Eclectic “Music Wednesdays” Return Sept. 2

In the 9th-floor oncology unit of Duke Hospital, Tiffany Atkinson and five of her patients dressed up in leis and grass skirts to go on an outdoor field trip.On that particular Wednesday in May, The Eno Islanders played Hawaiian string music outside in the plaza, providing a break from chemotherapy and radiation treatments.“It’s a change of pace for patients,” said Atkinson, a Duke recreation therapist. “It’s a moment to take a break from it all and do something that they enjoy, to create positive memories here in the hospital.”Arts & Health at Duke, which brings arts programming to the halls and patient rooms of Duke Medicine, is bringing back its “Music Wednesdays” free concert series in September. Music will be performed 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Wednesday starting Sept. 2 in the plaza of the Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Center for Health Education. The performances are open to patients, Duke employees, family members and visitors.The first time Arts & Health at Duke held music concerts in the Trent Semans Center Plaza was last May, when professional musicians performed everything from Hawaiian songs to hot European jazz. Research has shown that music can help lower a person’s blood pressure and stress, said William Dawson, the performing artist in residence for Arts & Health at Duke.“I hope people who attend walk away recharged and remember that there is life outside of whatever situation they’re going through,” Dawson said. “I hope one of these concerts reminds them that there’s life and art and beauty all around them.”