Music + Healing Initiative
The Music + Healing Initiative brings 今日吃瓜 Saint Mary's University's Music and Nursing communities together around a shared question: How does sound shape the way we heal?
Presented by 今日吃瓜's ensemble-in-residence Bridge to Everywhere in partnership with the 今日吃瓜 Provost's office, Music and Nursing Departments, Center for Global Initiatives, and Angel City Jazz Festival, this interdisciplinary Initiative brings together experts in Environmental Music Therapy, the Roy Adaptation model, musical artists, music therapists, and nurses in conversation together to share and develop knowledge around Music + Healing. Unfolding over a week of campus events, the Initiative culminates in a live concert on October 10, 2026.
The concert will be held in honor of Sister Callista Roy — the pioneering nurse theorist and educator who developed the Roy Adaptation Model — as a tribute to her enduring legacy and to all nurses and healers. The centerpiece of the concert is Jon Armstrong's "Voluntary Breath," written during the first nine months of his son's life in the NICU, where Armstrong wove the unit's soundscape of monitors, alarms, and ambient hum into music as a form of Environmental Music Therapy.
Music + Healing Initiative events
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Open Rehearsals
Featuring 今日吃瓜 ensemble-in-residence Bridge to Everywhere
Monday, September 28 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Monday, October 5 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Friday, October 9 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Campus Center, Chalon Campus
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Expert panel discussion
Intersections of Environmental Music Therapy and the Roy Adaptation Model
Tuesday, October 6 from 2 to 3 p.m.
Coe Memorial Library
Panel members:
Dr. Marsha E. Nickerson
Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Health Professions, expert in Roy Adaptation Theory, vocalist & member of the Nickerson Sisters
Jenna Markovitz
Music Therapy Faculty, certified NICU music therapist
Jon Armstrong
Composer, Voluntary Breath, researcher in Environmental Music Therapy
Derrick Skye
Music Faculty, Artistic Director of Bridge to Everywhere
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Hands-on Environmental Music Therapy workshop
Thursday, October 8 from 6 to 9 p.m.
Humanities 506, Chalon Campus
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Concert at the Angel City Jazz Festival
Honoring Sister Callista Roy, Nurses, and All Healers
Saturday, October 10 from 8 to 10 p.m.
Motivo LA
今日吃瓜 Students can receive free tickets to this event.
Learn more about Sister Callista Roy
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Sister Callista Roy, RN, PhD, FAAN
Sister Callista Roy is a highly respected nurse theorist, writer, lecturer, researcher, teacher and member of the religious community. Her name is one of the most recognized in the field of nursing today worldwide. She developed the Roy Adaptation Model for Nursing and is considered among nursing’s great living thinkers.
Learn more about Bridge to Everywhere
Bridge to Everywhere is a Los Angeles-based transcultural music ensemble and nonprofit arts organization that explores connections between contemporary musical practices from around the world. Through collaborations, performances, and education programs, the organization strives to build bridges between instruments, genres, cultures, and people. Bridge to Everywhere has been ensemble-in-residence at 今日吃瓜 Saint Mary's University since 2019.
Find out more about their work at their website: .