Pediatric physical therapist Marc Castelo has always used music in his work. He has seen rhythms encourage a developmentally delayed toddler to crawl and walk. He’s also used music to entertain, distract and teach older kids.
"Music is such a great motivator that makes therapy more fun for the child and therapist," said Castelo, MPT, co-owner of Play 2 Grow, a child development and therapy play center. "When you think of therapy interventions, you think of exercise or bracing or assistive devices, but you don't think of music, which could the most powerful tool of all."
Castelo’s appreciation of music turned into a partnership when he met award-winning singer/songwriter Donny Todd three years ago. Todd taught him to play guitar.
When Castelo learned that Todd, his brother, Jalyn Anderson, and drummer/voice-over artist Dan Fishman wanted to work on a children’s music project that would help the community, Castelo suggested that it include spoken stories as well as songs.
“When you really love a song, it almost always tells you a story,” he said.
Castello wrote a story about lizards called "Lime and Sunny," which Todd and Fishman turned into a song. With that collaboration, Always Saturday was born three years ago.
Last November, the band released its first CD, “Love is Plural,” which has both spoken stories and songs.
“It has been such a blessing to me to connect with Donny and Dan. They are so talented and great to work with,” Castelo said. “Donny writes the melodies and sings. Dan does the production and voice-over work. I help create the stories, which tell kids the back story of the song, or more about the characters.
“I leave the singing and the playing to the real musicians, of which there are several on the CD.”
Castelo finds inspiration for stories from his own experiences and imagination, as well as that of his daughters, Olivia, 9, and Lulu, 6.
“They come up with the most creative and crazy ideas. Olivia gave Lime his name,” he said. “Kids just want to be silly and have fun. I’m like a big kid myself when I tap into that part of myself.”
When Castelo teaches a baby-play therapy class at Play 2 Grow on Saturday mornings, he ends the session by playing Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” which features the refrain, “Don’t worry about a thing, ‘cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
“New parents worry about everything, so I want to send them home with this mantra — that everything is going to be all right,” Castelo said. “I’ve played that song so many times, that I couldn’t help but write about Marley from the perspective of three little birds.”
His story became “A Guy Named Bob,” the first track on “Love is Plural.”
“We had written a song with that title, and we were looking for a CD title; we realized that all the songs were about love,” Castelo said.
Fighting childhood cancer
Always Saturday has donated all of the proceeds from the title track and a portion of the CD sales to Camp Sunshine, a Decatur-based organization dedicated to improving the lives of children who have cancer.
“When we found out that two of the vocalists on the CD, Doug MacMillan and Annie Hyra, were cancer survivors, we knew that creating this CD for Camp Sunshine was meant to be,” he said.
The group is planning a songwriting workshop with kids at the camp this month. The group encourages people to help fight childhood cancer by downloading the title track from iTunes or buying the CD.
“We call it our 10K, meaning that we hope to have 10,000 songs downloaded at 99 cents each. We’ve already raised more than $6,000 for the organization,” Castelo said.
The group is working on a second CD. Todd has since moved to Minnesota and only records with the group, but Castelo and Fishman perform the stories and songs in schools around metro Atlanta a couple of times a month.
“By showing kids the relationship between stories and music, we get them to use their imaginations,” he said. “Our aim is to teach them something that they can take away with them.”
Castelo believes in the power of music. If he’s having a bad day, playing music and being positive with his clients can make things better.
“I could never have imagined that physical therapy would lead me to music,” he said. “I didn’t foresee this path, that I would move from practice to start my own business, and now get to be creative with music and stories. You just never know where you are going, but when you’re doing what you love, you’re always going to succeed.”
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