By Patti Neighmond

We all know that listening to music can soothe emotional pain, but Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys can also ease physical pain, according to a study of children and teenagers who had major surgery.

The analgesic effects of music are well known, but most of the studies have been done with adults and most of the music has been classical. Now a recent study finds that children who choose their own music or audiobook to listen to after major surgery experience less pain.

The catalyst for the research was a very personal experience. Sunitha Suresh was a college student when her grandmother had major surgery and was put in intensive care with three other patients. This meant her family couldn’t always be with her. They decided to put her favorite south Indian classical Carnatic music on an iPod, so she could listen around the clock.

It was very calming, Suresh says. “She knew that someone who loved her had left that music for her and she was in a familiar place.”

Suresh could see the music relaxed her grandmother and made her feel less anxious, but she wondered if she also felt less pain. That would make sense, because anxiety can make people more vulnerable to pain. At the time Suresh was majoring in biomedical engineering with a minor in music cognition at Northwestern University where her father, Santhanam Suresh, is a professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics.

So father and daughter decided to collaborate on a study. And since Dr. Suresh works with children, they decided to look at how music chosen by the children themselves might affect their tolerance for pain.

It was a small study, involving 60 patients between 9 and 14 years old. All the patients were undergoing big operations that required them to stay in the hospital for at least a couple of days, things like orthopedic, urologic or neurological surgery. Right after surgery, patients received narcotics to control pain. The next day they were divided into three groups. One group heard 30 minutes of music of their choice, one heard 30 minutes of stories of their choice and one listened to 30 minutes of silence via noise canceling headphones.

Children chose beforehand what they wanted to hear. For the book group, it was stories like James and the Giant Peach. For the music group, there were pop choices including Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber for the younger kids, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys for the older ones.

To measure pain, the researchers used the Faces Pain Scale depicting illustrations such as a smiling, frowning or crying face. The children pointed to which picture best illustrated their level of pain before and after the audio therapy. After a 30-minute session, the children who listened to music or a book reduced their pain burden by 1 point on a 10-point scale compared to the children who listened to silence. That might not sound like much, but Sunitha Suresh says it’s the equivalent of taking an over-the-counter pain medication like Advil or Tylenol.

The findings suggest that doctors may be able to use less pain medication for their pediatric patients. And that’s a good thing, says Santhanam Suresh, as children don’t tolerate such medication as well as adults. Children are smaller and are more likely to suffer side effects such as trouble breathing, nausea, itching and constipation. So the less pain medication, he says, the better.

When it comes to distracting people from pain, music has special qualities, says Dr. Lynn Webster, a pain specialist and past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. “It can generate not only a focus and reduction in anxiety, but it can induce a feeling of euphoria,” he says. That can help drown out the pain.

The researchers plan follow-up studies to see if music can decrease the amount of pain medication needed once children get out of the hospital and are back at home, listening to their favorite tunes.

May 15, 2015.  Steinway artist and Classical Pianist Chad Lawson “got down” on Chopin–accompanied by Everett Harvey (cello) and Judy Kang (violin)–and much to the delight of Velvet Note audiences.  And they threw in a little something extra–check out his Beatles-inspired encore!

Chad’s chart-topping CD–The Chopin Variations,–is available on iTunes. Enjoy!

Oh, the voice….oh, the man….Trevor Exter comes to The Velvet Note on April 10th and 11th.  Check out the music and get your tickets now at http://thevelvetnote.com/trevor-exter

We are so grateful to each and every one of our guests and friends who have participated in The Velvet Note’s fundraiser for our new piano. Through your attendance at the phenomenal PRIME 88 performance and your generous private donations, we have raised **** $3775.00**** to-date!!! A special thanks to Kevin Bales, Tyrone Jackson, Louis Heriveaux, Toni Byrdand Arthur D Turner, Craig Shaw and Dave Potter for your time and talent, We also thank those of you from outside of the Atlanta region who sent in your support–it means so much. We look forward to continuing to “bring you closer” in 2015.

