There was a time when 28-year-old Mars Robles appreciated music like most people. After he was diagnosed with cancer, he gained a deeper love for music. It became key to his healing.

Mars prided himself on his healthy lifestyle while pursuing a career as a truck driver. He and his girlfriend, Victoria, were training for a 5K race.

“I would go to the gym, run, rock climb, basically any type of outdoor sport,” said Mars. Before the race he fell and bruised his right thigh. Despite the injury, he and Victoria still ran the 5K. He ran as hard as he could and could barely move after the race.

“My leg was really hurting,” Mars said. “Throughout the week, it became harder to breathe when I would walk and move around to the point where I just didn't want to walk.”

The exhaustion and pain forced him to take off work for three months. His girlfriend tried to help ease his pain by massaging his leg, but it made the pain worse. Mars screamed it hurt so much. His girlfriend insisted that he go to the emergency room.

“That's when they gave us the diagnosis,” said Mars. “The doctors said, ‘Hey, we don't know what it is but on the scans it just comes up kind of like an empty spot. And that's usually a sign that it could be cancer.”

Mars in the hopsital (Mars Robles)

Doctors diagnosed Mars with synovial sarcoma, a cancer affecting the muscles and joints. He researched where he could receive the best treatment and found USC Keck Hospital. He underwent his first round of chemotherapy. He spent three days in the hospital and recovered for three weeks at home. This was repeated four times. He eventually had surgery, but the cancer returned three months later.

When he returned to Keck hospital for his treatments, the doctors found that the cancer had spread to his lungs. This meant Mars' hospital stay would be much longer than he anticipated. Once he came to terms with his situation, he turned to music. Music helped him survive late nights in the hospital. Mars describes the walls in the hospital as being so thin that he could hear patients crying, talking, pacing. Whether it was sadness or anger, he could hear it all.

“At nighttime, between 2 and 3 a.m., there was always negative thoughts that there was no escaping,” said Mars.

A study done by The British Academy of Sound Therapy found that most people chose music with lyrics they connect with.

The study found listening to music for sadness caused listeners to “feel a sense of relief, be less overwhelmed, feel more stable and less likely to be triggered by things that reminded them of the issue. Releasing sadness is an important part of our wellbeing, so give yourself time to process it, put on some sad songs for 13 minutes and then get back onto the happy stuff!,” the study continued.

Along with loneliness and the unpleasant things that come with cancer, Mars also suffered from chemo brain, a memory problem that is common with cancer patients.

“I lost a lot of memory, from the chemo itself and it really affected my brain,” said Mars. And somehow, with music, it was like I could go back to places in a time where I didn't remember it normally, but with music, I remember.”

Through a song like Alicia Keys “If I Ain't Got You” or his dad's favorite song Cypress Hills “Insane in the Membrane” he rediscovered meaningful memories with girlfriend and father. Mars was able to block out the noise and bring back vital memories from his past just from listening to music.

Because of his prolonged stay, and love for music, Keck hospital introduced Mars to a program that could help him cope through a creative outlet – music. The program, called Institute of Arts in Medicine (IAM), aims to bridge the gap between science, medicine and the arts. Genevieve Nelson, the creative director of IAM describes the program and how it benefits patients.

“This program is a way for patients to connect with their humanity," said Nelson. Oftentimes when you have a diagnosis, it's very easy to start thinking of yourself and defining yourself in terms of your diagnosis.”

This program has many divisions but one of them is called “music is medicine” where music infusion takes place. Valerie Narumi, USC graduate student, pianist and founder of the organization Medicinal Music Makers, is collaborating with music infusion to give patients the opportunity to compose music of their own during their time in the hospital. Narumi created her organization to bring happiness to cancer patients through music provided by USC students.

Medicinal Music Makers

A radio piece discussing Medicinal Music Makers and music for healing. (Gabriella Castania)

They tackle full music sessions that involve writing lyrics, recordings of vocal tracks, instrumentals, and edit it all together for the patient to have an original song to call their own.

“Over four to six sessions of music infusion patients will either compose an original song or piece of music, or a range of an original cover of a favorite song,” said Nelson.

