aroundtheworld
A BIT OF MAGIC AS YOU WAIT
Composer Deidre Gribbin is working with Holland Bloorview researchers to bring sound to ScreenPlay, the interactive waiting room for outpatients at Holland Bloorview.
Families asked for music to be added, “so I’m working with researchers Elaine Biddiss and Pat McKeever to develop compatible sound areas that will work for people in four different spaces on the grid.
ScreenPlay is a grid of 100 coloured tiles that children can sit, stand, walk or wheel on to grow forest images on a screen—all while waiting for their appointment.
“The first piece I’m writing is birdsong. So depending on whether you walk into this part of the forest, or that part of the forest, you will hear different types of birds. The second piece is a string quartet. By moving in different spaces you’ll hear fragments of the string quartet work together. It’ll be like you’re talking to someone and two conversations are going on through the music. The effect will be simple and calming.”
“It gives children something fun to do, but studies show it also decreases anxiety around anticipating painful procedures because the kids are preoccupied,” Deirdre says.
Deirdre is working at Holland Bloorview as a Leverhulme Overseas Fellow. Later this year she plans to offer a music theatre workshop day for Holland Bloorview parents, caregivers and staff with her husband British theatre director Lou Stein. “We want to allow the participants to be creators in delivering their own stories. They will learn skills to compose their own music and theatre skills that develop selfesteem and stage presence.”
BLOOM ~ fall ~ 2014 ~ 13