Highlights From the Year: Celebrating JoyRx Music Digital Live
JoyRx Music Digital Live has had a wonderful year of bringing joy to children nationwide through virtual concerts, special events, or one-on-one interactions via tablet.
During these interactions, our music specialists take requests in real-time to help kids feel connected and enjoy the beat.
What are the most requested songs in 2023? “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from Disney’s Encanto, “Peaches,” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and “Anti-Hero,” by Taylor Swift.
This, in addition to our recent evolution of JoyRx Kids, allows us to reach more kids, no matter where they are.
Let’s look at some highlights from the year and celebrate all that JoyRx Music Digital Live accomplishes!
Madlibs and Singo
Our virtual concerts are a crowd favorite among the children we serve — especially when we can offer interactive elements such as Madlibs and Singo.
With Musical Madlibs, kids can collaborate to rewrite their favorite songs. Our music specialists present their song offerings and invite the kids to call in or text with different nouns, verbs, and adjectives in place of the original lyrics.
The rewrites are always a delight — and one kid even gave our music specialist a “10-out-of-10-star performance.”
JoyRx Music Specialist Gabby enjoys some Musical Madlibs with the kids!
In addition to Madlibs, our virtual concerts feature SINGO, a type of musical-bingo, where kids listen for clues in songs that are performed live by our music specialists, and then mark off the corresponding box on their SINGO card. It makes for a fun and interactive concert, where every participant is a winner!
In August, we joined a special event with the Lil Roar support group with our hospital partner, University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Lil’ Roar Burn Survivor Support Group gives young survivors and their families a chance to meet others facing the same challenges in a fun and stress-free environment. JoyRx Music Digital Live provided a 30-minute virtual song-request concert and a 30-minute virtual SINGO game.
JoyRx staff joined the Lil Roar group via Zoom on a large TV screen, and kids, parents, and hospital staff had fun requesting songs, playing with egg shakers, singing, dancing, and, of course, winning lots of fun prizes during SINGO!
Summer Camp with JoyRx
In August, JoyRx hosted two livestream concerts with a summer camp theme, one in partnership with Seacrest Studios at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and another as part of our monthly Third-Thursday Livestream concert series where kids nationwide could tune in to the live broadcast to sing along to campfire songs.
“Going to camp is such a big part of our patients’ lives,” said Wendy from Seacrest Studios at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta during their exclusive event. “For many of our patients, camp is where friendships are formed, and lasting memories are made. Many of our patients spend much of the year talking about and looking forward to going to summer camp. Therefore, it can be extremely disappointing for those who get thrown a curve ball and cannot go due to unforeseen circumstances.”
Charlotte shows off her new banjo!
The summer camp theme was a huge success last summer, and JoyRx was excited to bring the campfire back to the kids this year, too — and expand it out to more hospitals.
“While some typical camp activities can’t be duplicated in a hospital setting, many can be, and that’s where JoyRx Music so graciously stepped in!” said Wendy. “What a special week it’s been for our patients and families, and it’s all thanks to the efforts of our wonderful partners like JoyRx!”
This year, the camp-inspired event included popular sing-alongs, song requests, and musical craft demonstrations. Our music specialists entertained the kids with a woodland creature-themed backdrop, featuring artwork from Mike Bennett.
JoyRx Music Specialist Kelsey performs for the kids.
Anna from Seacrest Studio said, “Truly, the creativity and detail you put into making this event so special for our patients means the world to us.”
The Lasting Impact
Every day, our JoyRx Digital Live music specialists virtually visit hospitals nationwide, meeting children and singing songs with them. We’ve seen the profound effect these visits have on children, be it through individual interactions, personalized songs, song requests performed in real time, virtual summer camps, and more!
Whether kids tune in from their hospital rooms, attend in-person concerts, or watch videos on JoyRx Kids, we’ve seen how music can help.
When we broadcast our virtual song request concerts, each child can access the music specialists’ song lists to request their favorite songs. During one concert in June, a little girl sang along with JoyRx Music Specialist Kelsey in an acapella version of “Part of Your World,” from Disney’s Little Mermaid.
After the concert, Jill from Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, TX, said, “Thank you for your talents and time — the patients and families were raving about the concert all day!”