upcoming performance
at Carnegie Hall November fourth. Aportion of the proceeds will go toward supporting
veterans. Which organizations are going tobe benefiting Michael Okay. It's called VET

(10:16):
Rep Theater. They're a New Yorkbased organization and I was connected with them
about two years ago. It wasa Memorial Day weekend. And one of
the artists who is going to beperforming with me at Carnegiall. He's a
tenor from Mexico. His name isJesus Daniel Hernandez. He and I actually

(10:37):
recorded an album together. But anyway, we played at a festival called the
Savage Wonder Festival, which was puton and sponsored by VET Rep Theater.
So that Rep Theater again, theyget vets involved in the arts and music
and art therapy and you know,building community that way, specifically for vets
who have gone through you know,difficult times PTSD and whatnot. Uh So

(11:01):
they're they're the presenters of the concerts. And hey, Zeus, the tenor
who's going to join me is actuallyhe's an Army veteran. He served in
Iraq, and he's got some storiesthat he's told me about his experience and
just help. Music just calmed himand helped him just focus and find that

(11:22):
that that right balance. So withwith that rap theatery, a portion of
the proceeds will go to help morethat's get involved in the arts. There
is an organization I'm familiar with,musicians on Call and and they bring music
to hospitals. Is there any organizedeffort that you have so that you can
recruit volunteers to do what it isyou're doing, because it sounds like there's

(11:46):
such a profound need and such alack of you know, numbers who can
help. Yes, yes, absolutely, I have heard of that organization,
and in fact I reached out tothem prior to my experience of the Medical
Musician Initiative program, but for somereason, I just I didn't connect with

(12:07):
them. But yeah, during mytwenty seventeen to twenty twenty time at the
Birchray Medical Center, we did tryto recruit more musicians and we were successful
actually, and it wasn't just guitar. I mean, guitar is great because
you can walk around, but youknow, there was a pianist who said,

(12:28):
well, how am I going toSo we recruited him and he got
a little keyboard. He put iton wheels and he would go from room
the room and it worked out beautifully. But you have to be at a
certain level. You know, youcan't just and we were We told that
the musicians who wanted to be apart of this program, You've got to
be able to do this, this, this. You know, if you
can't, then you know, it'sgot to be a very professional level.

(12:52):
So that that was the requirement,is the requirement. Otherwise, you know,
if I just walked into a roomand just played, you know,
bashed away at a that's nice,But what song is that? That could
be one hundred thousand songs that thatcould write. That's agitation or discomfort to
the patient who might want to hearit's beautiful. Yeah, I love it.

(13:28):
I just love it. I cantell that it's like so comfortable in
your arms. All right, weonly have about a minute and a half
lest what if we not talked aboutthat you would like to impart to our
audience. I would just like toinvite anyone who's watching, anyone who's listening
to the concert at Cartegie Hall inManhattan, Saturday evening, you remember the

(13:50):
fourth, eight pm. It's goingto be a wonderful event. I'm going
to be playing lots of solo classicalguitar music, some of my own compositions,
some of my own published works,as well as collaborating with other artists
Jesus Fernandez, the tenor or,Laura Daaner soprano, and New York based
guitarist Benjamin Schnacki, who lives inBrooklyn. So it's going to be a

(14:13):
fun evening and hopefully we'll raise somemoney for bet Rep Theater and we'll go
to a good concert. Have youplayed Carnegie Hall before? I am a
Carnegie Hall Virgin Shelley. Oh mygod, this is like, how do
you wrap your head around that?I just kind of feel just you know,
I wake up every day my wifesays, are you going to practice

(14:33):
for five hours again? I saidabsolutely. I want to go in there
and I want to nail it,and I want to I want two things.
I want people to be entertained andI want people to be inspired,
you know, and I want theevening just to go off, go off
without a hitch. And I'm nervous, but you know what. I'm going
to be prepared. You know whatI think you have inspired. You've given

(14:54):
me some ideas to pass on atmald Sinai Hospital where I get my post
breast cancer treatment. I'm coming inwith some ideas for my next treatment which
is coming up. So thank youso much, Michael Bart. I mean,
you really really inspired me. You'vebeen listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio,

(15:16):
a production of New York's classic rockQ one O four point three