[November 13, 2014]

Healing Power of Music Helps Cancer Patients, Accelerates Research in Songs for Life Contest

Musicians and cancer patients are coming together to raise money for early-stage cancer research in a new music contest called Songs For Life. This new contest aims to use the healing power of music to create an inspiring album for cancer patients while funding exciting cross-cancer clinical trials.

What: Songs For Life founder Jenny Ahlstrom and three Songs For Life music donors will perform at the Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center in Los Angeles on Monday, November 17, for cancer survivors, caregivers and family members. Cancer survivor Patricia Bahia will lead a "Circlesongs" session (a collaborative, improvisational circle-singing technique developed by Bobby McFerrin).

Who:

· Patricia Bahia, cancer survivor, Songs For Life song donor, Circlesongs group leader, who studied with original Bobbie McFerrin Voicestra members Rhiannon and Patti Cathcart. Performance of her original song Every Day is a Gift.

· Jenny Ahlstrom, cancer survivor and Songs For Life founder. Performance of her original song about her least favorite cancer drug, I Will Say Goodbye.

· Michael Cramer and Scott Kail, musicians, Songs For Life donors who wrote original song for both their mothers going through cancer treatment at the same time. Performance of their original song, Hallelujah.

· Kerilyn Johnson, Songs For Life donor, vocalist. Performance of Martina McBride's cover song Anyway.

· Sheila Hammer, Executive Director, Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center, to discuss the center's use of music therapy and the impact of music therapy for cancer patients.

Where: Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center, 1990 S. Bundy Drive #100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90025 (310) 314-2555

When: Monday, November 17, 2014, 3-5 p.m.

About the Songs For Life Contest

Songs For Life is a new music contest to provide inspiring music for patients to listen to during cancer treatment and to simultaneously fund new cancer research. To enter the Songs For Life contest, artists are asked to submit their original or cover song on www.songsforlife.org between now and November 20, 2014. The top 20 most popular songs as determined by Facebook likes by November 30 will be reviewed by the Songs For Life judging panel, which includes YouTube (News - Alert) sensations ThePianoGuys, Jessie Funk, Kenz Hall and musicians who are cancer survivors. Winners will be announced on December 15, 2014, and will receive up to $2,000 toward recording studio fees for a professional version of their song at Soularium Studios near Salt Lake City, Utah, if needed. The final Songs For Life CD/album will be released in February 2015, and all proceeds will be donated to the CrowdCare Foundation to fund promising early-stage cancer clinical trials. To learn more: www.songsforlife.org, @songsforlifecc

About Music in Oncology Therapy

Music therapy is growing in oncology integrative medicine clinics, showing benefits to reduce pain, anxiety and boost mood. According to a recent study for hospitalized cancer patients undergoing stem cell transplants, patient-preferred music therapy can have an immediate positive effect on relaxation, anxiety and fatigue and can maintain that effect after 30-45 minutes. According to research from licensed music therapists at MD Anderson Cancer Center Michael Richardson (News - Alert), MT-BC and Ingrid Moeller, MA, MT-BC, "Research shows that listening to music can affect mood and our experience is that preferred music is the ideal."

For ovarian cancer survivor Patricia Bahia, music not only carried her through her treatment, but set her on a new life path. She left her profession as an attorney/entrepreneur, studied with Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra founding members Rhiannon and Patti Cathcart, and now pursues a music career full time while also volunteering at the Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center. "I created playlists for all my chemo sessions to help me pass the hours," says Bahia. After treatment, she returned to singing with her former gospel choir and then started songwriting, leading to a growing profession in music. "Having cancer helped me take off self-imposed brakes, and start following my heart," says Bahia.

Music is what helped Songs For Life founder Jenny Ahlstrom get through her tandem bone marrow transplants for multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer. Away from her family for the seven months during transplant, she looked for techniques to overcome depression. "I had never experienced severe depression before, and it was one of the key tools I used to prevent me from sinking to an all-time low during that difficult time." She attended a concert during her treatment that sparked the idea for the Songs For Life contest.

New Approaches to Funding Cancer Research

The CrowdCare Foundation will use all proceeds to fund new cross-cancer clinical trials - a new and unique approach to funding cancer research. As an example, Dr. Don Benson of the The James Cancer Center noted, "[The study of immunotherapy in cancer] implies that there's some final common pathway or commonality in the genetic events that happen in a cell going from a normal cell to a cancer cell. If we learn these signatures, then we can really move away from describing cancers anatomically and we can start to talk about cancers molecularly. It doesn't matter if it started in someone's bone marrow or in their liver. We can conceptualize that cancer on a molecular level rather than on an anatomical level." New clinical trials are opening to target specific genetic mutations shared by a variety of cancer types. All proceeds from the Songs For Life album will go to such a clinical trial.

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