Music Monday

Symphony cellist Marilyn de Oliveira quiets a Community Transitional School audience between songs.

Every now and then it's nice to take a break from the stream of news that flows out of Washington, D.C., Salem and Portland and focus on the softer side.

On the front page of The Oregonian today was a feature story by David Stabler -- "Oregon Symphony members carol for free at hospitals and shelters" -- that spoke to the soothing qualities of music. David, an accomplished pianist himself, wrote about a group of Symphony members who, for the second year in a row, have been playing free concerts to select audiences around Portland.

They've performed at shelters, hospitals, schools and hospices. And, as he writes, the music has a way of working some magic on listeners. Take five minutes out of your day or evening to read about 8-year-old Anna, a student at the Community Transitional School for homeless students, and Steven Toth, a former musician who's living at Our House, a nonprofit that provides housing and other services to people living with AIDS/HIV.

Photograph by Ross William Hamilton, The Oregonian