If anyone ever watched the way older adults respond to music, they know that there isn’t a better therapy. In fact, Music Therapy has become one of the most effective ways to help those with Alzheimer’s disease. Julie Bloch, a Board Certified Music Therapist, has extensive experience working with older adults, both as a former Activity Director at a Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation facility, has given several seminars underlining the importance of music and now brings “ViolinSerenade,” a personalized gift of music to people.

When family members want to help their loved one transition into a long-term care setting, or wants to send a birthday or holiday wish, a ViolinSerenade is a unique and thought way to express that love and support. As you can see on the faces of the ladies who live at The Plaza at Deer Creek in Deerfield Beach, they are in rapture at the melodic strains that Julie’s talent as a violinist brings to them. Smiles and words of gratitude and many a tear of joy fills the room after Julie performs. What a gift!

Boomer Times & Senior Life December 2001

By Faran Fagen

Special to The Palm Beach Post

Julie Bloch – her back straight and chin tucked – stood perfectly still in front of William Berger and took a deep breath before stroking the first note on her violin.

Bloch and the ailing Berger were the only people in Berger’s room at his nursing home in Deerfield Beach. Bloch was told that Berger was a tough man who liked things his way and rarely left his room.

As she began to play, something she has been doing for 20 years, Bloch was struck by a feeling of warmth. Tears were flowing down the old man’s cheeks. The Activities Director of the nursing home walked by, saw the tears and was equally shocked.

“For a tough man to break down and be touched by the music really touched me,” said Bloch, 26.

Berger died three days later.

ViolinSerenades – Music Therapist Bloch’s new venture – are catching on with many nursing homes and senior living facilities in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties.

“It’s something different to give,” said Beth Pennington, Activity Director at Park Plaza at Deer Creek in Deerfield Beach. “People get tired of sending flowers or a nightgown to their Mom or Dad. Here’s something unuque and different they can give to their loved one.”

For five years, Bloch has worked with seniors as a Board Certified Music Therapist. She has played for comatose patients and for patients so ill they could barely move.

She got the idea of starting the ViolinSerenade business after serenading a friend’s grandmother in Delray Beach as a favor. Libby Zadoff, who needs an oxygen tank to breathe, watched with wonder as Bloch played Beautiful Dreamer, Yiddish Melodies and Send in the Clowns.

Bloch and her friend had already discussed starting ViolinSerenade, but it was after this little concert for Zadoff that the vision really started to take place.

“(Libby Zadoff) was so happy, she glowed with joy and couldn’t stop talking to family members about it for days on how wonderful it was,” Bloch said. “It made me feel good, because a few days later she was bragging to everyone she knew about how long the concert was.

“She felt that, even though she was ill, she was not forgotten.”

Bloch got into Music Therapy at Michigan State University because she wanted to help people rather than just perform. For high school, she attended Interlochen Arts Academy, an Internationally known boarding school in northern Michigan.

In Florida, in addition to being a Music Therapist, Bloch was the Activities Director at a Skilled Nursing facility called Regents Park at Aventura.

For her serenades, Bloch plays all types of music, from Beethoven to popular songs such as Wind Beneath my Wings.

Bloch got together with a Web designer and a graphic designer in July and drew up a Web site (www.ViolinSerenade.com) for the company. The Web site is voice-interactive, with Bloch’s violin playing on every page. After the holidays, Bloch’s music will be available for downloading at the Web site.

In August, she marketed the idea at facilities, some of which liked the notion so much that they made the ViolinSerenades part of the facilities admission’s package. The Plaza at Deer Creek in Deerfield Beach, the Court of Palm Aire in Pompano Beach, and Care House of Hallandale Beach have incorporated Bloch into their services.

Lisa Casper, community liaison for hospice care of Southeast Florida, wants Bloch to provide ViolinSerenades to all her clients, and Bloch is happy to oblige.

Whitehall Nursing Home in Boca Raton has also added Bloch to its package.

