As an accomplished contemporary pianist, Robin Spielberg often found relief in her 1962 Steinway grand piano. Spielberg, scheduled to appear Thursday at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, knew music soothed her and lifted her spirits, but she was not aware of its potential to heal until she saw it happening with her own eyes.
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Pianist Robin Spielberg
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd.
Cost: $25 adults, $22 seniors
Information: (800) 988-4253
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In 1998 her daughter, Valerie, was born prematurely, weighing 17 ounces. Doctors gave the infant a 10 percent chance of survival.
“She was the size of a can of Coca-Cola,” Spielberg said. “She was basically a fetus growing outside the womb.”
Spielberg's fever prohibited her from entering the intensive care unit to see her daughter. She asked the nurses if they would play a CD of her music next to the child's incubator to counteract the chaos of crying babies, beeping machinery and harsh fluorescent lighting.
“The nurses began to joke with me: 'I think your baby likes your music,'” Spielberg recalled.
Eventually, Valerie started to improve and she began gaining weight.
“I just thought it was kind of a strange phenomenon,” said Spielberg, of New Freedom, Pa. “I couldn't understand how it could have a physical effect.”
After she and her daughter returned home, Spielberg searched online for information on what she believed had occurred.
That's when she learned about the concept of music therapy and the work of Dr. Jane Stanley, who has spent more than 30 years studying the effect of music in neonatal intensive care units.
This led to a collaboration between Spielberg and the American Music Therapy Association, a professional resource for people who use music to help ease the effects of Alzheimer's disease, attention-deficit disorder and other conditions.
Since 2003, Spielberg has served as a spokeswoman for the association.
Although not a music therapist herself, she performs at nursing homes, colleges and hospices when she tours. A local music therapist joins her to speak on the subject.
“It's been a very gratifying experience, and I think a very mutually beneficial one,” she said.
At one nursing home in Missouri, Spielberg didn't feel she had much of an effect on the patients. As she was leaving, a nurse asked if she had seen a man in the corner mouthing the words to “Moon River” as she played. He hadn't spoken in three months, the nurse said.
Spielberg will perform a collection of original wintertime compositions and American standards at 8 p.m. Thursday.
As in her work with music therapy, Spielberg strives to make a deep connection with her concert audience – in this case, through storytelling.
“I find it incredibly boring to watch a solo pianist sit down and play and then get up and leave,” said Spielberg, who likens herself to a singer-songwriter who tells the story behind each song she plays.
“I kind of invite the audience to daydream along with it,” she said.
The title of Spielberg's new CD, “In the Heart of Winter,” was inspired by a blizzard that occurred just before Easter.
“I tried to imagine what the snowflakes might sound like,” said Spielberg, realizing that daffodils and tulips would be poking through the soil within weeks.
“The song grew to become more of a metaphor for me,” she said. “Even when it's dark and cold ... you never know, something wonderful could be blooming underneath. Everything is temporary.”
Pat Sherman: (760) 752-6774;
pat.sherman@tlnews.net
