Playing the instrument that helped fight her personal battle with cancer, Sandra Sanford will teach Dulcimer Playing for Fun and Healing at the Hope, Health & Healing Cancer Resource Center in Fredericksburg.
Details:
Sandra Sanford will teach Dulcimer Playing for Fun and Healing at the Hope, Health & Healing Cancer Resource Center, Brune Professional Building, 808 Reuben Street, for four Mondays in August from noon to 1 p.m. Classes are free and open to the public, and dulcimers are available to use. Reservations can be made by calling Donna Lafferty, Cancer Resource Coordinator, at 990-6648. The Center offers exploration of cancer prevention, treatment, and survivorship issues through its library, computer research stations, and classes.
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Healing with harmony
by Phil Houseal
July 29, 2009
Can a simple 3-stringed instrument cure cancer?
Of course not. But Sandra Sanford believes that learning to play the native American folk instrument can uplift anyone who is dealing with the debilitating effects of cancer treatment.
Sanford should know. After learning she had breast cancer in 2002, the Louisiana native found herself in the daze of dealing with the disease and her radiation regimen.
One day her sister asked her what do she wanted to do for herself?
“I was not feeling keen,” Sanford admitted. “But I said I want to go to church and I want to play dulcimer. Those are the two things that helped me so much through that time.”
Sanford has played dulcimer since 1998, and was a member of the Lagniappe Dulcimer Society, the largest group of its kind in Baton Rouge. The support and camaraderie she felt as part of that group was instrumental in getting Sanford through her times of darkness and doubt. Now the new Fredericksburg resident wants to use the healing qualities of the dulcimer to lift up others who are dealing with the disease.
The recent resident of Fredericksburg approached Donna Lafferty at Hill Country Memorial Health System’s Hope, Health & Healing Cancer Resource Center and started talking about leading a dulcimer class as healing therapy for patients and their families. The staff readily agreed, and Sanford will teach Dulcimer Playing for Fun and Healing on four Mondays in August.
Why the dulcimer?
“The dulcimer is a personal instrument and easy to play,” explained Sanford, who actually bought her first dulcimer years ago at the old Dulcimer Factory in Fredericksburg. “It is something you can play in a group or by yourself and enjoy just as much.”
As part of the Lagniappe Dulcimer Society, Sanford and her friends regularly performed in nursing homes and schools.
“The good thing about dulcimer is if you have four or five folks, you can go out and play,” she laughed. “Somebody in the group will get the melody right!”
Though she jokes, the therapeutic value of playing music proved very real to a suffering Sanford.
“When faced with a life-threatening situation, it is overwhelming,” Sanford said. “So you look for something familiar, something to use your brain for, something to make you feel like you are still living. While learning, you are living.”
Sanford has always been involved in playing some type of music, but she insists you need no special talent to join this group.
“You don’t have to read music - if you can count to 10 you can play it,” she said. “This is open to the community, but it will be geared toward help and healing. We want to open the door for people to forget what is going on and to learn something new. Music is a great healer.”
Sanford feels strongly that a cancer patient has a choice in how to deal with their disease.
“You can either be a professional cancer patient or live around it,” she said. “You can make a choice, and one choice is to do something you have never done before.”
Sanford looks forward to a good turnout. She hopes everyone comes who wants to have a good time.
“There’s no handbook for dulcimer. We’ll use whatever our hands and heads and hearts will let us do. Just come for fun - the people who play dulcimer seem to be the nicest people in the world. Besides,” she adds, “playing dulcimer makes you smile.”
And helps you heal.