Get to know International Vibraphonist Christian Tamburr!  In this interview, Christian talks about growing up, inheriting an instrument, touring the world, working with Julio Iglesias, and much, much more!  Like what you hear? Buy your tickets at http://thevelvetnote.com/christian-tamburr

By TuKute

Look, everybody knows that The Velvet Note is the hottest jazz spot in town.  And with only 40 seats, they fill up pretty fast.  Lots of friends have asked me the secret to getting a seat when they’ve all been presold. They say, “Why does she have such a tiny place– I can’t get in!!”   I rarely have a problem, and it’s not just because I’m charming and beautiful.  Here are my top 5 secrets:

5. 5.  Call the owner’s personal cell phone number. The Velvet Note is one of the few clubs I’ve ever seen in the world where the public customer service number rings directly through to the owner of the club.  However, the owner stops answering that public number at about 5pm, although she takes calls to her private number around the clock.  If you don’t have her number, I’m not going to give it to you, but if you do, you’ve got a special pass to last-minute reservations.
7. 4.  Let the club know that you plan to spend A LOT of money on both food and drink. Jazz clubs don’t make much profit on the ticket price at the door.  Almost all of their revenue comes from food and drink, and out of that, it’s mostly alcohol.  Unlike the genres of country, blues and rock, the amount of money patrons spend on alcohol in a jazz club is minuscule.  Stating your intentions for dinner and/or drinks can potentially get you a priority status over those who plan to come in and order a soft drink or bottled water.

3. Ask for seating at the bar or in the “orchestra”. Despite its limited seating, it’s my understanding that The Velvet Note ALWAYS holds back at least a couple of seats for the unexpected.  Where are those seats?  At the miniscule bar in the back, or up near the side of the stage.  If you specifically request that seating, you have a much better chance of getting into a sold-out show.  And—by the way—based on some folks criteria—it’s actually the best seating in the house.

2.  Call between 3:00pm and 6:00PM the evening of your performance. Stuff happens, and it always seems to happen at the last minute.  Babysitter’s become unavailable… people get sick…people miss their flights….  This is the sweet spot when the club is getting cancellation and your reservation fits like a glove..

1.  Just show up. For every show, there’s someone who just doesn’t show up.  They’ve paid for their ticket, and something’s come up.  Put yourself in the position to catch that lucky unfilled seat by just showing up.

WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED AT The Velvet Note’s OPEN MIC JAM last night?!? Kenyan music star MERCY MYRA took the stage and sang “Just The Two of US” in both English and Swahili! Mercy Myra was part of the Divas of The Nile supergroup, that featured four Kenyan female musicians. Listen here. Oh, by the way, stay tuned for her concert at The Velvet Note on Saturday, March 28th.

JAZZ FUSION WITH AN EDGE! One of the things we love about Thursday Night Open Mic Jams at The Velvet Note is that talented musicians from all over get together to play, and after the jam, there are extensive late-night sessions about music. Thanks to last week’s 2am talk with Berkelee-trained, film composer and jazz pianist Alex Williams (we love this guy!), we have discovered SOIL & PIMP. This talented group of young jazz musicians from Japan lay it down HARD!!!! The horns are prolific, the vibe is benevolent, and this is definitely jazz music you can dance/work out to. Download their CD “Mechanical Soil” and you’ll be glad you did. I’m not a huge fan of the first track, but the rest of the compilation is stellar. Enjoy, and have a great week!

COMING SOON:  Avalon, the first full-length album from the acoustic guitar duo of Julian Lage and Chris “Critter” Eldridge, will be released on October 7, 2014. It was produced by friend and fan Kenneth Pattengale of the Milk Carton Kids and recorded live from the stage of the 1920?s-era Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland over two days last April. The duo’s previous EP, Close To Picture, which focused on original compositions, was an effort to explore, as Eldridge puts it, “he sounds and textures that are uniquely possible on a flat-top steel-string guitar.” Avalon is an unfiltered document of the pair’s live set, a mix of originals and covers that illustrate the breadth of the American songbook as Lage and Eldridge perceive it, incorporating bluegrass, country, gospel, old-time music and jazz. There was no playback, no overdubs, just the duo’s eloquent, in-the-moment musical repartee, all channeled through Pattengale’s discerning ear.

Read the New Yorker article on the Lage and Eldridge listening experience HERE.

Shortly after Avalon’s release, Lage and Eldridge will perform on Friday, October 24th at The Velvet Note Acoustic Living Room in Alpharetta. For more information, go to http://thevelvetnote.com/julian-lage-and-chris-eldridge or by calling 855.5.VELVET.