Vanderbilt Kennedy music campers with disabilities write, record and perform a song at the Grand Ole Opry

Posted 7/17/2008

Country musician, Gary Allan, visits Vanderbilt Kennedy Music Camp to share his experience on what it is like to enter into and to succeed in the music business.

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center hosted its third annual Music Camp for young adults (ages 16+) with developmental disabilities. This is a weeklong residential camp held on the Vanderbilt campus in conjunction with the Blair School of Music. Campers celebrate music by participating in a songwriting workshop with Nashville songwriters, a recording session, a songwriter's night and a live performance on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

This year, the Opry performance will take place on Friday, July 18, at 8 p.m. Tickets are still available. Call (615) 871-6937.

The camp also focuses on building social skills and independence, and many campers take part in research activities. Current camp research projects involve using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore how the brain works in persons with Williams syndrome versus in those with typical development. In one study, it has been found that in some people with Williams syndrome, when they are listening to both musical and nonmusical sounds, the area of the brain that is responsible for vision is being activated. This unusual finding suggests that for some people with Williams syndrome, sound really is a multisensory experience.

Contact: Gretchen Herbert, (615) 322-8529 ext. 3

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