Mars loves the famous Coldplay song “Yellow.” He loved it so much that he chose to create his own rendition for music infusion. He dedicated the finished piece to his girlfriend, who has been there since the beginning. This took the place of the love letter he had been wanting to write to Victoria to thank her for all the commitments she made throughout his cancer journey. Not only did he use the song for his girlfriend but gave her a promise ring as well to show his dedication.

Mars' Journey with Music for Healing

“The amount of benefit that the music infusion program brought to me not only allowed me to sing music myself, but to do it for another person and with a purpose. It did exactly that,” said Mars.

His girlfriend Victoria said it was a surprise and that she saw a difference in Mars through the music program.

“I think that he just seemed more happy,” Victoria said. “The whole music program and the music video really helped him focus and gave him something to do, something to think about, something to stimulate his brain, something to look forward to and bring out his creative side.”

Mars and Victoria (Mars Robles)

Now Mars is waiting to begin a clinical trial to help treat his cancer. He is making 5- to 10-year plans for himself and Victoria, with travel being a big part of their future. As for music, he still loves using it on a daily basis, but in a different way than before.

“Luckily, I don't have to use it anymore like I used to before. Before I said negative thoughts between 2 or 3 in the morning,” said Mars. “I'm very happy to be able to use it for my daily life as a way of adding happiness instead of taking away sadness and negative emotions.”

Mars is the first patient in the music infusion program. IAM hopes to continue on helping patients with their journeys through music and expand outside of USC in the years ahead.

Music therapy: through the lens of a child's music therapist

From the moment a child is born and incubated in the maternity ward - to a person's end of life - music therapy can be beneficial throughout all cycles of life. Ruth Gonzalez, a board certified music therapist, focuses on rehabilitation and works in the General Pediatrics Unit at Millers Children's & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. The program specializes in helping pediatric patients.

Ruth Gonzalez in a music therapy session. (Ruth Gonzalez)

“I was inspired to become a music therapist because I grew up in a musical home. Both my parents are musicians who worked as musicians at church,” said Ruth Gonzalez. “And so when I found out about music therapy and that there's an actual field that uses music to help people of all populations, all ages, all abilities that just I immediately was attracted to it and attracted to the fact that it combines psychology and child development.”

Gonzales' job is complex. Her patients range from hours-old infants to 18-year-olds. Her day as childs’ music therapist ranges from a wide range of impactful tasks.

A variety of musical instruments encourage children to engage in a music therapy session. Sometimes they are shy or scared of the music therapists because they have experienced so many nurses and procedures, says Gonzalez. But therapists build rapport with them that allows them to open up, show their personality and just be a kid.

Different Forms of music therapy offered at Miller Children's Hospital described

Play me!

Play Me!

Play Me!

“I think what's important to note is that for these patients, it doesn't seem like they're going through therapy or like they're working, right? It's fun. It's more fun because music is fun and enjoyable. Music is a great motivator,” said Rita Goshert, director of the child life program at Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach.

Our everyday skills such as walking, talking, memory, etc are functions we don't think twice about. Gonzalez gives an example of a child who was once perfectly healthy then suddenly gets into a car accident and loses all of their motor skills and how music therapy can benefit their rehabilitation.

“I get the privilege to use singing to help them vocalize, to help them work on intelligibility or helping them work on memory skills through music and bringing activities that offer sequencing and memory and all those great things,” said Gonzalez. Or I also get to bring instruments to help them work on their fine motor skills and gain their strength again. Maybe it won't be the same as before, but they get those skills so they can go home and live a fulfilling life.”

Ruth Gonzalez in a music therapy session. (Ruth Gonzalez)

The rapport they have to build doesn't only apply to the children, but to their families as well. As music therapists, they are trained to know social cues, learn how to communicate with the families and help them cope. This includes patients who unfortunately are too ill to return home, music therapists make sure their families have something to remember them by.

“We do a lot of heartbeat recordings, so we actually have the heartbeat of the patient to give to the family, as well as kind of a legacy building memento and bereavement situations too.”