“At first I thought it was a record,” said Linda Gizinsky, Human Resource Director of Whitehall. “She actually moved me to tears. She’s going to be beneficial to the residents here.

“I could see the residents’ faces and how the old music brought back memories for them.”

The Palm Beach Post Sunday, December 16, 2001

Cover Story for the Deerfield Times
Reported by Shirley Green
Photo by Christina Campbell

Julie Bloch firmly believes that music has charms to help just about anything that ails you. Which is why she became a Board Certified Music Therapist rather than a plain musician or music teacher, and why she spends most of her time working with residents of nursing homes and adult care facilities.

She's a regular at the N.E. Focal Point Alzheimer Care Center where she uses her violin, guitar, drum, vice, and above all, creativity to delight and stimulate her audience.

"Music therapy works amazingly well, especially with Alzheimer patients," she said. They can recall the songs and often the words of songs they learned 60 or 70 years ago. I bring in rhythm instruments so we can have movement too. I play the violin or guitar and they sing along. They're actually creating the music!

"Singing is a cognitive skill," she continued. "Add to that the motor skills and the sensory stimulation they get from feeling the vibrations of the instruments. Then there's the social component of being in a group setting, interacting with their peers.

Sheryl Fleming, who heads the Alzheimer Center, said, Julie is just good. She interacts with the participants and gets them to thing and use their memory. I believe she really makes a difference. One man buys her flowers because he enjoys it so much.

Bloch, who has a Music Therapy degree from Michigan State, has been a violinist for 20 years. She recently started a company called ViolinSerenade. It's a kind of gift package consisting of a half hour violin performance of the recipient's favorite songs, and a framed picture with a message from the gift-giver on the back.

Her preference, though, is to visit area adult care facilities and bring joy to the residents' lives.

Horizon Club is one of her favorites. Julie is absolutely wonderful, said Activities Director Siobhan Magen. I've probably not heard any more compliments from our assisted living residents than she's received. The staff actually enjoys her as much as the residents do, so it's a neat bonding thing, when the staff is excited about it too. It projects into the residents.

Julie comes here every Sunday evening and usually stays longer than she's contracted for because she loves our residents and wants to be with them, she continued. The thing that impressed me the most is that when I talk to Julie, she can tell me things about our residents that I don't know. She really takes the time to get involved.

Beth Pennington, Activities Director at The Plaza at Deer Creek, said many of the Alzheimer's patients eyes actually light up when Bloch comes. I believe they know that she's kind and good to them and doing something they like, she said. She's so versatile. She brings her guitar and violin and rhythm instruments so the residents can participate. For someone so young, she has such a great way of interacting with the elderly, she said. It's remarkable to see that in a young person.

While Bloch works principally with the elderly, she would be the first to say that Music Therapy is for anyone who has difficult situations to deal with. She's developed an original program for children whose parents are going divorce, and she volunteers to run the program in conjunction with Family Court Services in Miami-Dade. We talk about feelings, and then express those feelings on drums, she said. These children take crises personally, and a lot them have been abused. It's been a wonderful program for them.

The Deerfield Times March 7th, 2002

Fay Krupin had a ViolinSerenade to celebrate her 100th birthday Feb. 12th while surrounded by friends at Aspen Willowwood in Fort Lauderdale. The retirement home hired music therapist Julie Nissa Bloch for the birthday performance as well as for entertaining the other residents.

"Fay smiled most of the time," said Bloch, who lives in Plantation. "Sometimes she seemed as if she was going to cry but in the end she thanked me for the beautiful music."

"It was beautiful," said Adam Pockriss, Activity Director for Aspen. "She played about six or seven songs. [Krupin] always said she loved the violin."

Krupin was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States as a small child. She moved to Fort Lauderdale, worked as a bookkeeper and was married to Harry Krupin, an accountant, for 50 years.

"She's involved in everything," Pockriss said.

When asked her secret to living to be 100, Krupin had a simple answer:

"It's because I didn't die sooner.

Written by Paul L. Hodges
Sun-Sentinel March 10th, 2002