The decision was made to suspend sessions for at  least the next two sessions scheduled on the 19th and 26th of March 2020. This decision is a result of government guidelines regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At the end of the month we will re-assess the situation as to whether it is safe to resume weekly sessions. All members will remain updated via social media and email. Keep on practicing folks, this won't be forever we are sure.
Take care and stay safe. See you all soon!

A stormy night for sure, but that didn't deter many of our members from joining us again this week. We were very fortunate to be visited by local NL music celebrity, Damian Follett. Damian offered some great tips and advice to our guitar students, played as a group and sang some very good music for us. We thank Damian for  his time and for helping to make a difference for our members. We hope to see him again in the future.

 

Damian has provided us with one of his hit songs "Help Somebody". It is awesome that Damian thought this song would be fitting for a program such as ours, and we agree. Click play on the sound file below and we are sure you will agree.

 

Three of our members were interviewed tonight by Marie Isabelle Rochon (Vidéojournaliste, Saint-Jean, Terre-Neuve Radio-Canada Acadie) of Radio-Canada (CBC). Nathalie Vanasse, Bill Gushue and Judy Sparkes were interviewed and did a fantastic job of explaining our music program. You can click HERE to read the article online. It is in French, but if you are using Google Chrome, it has a built in webpage translator for you to use. We would like to thank Marie Isabelle Rochon for doing such a professional job and Radio-Canada for helping us get our message out to those in need.

 

See the full television article above (En Français)

Tonight  we were visited by the Canadian Veteran Freedom Riders - Avalon, NL. They came with many of thier members including, President, Patrick Dunne. At the meeting they generously presented our chapter with three complete acoustic guitar kits to be made use of by upcoming students. We thank them for their donation and we hope to work with them sometime in the future.
The Canadian Veteran Freedom Riders are dedicated to helping veterans in need in any way they can. If you would like to know more about the Canadian Veteran Freedom Riders - Avalon, NL, you can visit them at thier Facebook group found HERE.

A proud moment for Healing Rhythms For Veterans.

Due to geographically based logistics, our Program Director Mike Hanlon made the difficult decision to step down as National Director of Music Healing Veterans Canada. In the best interest of the membership in the St. John's, NL chapter we decided to rename our chapter to "Healing Rhythms For Veterans".

Here is a message from the current  Board of Directors, Music Healing Veterans Canada National Program Director, Jason Costello (Pembroke, ON):

" On behalf of Music Healing Veterans I would first like to thank Micheal Hanlon on the outstanding job he has done with the Newfoundland chapter, the tireless work he has done in contribution to our program and his work as National Director. Secondly I would like to thank the instructors and members for the hard work you have done to get to where you are. It is our sincerest hope that you continue to grow and help as many people as possible. We wish you nothing but happiness and health and look forward to seeing your continued success.
Sincerely, The MHVC National Board of Directors"

Though we now operate as separate programs, the relationship between Music Healing Veterans Canada and Healing Rhythms For Veterans remains strong, with mutual support between us. If you would like to learn more about Music Healing Veterans Canada, click HERE to go to their website.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!!!!! WE HAVE OFFICIALLY BEEN IN OPERATION FOR A YEAR NOW, WITH ALMOST ALL OF OUR ORIGINAL MEMBERS AND MANY MORE FACES!

CHEERS AND BRAVO ZULU TO ALL!

We were visited by Ariana Kelland of CBC Radio (88.5FM) who got a feel for what we do and she interviewed Melissa Fitzgerald, Hugh Scott, Max Cranford and Michael Hanlon. Have a listen to the sound file below:

You can read the article here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/music-healing-veterans-stjohns-1.4974368

Nathalie Vanasse and Michael Hanlon have recently completed an interview with a CNA journalism student about our music instruction program.

You can listen to the interview below:

Our fourth meeting came and went (too fast) with great success. We currently have instruction going in Basic Guitar, Intermediate Guitar, Accordion and a little Bohdran. We have top notch instructors and everyone seems to be benefiting from the music instruction and jamming. We hope to see you all again next Thursday night and if you haven't been out yet - come check us out - we would love to see you there!

Well, our first meeting was a great success and the organization of our program was discussed with alot of good advice and potential for some really good contacts.
We had a good turnout which quickly broke into some good music and singing by all.
For next weeks meeting (Thursday, 20 September 2018) we will start formal instruction on the acoustic guitar, the accordion and (we hope) the bohdran. As usual, we will be meeting at Keyin College (44 Austin St., St. John's, NL) from 7 to 8:30pm.
We hope to see you there!