If you would like to provide someone you know with the healing effects from the Magicbox Project, please contact us magicbox@pobox.com.
I am here today as a direct result of my religious faith and the talents of Wayne Gremminger. Both before and during treatments Wayne brought his guitar to play for me. During the chaos of the transplant process, Wayne again played. Wayne’s wonderful music put me in a serine place (far from the hospital room), a place so calming, I fell into a deep slumber. The effect Wayne’s music has on everyone, at all stages is profound.
- Carol Baker (Melanoma and stem cell transplant survivor)
Wayne, I wanted to drop you a note of thanks for coming to the hospital to play your guitars for me before and after my recent surgery. When you mentioned that playing music in relation to medical procedures was beneficial, I wasn’t quite sure that I understood what you meant by the “healing powers” of music. However, when you played just prior to surgery, the music sent a kind of calm over the entire process. It is stressful with a bunch of people looking down at you, poking and prodding, preparing you for what they know to be routine, but to me was a very huge and traumatic thing. Your music took the edge off and sent me off in a more serine mind frame. This has to be of medical benefit, especially with an anesthesiologist trying to regulate heart and other functions to successfully bring you back to consciousness.
After surgery, you came back and played again. At this time, the pain is significant as you can imagine. Every breath and muscle movement is very painful, even when medicated. Again, stress is significant as you just feel terrible, pained, fogged and uncomfortable. When you played, again there was a calm that came over the room. In listening to your “Magix Box” the pains subsided and a type of relaxation set in that was very healing. The body has to concentrate on healing and I think that all of the distractions, such as pain, stress, and discomfort, take away from this healing process. I think that the music takes that away and allows the body to start to heal in the way in which it was intended.
Again, thank you so much for coming to play for me during my time in the hospital. It was generous of you and to say that it was helpful would be an underestimation of the benefits of your music.
- Steve Zavilla (Knee Replacement)
Mother Theresa’s Home of the Dying and Destitute in Calcutta, India is where I met Wayne. The music he makes with his guitar penetrates the listener’s soul igniting the body and spirit to respond with shear vibrancy. Wayne has a wonderful voice, but what he shares is more than words. In Calcutta, I saw a woman who was bedridden for weeks get to her feet and dance to Wayne’s music. I am a believer in his Magic Box.
- Rhonda Savage, MPH Founding Board Member, Everyone’s Child International
He would go from room to room playing his guitar, touching residents with his music in ways others couldn’t…some residents who had been unresponsive showed significant signs of improvement after several visits.
- Claire Lucas Warren Director of Facility Based HospiceExecutive Experience in Health Care for the Aged
Wayne Gremminger made a warm impression on me during a photojournalism assignment in Kolkata, particularly on one special day in a hospice called Kalighat, run by the Missionary Sisters of Charity. He used his guitar to brighten the lives of patients who were at the end of their tether and distracted them from their illness, at least temporarily. It is not just his music that affects people but it is his compassion and humanity and sensibility that allow him to connect to them and tune into their souls.
Bohdan Warchomij www.warchomij.com (Photojournalist)
I could include a long list of moving experiences I have seen due to the powerful combination of empathy and music but one that always brings a smile to me was a remark a young boy made to his mother after I had played for the residents of a battered women’s shelter in Juarez, Mexico. The translator overheard him say, as I was leaving the facility….'I don’t know what he is saying…but I understand him'…..I loved that…
Wayne Gremminger
To increase the “illumination” of its cause, until scientific studies and funding have been secured, the project will increase the number of people it helps by accepting “for fee” performances. This will provide short term funding while advancing awareness and credibility for the cause. For about the same cost as sending flowers, balloons, or other thoughtful expressions, consider hiring the magicbox project and possibly add your own testimonial to the list. At home, hospital, and hospice or for anyone that may appreciate the love inspired benefits the music provides. (Anyone unable to donate a small fee is still encouraged to schedule a performance…the magicbox project has never and will never be about anything except its mission statement and beautiful cause). Unrelated to healing but another venue the project loves to play is, for children. From six months to six years of age, watching the expressions from a child being intimately introduced to sounds from the “magicbox” is priceless.
An important goal of the Magicbox Project is to illuminate the findings of its research including the work and findings being done by many other inspiring organizations. Our goals must surely be the same and the Magicbox Project is proud to “illuminate” the work being done by this incomplete list below. If the reader is aware of other organizations or persons that are advancing the cause of playing music for healing, please contact the project with the information. Their work will enthusiastically be added to the following roll call.