Bringing Light to Dark Moments: Selma Zollman and the Healing Music of Brazilian Voices

In this episode, I’m joined by Selma Zollman, a music therapist and member of Brazilian Voices—a nonprofit female vocal group based in South Florida. For over 22 years, Brazilian Voices has been bringing the tranquil sounds of Bossa Nova into hospitals, medical facilities, and schools, uplifting patients, families, and healthcare workers through music.

What You'll Hear:

• Pam’s personal journey with grief and how art and music can provide solace in times of loss.
• Selma Zollman’s story of following her passion for music therapy and joining Brazilian Voices.
• The transformative power of harmony—how Brazilian Voices uses soft, multi-part singing to create a gentle ambiance in hospitals, allowing patients, families, and staff to simply “be.”
• Why the group’s presence is about illumination, not cure, and how performing with “no expectations” brings peace for both singers and listeners.
• Heartfelt anecdotes about the response from patients (including those at end-of-life), their families, and healthcare workers touched by the music.
• Selma’s thoughts on the importance of expanding similar music programs to more hospitals and healthcare settings, despite the challenges around privacy and logistics.
• Ways to follow and learn more about Brazilian Voices, including their Instagram, Facebook, and website.

Learn More:

Find out more about Brazilian Voices:

• Instagram: @brazilianvoices
• Facebook: Brazilian Voices
• Website: brazilianvoices.org

Connect with the Show:

Host Pam Uzzell welcomes your feedback and stories. Reach out via arthealsallwoundspodcast.com.

Credits:

• Music in this episode: Ketsa, Lobo Loco, and Brazilian Voices
• Editing by Iva Hristova

Transcript

Pam Uzzell [00:00:12]:
Do you believe art can change the world? So do I! On this show, we meet artists whose work is doing just that. Welcome to Art Heals All Wounds. I'm your host, Pam Uzzell. In October of 2022, I got a call from my brother telling me that our 92 year old dad was in the hospital. He had developed sepsis and was fighting for his life. I drove as fast as possible to be with him, and for the next week, sat helplessly next to him as he would improve a little, then lose ground again, then even rally enough to sit up and eat a bit. The following day, I walked in to find him weaker than ever, still aware, but no longer able to eat or speak.

Pam Uzzell [00:01:25]:
After a long night, he passed late morning of the following day. That week was one of the loneliest weeks of my life. The following spring, I met an artist at the Arts and Health Intensive at the University of Florida, Selma Zollman. Selma and I hit it off right away. When she asked if I was going to do a tour of the hospital, I told her the story of my dad and said that I just wasn't ready to be inside of a hospital again. She told me she completely understood. A short while later, she told me that she was often in hospital settings as part of a group called Brazilian Voices. Brazilian Voices is a nonprofit female vocal group from South Florida.

Pam Uzzell [00:02:12]:
For the past twenty two years, the group has been bringing Bossa Nova to hospitals and other medical facilities. As Selma described this group, I think I just sat there with my mouth open in amazement. My dad loved music. I've thought so many times about what that would have meant to him, to have musicians coming in to visit him and sing during that long week. What it would have meant to me. I'm so glad that Selma agreed to come on the show to talk about Brazilian Voices. We had some technical issues with the audio, so please bear with that. I promise, hearing Selma and the work that Brazilian Voices does is well worth your time.

Pam Uzzell [00:03:22]:
You wanna know how you can really help me keep this show going? Follow me on your favorite listening app. So easy, right? And if you really wanna give the show a boost, leave me a five star rating or review. Hi, Selma. It's so nice to see you. Thank you for being on Art Heals All Wounds. Can you start by telling people who you are and what you do?

Selma Zollman [00:03:55]:
Hi, Pam. It's a pleasure being here with you. My name is Selma Zollman. I'm a music therapist by Formation. I graduated in 1992, and I've been working somehow with some of the music that I got when I graduated up to today.

Pam Uzzell [00:04:14]:
Wow. Well, we met at the University of Florida Arts and Health Intensive, and you told me about this group you were involved with called Brazilian Voices. Can you say what Brazilian Voices is? Just explain a little bit about this group.

Selma Zollman [00:04:34]:
About twenty three years ago, two women got together, and they started this group. And this group has been blessing several counties. And, actually, we have gone several countries already. It's amazing when you get a bunch of women focused on getting help and illuminating, like, hospitals, schools. It's it's just amazing the what we see and how how people, like, receive the sounds. When we harmonize, it's just like a scene that opens up. So everybody can see as they are, and they don't have to become who they are not. They just can blend in.

Selma Zollman [00:05:22]:
So it's it's so amazing how we see, like, we go to ICUs, for example. We see the doctor. We see the nurse. We see the nurse helper. We see the family. We see the caregiver, the patient. Everybody receives our music in a different way, but we connect to every single one of them. It's just incredible.