The sound of the patient's heartbeat is captured through a stethoscope and application. It can be paired with music or alone and can come in the form of a stuffed bear or a USB drive that is shaped as a key so families have access to it whenever they need. For mothers who are going home without their baby, the bear also has the option of weighing the same as a newborn to help the mother cope with empty arms syndrome.

For the children who are able to go home but spend time in the hospital with music therapists learning a new instrument, the hospital provides them the luxury of taking an instrument with them so they can continue their journey.

(Anna Skorczeski)

“We've had several of our pediatric rehab kids that tend to be with us for a long time that have learned how to play guitar, ukulele, and then we've been able to give them a guitar to take home with them. They get to go home with a new skill,” said Gonzalez.

With all of the difficult experiences that come with the job it is important for music therapists to find their own healing and form of therapy. According to Goshert, the hospital started tea for the soul, which is all about wellness for staff. They bring music into “tea for the soul,” which is a time to step back and step away from the chaos of the patient or health care unit and really meditate whatever it might be.

Even though music therapy can be considered just as essential as the medication patients are given to improve their health, it is an underrated and underfunded field. There usually will only be a couple of music therapists in a hospital, said Goshert. They feel lucky to have outside funding and that the hospital administration believes and supports it.

“There's a lot of private practices, so music therapists are really like working hard to spread the word and establish a field on their own,” said Gonzalez.

The impact that music therapists, like Gonzales, have on the daily lives of patients is monumental. It can help ease the pain of a patient in pain, sooth a parent who is experiencing loss, help bring a smile on a patient's face when the hospital can be a scary place. But her work is not recognized as essential or given enough acclamations as it should.

Music therapy: through the eyes of a music therapist and app creator

Inspired from his fathers musical past is board certified music therapist and founder of the SingFit app, Andy Tubman. Tubman started in traumatic brain injury rehab in Philadelphia and went into adult and geriatric psych. He eventually moved to California where he had a private practice for about seven or eight years working with people who have neurological challenges, a lot on the spectrum, a lot of genetic diseases with infants.

“Using music to attain clinical goals, support clinical goals and really trying to understand the brian on music,” said Tubman.

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Where he is today with his career he attributes to inspiration from his dad.

Tubman’s father sang opera in the ‘60s and ‘70s but as a busy inventor, time to learn the musical art became a struggle. His father thought of an idea to learn his opera prompt in the car through a device, like a walkman, he could take with him as he would drive. Eventually he had both Tubman and his sister who on each end took a piece from their dad.

“He had me and my sister and we joke, but not so jokingly say he genetically modified the both of us to live out his dreams for him. So I became a music therapist and Rachel became a technologist.”

“I remember the head of UCLA Neurology saw the video, and said that no formal, logical or other intervention could do what music therapy has done for this child,” Tubman said.

Tubman says to this day he has music therapists working with the child, “The impact for him is that he'll be in music therapy for his entire life.”

The SingFit app is not for music therapy but for therapeutic music, and emphasizes the difference between music therapy and music for healing. A therapist must be present for music therapy.

“Music therapy is facilitated by a music therapist if they're in the room. So if a music therapist is facilitating with the app for a clinical goal for specific clinical changes, then the app can be used within music therapy,” said Tubman.

But his app is designed as therapeutic music, comparing it to yoga's benefits on the body.

Andy Tubman discussing long term benefits of music therapy

“It is designed as therapeutic music so that nonmusic therapists, everybody from a caregiver to a speech therapist to an activities director can or an individual can utilize the app to really utilize singing and active music making as a neurological, cognitive, joyful exercise,” says Tubman.

More than 500 senior care communities across the U.S. use the app, allowing thousands of people to engage in singing. Communities using the app have found significant improvements in their seniors' moods, behaviors and engagement.

While Tubman does miss private practice, he is happy to see how many people his app, Singfit is benefiting. Today, there are only over 9,000 music therapists in the United States and abroad hold the MT-BC credential from CBMT. While it is a growing field, it is not recognized enough.

“I think that there's a lack of research, a lack of funding, a lack of money around lobbyists for this,” said Tubman.

Tubman advocates for music therapy, music for healing and the life changing effects on an individual's life.