PULSE

🌟Music is how the light gets in🌟

Pulse is the intersection between music and health.

Between the arts and medicine.

Between the concert stage and the hospital room.

Pulse is a collaboration between a music therapist and a performer with the goal of educating, illuminating, and expanding their intertwined worlds through inspiring performances, engaging talks, and innovative events for audiences of all ages and stages of life.

Pulse Music Media is a creative community built for both online and live-performances, conversations, story-telling, and idea-sharing about the intersecting worlds of music and health.

WHO WE ARE

Founder, Music Therapist
Dr. SarahRose Black, PhD RP MTA is a registered psychotherapist and certified music therapist, researcher and educator specializing in psychosocial oncology and palliative care at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and in her private practice; Whole Note Psychotherapy. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and a graduate internship supervisor at Wilfrid Laurier University. SarahRose is the Editor in Chief of the Canadian Journal of Music Therapy, and her research focuses on music therapy and medically assisted dying, music within psilocybin use in advanced cancer care, and music therapy for adolescents and young adults with cancer. As a pianist, vocalist, and music health educator, she has performed, taught, and presented on her clinical work and research across Canada.
Founder, Cellist, Producer
Cellist. Performer. Conductor. Composer. Musical Director. Artistic Director. Teacher. Video Producer. Audio Engineer. Multi-Instrumentalist. Andrew Ascenzo is redefining what it means to be a professional musician in the 21st Century.
He was the top graduate of the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Toronto where he is currently a cello instructor and lecturer. Andrew performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, appearing regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Concert Orchestra. He is the Artistic Director of the weekly concert series Music in the Atrium at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Andrew’s work in multi-media has included serving as the Artistic Producer of the Banff Centre’s Evolution Classical summer programs, and video production for organizations including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, University of Toronto, University Health Network, Ottawa Chamberfest, Leaf Music, and Gryphon Trio. He can be found on social media platforms as @andrewascenzocellist.

PRESENTING PULSE

A PULSE concert is a storytelling and music event. Each performance is based around stories from the front lines of music and medicine, as told by SarahRose Black, a music therapist and registered psychotherapist founder and director of the music therapy program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.

These are stories of hope, love, loss, connection, and healing. These are stories that shine a light on the power of music to affect our lives, our health, and our connection to one another and to ourselves.

Each story is centred around one or several pieces of music, including classical, popular, musical theatre, and original songs written with patients. The music featured in each story is performed live, giving the audience new and relatable context in which to listen and connect to the music.

While the stories we tell are all true, details have been altered and composite patients created in order to protect patient confidentiality. In many cases, permission to share unaltered stories and/or perform patients’ original songs has been explicitly given by the patients or their families.

We collaborate with the top musicians in the industry and provide a unique concert experience. We give audiences a window into the world of music and health through the eyes of a music therapist, inviting them to enjoy live music in a way they never have before.