Author: Michael Aloi

The Perfect Pitch

Songs for Smiles has expanded its reach by doing their first concert in Florida at the Palm Beach Children’s Hospital. Finding this diamond in the rough that led the path to that great day was not found in the form of a jewel in the sand but on the green grass of a baseball diamond. Back in March 2016 my daughter Lisa was visiting her sister Michelle in Florida for her birthday and, just by chance, ran into 2 pitchers Jarred Cosart and Paul Clemens, then of the Florida Marlins Baseball Team. Their friendship that developed that night led to complimentary tickets for the next day’s spring training game against the New York Yankees. It was at that game that Lisa bought a ticket to a 50/50 raffle to benefit a children’s hospital in Florida. As luck would have it, Lisa won the raffle and the next day went to pickup her winnings at the Palm Beach Children’s Hospital. As a nurse, she immediately developed an affinity to the Hospital and vowed to visit again in the future to help in some way. When she told me of her good fortune the first thing we both thought about was to find a way to ͞give back͟ and Songs for Smiles immediately came to mind. On my next trip to Florida in July this goal came to fruition as I was able to arrange to do a concert for the children at the hospital. This amazing path that led to that day will hopefully lead to a long relationship bringing music and smiles to the children of the Palm Beach Area. What started with a Pitcher’s pitch led to a Home Run!

4/22/16 Concert

Picture from Lilly… A very special gift!

Lots of smiles from a big crowd of children, their parents and staff today.

First joined by little Ima at 3 she was so animated and her smile brightened the room and did not let any of the machines she was connected to affect her laughs, waves and singing into her toy microphone. She totally surprised me when she rattled off animals for me to sing in old MacDonald. I could see the joy (and sense of relief) in her mom experiencing her child’s joy during this stressful time in her life.

I next met Hazel and her daughter Casey who explained to me that her son was a patient of my daughter Lisa, an RN in the ER at the hospital and the great care and compassion Lisa had displayed with them. She was excited to now share music with “Lisa’s dad”. Her daughter Casey sang along throughout my show.

Next came Nicolas and his mom. Even though his mobility was very limited he was so attentive throughout my show and clapped along with great joy during “if your happy and you know it”. His mom had a very bonding experience with her son which I was happy to be a part of.

Next came My buddy Lilly (she her artwork above) along with her mom and her social worker Rose. She makes quite an entrance and captivates me every time I see her. She joined me “on stage” for “skidamarink” and stayed for 2 more songs. And when I started playing “Rocking Robin” she was joined by Rose and her mom along with Hazel and her daughter . The “dance floor” was full of children just being kids., living in he moment and somehow shutting out the difficult times that may be ahead of them. I could see the folds in Lilly’s mask expressing her amazing smile. I wish I could have frozen that moment in time for forever.

Next came Emma with her mom and dad singing along to all my songs and sharing in the joy of those moments.

I gave all a gift of my music and as always, encouraged them to continue singing to their children whenever they had the opportunity.

The Community Reached out for one of their neighbors. The mother of local child Giley… was terminally ill and through the help of the community and the Mt. Pleasant School District, we were able to present a benefit concert to raise money for the family… ….

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Connor, Vincent, Haley, Noah and Symayah

Vincent’s dad Paul was Skidsmarinking with me and Vincent had the most amazing continuous smile the entire show.. I explained to him that I started playing music at his age and maybe he could learn to play music  as well and I could come to see him perform a concert someday.

Connor drove the fire truck as I was his windshield wipers

Haley took care of her little brother Niah and held his hand during “The more we get Together”.

Symayah gave me some great animals for “Old McDonald” along with her dad…and Haley and Symayah made great fish lips during “He’s got the whole world in his hands”

Haley and Noah’s mom said it was great for her as well to have some good times to relieve some of her stress.

Everyone wanted to take pictures with me at the end of the show to help remember this positive moment. I gave them all DVDs of my live concert to hopefully help keep the positive energy going and as always encouraged them to keep singing and smilin for their little ones.

For the past 10 years plus I have been performing at the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY. It has been the most gratifying and life changing experience of my life.

I am going to try to highlight some of those experiences in my blog every week from now on to hopefully encourage others to get involved. I will try to include pictures whenever I can.. but as you can understand and respect… privacy is of utmost consideration for all . So we will have to, in many cases, reverse the phrase and make “a hundred words equal one big picture”. I hope you can visualize each week the smiles and joy of the children and their parents that I am so fortunate to share my music with.

Today I got to spend time with Lilly and Timothy and Paige and Phillip.

Each child has their own story of how they arrived here and what it will take to walk out the front door. But one thing is clear…they all Hold the magic that is the essence of being a child and their courage and perseverance is clear in all of their eyes. Whether through The chicken sounds of old MacDonald or the sheep “singing” La Bamba…. for 30 minutes we can all become kids again. Today My buddy Lilly, who I have seen more times than I would have wished, brightened my day as she always does with her “cock a doodle do”. And Timothy at 6 with his cool pjs and smile that lit up the room looked a lot like me when I was his age with his hair flipped up and big brown eyes singing every song as if he was Pavarotti.. Even if he didn’t know the words!. And Phillip who played the trumpet so well that he was moved up to play in his school band at 11 was a natural ham that would surely go on to do what I do someday if the good lord is kind. And his cousin Paige just lit up the room with her fish lips and Skidsmarinking…All for this brief moment in time somehow magically disconnected from their monitors and IVs to simply be a kid again singing songs,enjoying each other’s company and smiling…. And their parents collectively exhaling to enjoy the sights and sounds of what life was and hopefully will be again. We all made lasting friendships and at the end of my show.. as I always say “I hope I don’t see you next week… (Because that would mean you were able to go home). I encouraged all to keep up the singing and smiling as much as they can in their everyday life’s ( and gave everyone a cd and dvd of my songs to help in the process)
Another great end to my week and hopefully to theirs…. Until next week.. Keep smilin!!

I am extremely excited to announce that we will soon be launching version 1 of our new website. This platform will allow us to begin to automate the process of bringing live music to children in need…not only in our own community but soon around the country….creating a coast to coast “smile network”. My sincerest thanks to Durval and our team in Brazil whose skills and dedication to this great project have made this important piece of our journey possible. I look forward to continuing our relationship as we grow. … Michael