Pam Uzzell [00:05:45]:
When you say that people are who they are and they don't just blend in, what do you mean by that? Do you mean how they react to the music, or what do you mean?

Selma Zollman [00:05:56]:
What I feel is that when you have one song that is only one voice, it kinda makes you adapt to that voice. So if if you only have one son one one tone only, right, you have to follow that in order to participate. Since we always sing at least three voices, so three different so a melody, a alto, and a a second alto sometimes. So since we have three voices, everybody can adjust to who they are. I feel like it opens the opportunity for everybody to just be, And they don't have to perform or you know, some of them were just gonna look at us and kinda make it up like they didn't even see. But then they're gonna look back and kinda smile. You know? And so the way we touch people are different. And I think because our harmonies is just a way that we can kinda allow people just to be.

Pam Uzzell [00:06:53]:
Well, how did you get involved with this group? What is your first of all, when we first met, I had no idea that you were a singer or anything until you told me about this. So give me a little bit of your background.

Selma Zollman [00:07:07]:
Well, I moved here to Florida about, ten years ago. As soon as I came from California, actually, from San Francisco, and I was a real estate broker there, and I came here and I started working as a real estate agent. And several people that I met, they were like, oh, there's this group. They're called Brazilian voices, and you sing so beautiful. You gotta participate with them. I'm like, I don't know. Let's see. Because they it's not like you can just go there and participate.

Selma Zollman [00:07:35]:
You gotta go through they do, like, a little audition. So they do an audition. You need to do the scales. You need to hold your tune. Right? But I had I had sing in, chorales before in Brazil, choirs. So I was like, oh, okay. I'll I'll check. I'll see how it goes.

Selma Zollman [00:07:54]:
And then I went there. I I sung the first song, and they were like, wow. I think your voice really matches because it's a very, very, calming song the way we do, so we never project our voice. So it's not like opera or anything even close to that. It's very, very quiet. So we we don't interfere on the ambiance. It's just like we give it, and if the person wants to capture, they can. So it's not that, you know, suddenly, it's a you're in the hospital and suddenly you hear all these women choir, like, screaming their lungs out.

Selma Zollman [00:08:30]:
It's not how it works. So we really need to know how to get in tune, but at the same time, keep very quiet. So that's something that you need to, you know, learn. So I went to the rehearsal, and I got into the group. That was 2016. So it's been eight years. And since then, we've been, you know, singing. And sometimes we do shows to show the the community what we do.

Selma Zollman [00:08:58]:
But the majority of the time, we're inside of a hospitals and the schools. And

Pam Uzzell [00:09:03]:
It's such a different experience than if, you know, you see a lot of choirs, as you mentioned, and they really are working on projecting. And that, for the most part, would not be appropriate for the settings that you're talking about in terms of going into a medical facility where you have patients. And it makes sense then that the patients can kind of choose if they're gonna sing along, interact or not, because you're really just creating this ambiance of music for them to engage with either overtly or just more have it be kind of surrounding them, but not, you know, it's interesting. And I'm wondering for you, how does it feel to go into some of these places? I know some of the places you've talked about, sometimes these places can feel sad or heavy. And how does it feel for you to go into some of these places? I know you've gone into places where there are a lot of, patients who are terminal. So how does it feel for you to do this?

Selma Zollman [00:10:18]:
As a musical therapist, I always had a hard time because, you know, you're there to help to make it better, that patient. But that at that point, you know, it is not, like, maybe not possible anymore as a as a as a doctor, as a, you know, as the environment. So, one time, we had a training with the Brazilian Voices, and they said that we were not there to cure anybody. We were there just to illuminate. And since then, it totally changed my perspective. So now I go there. I still like we we have to be, like, 360. Right? So we always need to be looking at our surroundings because sometimes we're there and just like something happened that is a very big emergency, and we need to kinda open the way, or we need to have someone coming with a with a badge, you know, through us.

Selma Zollman [00:11:14]:
So we we need to be super attentive as well. So what we do is just we we just bring that little light. And, you know, the patient that is there, sometimes the the the family that is assisting, just just sitting there waiting for something to happen, and that person is so sad. And when they hear the voices, sometimes they come to the door. They open the door, and they are, like, literally enlightened. It just like it seems that the heaviness of their shoulder just kinda drop. And sometimes they get permission to, like, go back to the the patient, maybe it's the daddy, maybe it's the wife, maybe it's the grandparents. They go there, like, they go it's just like the because we're singing, they go there and they kiss that person, Or they go their back and they hold their hands really tight.

Selma Zollman [00:12:10]:
Or they go on top of them and they hug them. We never know what is gonna bring it. Right? Some people do nothing. Like, they just kinda they're looking at their phone. They keep looking at their phone, but you just see tears coming out. They don't wanna expose their feelings, and at the same time, it's better to be protected. And some people just keep the door closed and we just don't even have any contact with them. So I think it's very important that at that moment, they have permission to just be.

