The Artisan Guitar Show first brought the guitar community together to support Four Diamonds in 2024. We are pleased to announce our continued support of Four Diamonds whose mission is to conquer childhood cancer.
In 2016, when the initial Artisan Guitar Show was being planned, the Best Western Premier The Central Hotel & Conference Center was an ideal venue. In our support of Holy Spirit Hospital many years earlier, we had already presented Tony Bennett, Roberta Flack, and Marvin Hamlisch at this property. The masonry and wood architectural style of the atrium was a natural fit for a handcrafted guitar show.
Peter Chiccarine, the General Manager, embraced the Artisan Guitar Show and he has been an ardent supporter of the event since its inception. In 2023, we learned that Peter’s beautiful young daughter, Harmony, was a patient in the care of Four Diamonds. Peter expressed high praise and heartfelt gratitude for Four Diamonds. We knew immediately that we wanted to find a way to support children just like Harmony and families like the Chiccarine family.
With the generous spirit and talent of guitar maker Chad Gillander of Gillander Guitars and the support of StewMac, we have built a beautiful 14 fret orchestra model acoustic guitar to honor this wonderful charity. Aulson Inlay has again supported this worthy project by inlaying “Artisan Guitar Show” in the fretboard and TKL has kindly provided a hardshell case for this charitable effort.
Together, ten like-minded and compassionate guitar enthusiasts, Andrea and Peter Chiccarine, Dr. Calvin Clements, Aaron Cohen, John Davis, Denise Detrick, John Detrick, Rick Hearne/Hearne Hardwoods, Kathy and Ken Totushek, and Jack Salzwedel have each committed to donate $1,000 directly to Four Diamonds.
On Saturday evening prior to the presentation of the Artisan Guitar Show Bucky Pizzarelli Award, these generous individuals will be acknowledged from the stage. To add to the excitement of helping these families in need, one of these generous individuals will take this beautiful guitar home with them. We are excited to have Four Diamonds child Harmony and the Chiccarine family on stage again to randomly select a name from this list of contributors.
Meet Hunter: Board-Certified Music Therapist
When Hunter Eshbach, a board-certified music therapist at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, reflects on her childhood, she remembers two key elements that shaped her into who she is today: music and helping others.
“From a very young age, I was involved in music,” said Hunter. “I grew up in a very musical family, so I was always around music. As I got older, I knew music was something I wanted to have as a part of my professional life.”
Hunter Eshbach, a board-certified music therapist, works with Four Diamonds child Bella during her treatment at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital.
“Similarly, I grew up surrounded by people who were in helping fields; my grandfather is a pastor, my mom is a physical therapist, my dad is a teacher. They all helped people, and I knew I also wanted to have that as part of my career.”
Early in her high school career, Hunter discovered music therapy as a career option, and she instantly knew it was the perfect fit for her. “Once I found music therapy, I was hooked,” Hunter remembers. “I did some research and was able to shadow a music therapist at a nearby hospital. I knew from that point on that music therapy was what I wanted to do.”
Strumming Comfort
Through generous support from the community, Four Diamonds assists children and their families through superior care, comprehensive support, and innovative research. They cover 100 percent of the out-of-pocket medical expenses for all Four Diamonds children, allowing families to focus on the health and well-being of their child, not how they will pay for treatment.
Four Diamonds also funds more than 35 specialty care providers to exclusively serve the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients and their families. One of those services is music therapy. Four Diamonds child Isabelle learned how to play the ukulele during her music therapy sessions. Isabelle’s mom, Kristen, said, “Isabelle lights up when she sees the music therapist enter the room. Music therapy helps take away the fear of the hospital.”
Music therapy is a therapeutic tool that helps patients process the emotions related to treatment and helps to shift anxiety and fear into joy and happiness. Therapists use interventions, including playing instruments, singing, listening, and songwriting to promote adjustment to the hospital setting. Music is a powerful thing! Studies show that making, interpreting, listening, or dancing to music gives children a creative outlet for self-expression. It also provides several other physiological and psychological benefits for cancer patients during treatment and recovery. These benefits include the following:
- Pain management: Studies indicate music therapy can reduce pain perception and analgesic use. It can also reduce the effects of depression and anxiety.
- Improving mood: Music therapy helps children manage fear and anxiety, improving their mood and outlook about treatment and helping them feel more at ease in the hospital environment.
- Coping with anxiety: Music therapy also helps children cope with tests, procedures and surgeries by reducing physiological anxiety symptoms. For example, music therapy can reduce heart and respiratory rates.
- Enhancing relaxation and sleep: Music is soothing and can improve sleep for patients who are in pain or feeling fear or anxiety during an overnight hospital stay.
- Expressing thoughts and emotions: Music therapy regulates a patient’s autonomic nervous system activity and activates positive emotions and memories. These positive feelings and associations improve a child’s ability to communicate their thoughts and emotions.
- Encouraging social relationships: Music therapy is comforting and helps a child feel safe. An improved sense of safety encourages children to form deeper bonds with their music therapist and other care providers, including physicians, nurses, and caregivers.
- Developmental learning: Music therapy improves a child’s physical, social, and emotional communication. It can also help them develop gross and fine motor skills.
- Boosting motivation: Improved pain management, mood, sleep, and self-expression equip and motivate children to continue with treatment.
Hunter explains that music therapy is, in fact, therapy, and each patient receives an individualized care plan based on their specific needs. “Music therapy is an evidence-based practice, meaning there is a lot of research that goes into what we do. We are using music to reach non-music goals related to the overall health and well-being of each patient.”
“Each time we meet with a patient, we determine what goals we are trying to address with that patient; what are we seeking to accomplish through music therapy?” Hunter explained. “Goals can range from cognitive, communication, musical, emotional, social, physical or spiritual…and we can address all of those areas through music therapy.”
Picking Hope
“There are so many things that I love about my job as a music therapist,” said Hunter. “No day is ever the same, and I get to spend time with many different patients and provide them with hope during a time that is very hard for them. I also love and value the feeling of community that we have at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, both as a staff and with our patients and their families.”
Hunter continued, “Being able to make a difference in the lives of kids and see the impact we as music therapists have on them during their time in the hospital is truly special to me. I look forward to coming to work every single day!”
The guitar community is thrilled to present $10,000 in support of Four Diamonds – For The Kids®. This contribution underscores our commitment to the well-being and care of kids facing childhood cancer. These funds will undoubtedly make a significant impact, providing support and care to families like Harmony’s during their challenging journeys. The compassion within the guitar community shines brightly through this heartfelt gesture, demonstrating that music and kindness can harmonize to create a powerful force for good.
The FOUR DIAMONDS GUITAR
- Style: 14 Fret Orchestra Model by Gillander Guitars
- Top: European Spruce Top
- Neck: Mahogany with Bound Ebony Headplate
- Back and Sides: Bois de Rose
- Toneport: Oval with Suspended Blue 4 Diamond Logo
- Tuners: Waverly with Ebony Buttons
- Rosette: Royal Blue Opal Diamonds Inlayed Into Holly and Surrounded with Black Blue Black Purpling
- Artisan Guitar Show Fretboard Inlay by Aulson Inlay
- Case provided by TKL
- Special thanks to Stewmac