Selma Zollman [00:12:44]:
Right? Because nothing else is being okay for them. So everything is being you know, the doctor say you have to do this, you have to do that, or you have to put this medicine or you know? So it's it's so much have tos. And when we give the permission to just to be, I think you also kinda it releases a lot of stress for sure.

Pam Uzzell [00:13:04]:
Yeah. It's so interesting. I think so often when you talk about a vocal group, you know, it's obviously, the audience reaction is important. But in this case, you can't have any you go in offering this gift of music, but with no expectations.

Selma Zollman [00:13:26]:
Exactly. That's like it's it's so interesting because our ego has to be at the door of the hospital. We go there expecting zero. And it would be very, very full of us if we expect anything because we're there to give. And we give, and we stay there for an hour, an hour and a half. And it's so interesting because when we leave there, we're filled. We went filled. We're filled with with with great gratitude.

Selma Zollman [00:13:56]:
We're filled with happiness. We're filled with no. We don't we don't we don't get out of there, like, with sorrow or heavy. We we leave there with you. Wow. We made a difference. Now sometimes it's gonna be one one person for the whole one hour and a half. Sometimes it's gonna be a lot of people that we can impact.

Selma Zollman [00:14:19]:
It all depends on the availability of each individual that is there, but we don't we expect nothing.

Pam Uzzell [00:14:26]:
You know, I shared with you that my father had died not too long ago. And it was a very being with him when he passed was very it was many things, but one of the things it was was very lonely. And I keep imagining different ways that we might create a space around this transition from life to death. And I'm wondering if you, if the group, if there is a philosophy that you have around that, that maybe is different from a lot of, American people, the way that they think of, you know, that it should be very sterile in a hospital. You know, I wonder if you have thoughts about that.

Selma Zollman [00:15:17]:
I wouldn't be able to tell you, like, how exactly I feel, but what I have experienced is, like, some patients that have been there for months, and we see them over and over. Last week, it happened that one patient passed while we were in the hospital, and the family immediately asked us to go there. And within, like, ten minutes, we were there, and we were singing for the family. And they felt that that was like a hug, a virtual hug because nobody hugging anybody, But they felt, like, the sense of embrace that that we were there with them, that I don't think they felt the solitude that you felt. You know? So I think it's like it could be very, very beneficial for the family.

Pam Uzzell [00:16:11]:
Yeah. Yeah. I know that you have spoken about other places that you go and perform. It's not is it only in medical settings, or is it always, with a health focus? Or what are the other places that Brazilian Voices perform?

Selma Zollman [00:16:28]:
The majority of our performances during the week are at hospitals. So not only terminal, places, but also chemotherapy, also first, normal hospitalizations, emergency, but we also sing in schools. So we go to one school that has special need kids, and we go there and we sing with them and we interact with them. And we let them, you know, use the instruments just to sing with us. It's a totally different work for sure because they're they are really they're waiting for us. They're willing to have us. So there, we we know that they're expecting us, you know, which is totally different than the hospital. But if you ask me, like, which one would be my favorite or what I see, like, that would bring so much more compassion.

Selma Zollman [00:17:21]:
I think I feel that I'm doing something for the world when I when I go, you know, would be the hospitals. Because the kids, you know, they have other activities. They have they play. You know? They the music is one more. Yes. And they love it. But in the hospitals, it it feels like it's it's such a heavy environment. It's so hard to be there.

Pam Uzzell [00:17:44]:
I'm also wondering, can you tell the effect that this has for the health care workers there, the doctors, the nursing staff? How is it for them to have you there?

Selma Zollman [00:17:57]:
It's just amazing. We have so many testimonies of, like, nurses that they have that the music usually has two and a half to five minutes. Right? And that's the minutes that they have for them. So they are typing in the computer about the patient, and then they're like or they are singing with us. One of the hospitals we have, she goes with us. So, you know, she's the head nurse, so she goes with us. So everybody allows themselves to just be. They dance a little bit in the hallway.

Selma Zollman [00:18:29]:
Sometimes the patients, they start dancing and they go, hold on. Take it easy. You know? But it's amazing. I mean, we really do. They they are like, oh, you girls are here. It's Friday. Oh, you guys you girls making me make our lives so much better. We have a lot of testimonies from them.

Pam Uzzell [00:18:50]:
Wow. Yeah. It's amazing how music in general can just change a space, but there's something so beautiful about the live performance and even performance doesn't really seem like the right word, but just that presence of people singing in harmony would really be an amazing thing to experience when the rest of your life is really not going so well. It would feel just like some kind of a blessing. I just wish there were more organizations like yours across the country. Do you know of any other groups that do this? You may not know the answer, and that's fine. But I just am thinking this should be something that's really in every health care facility.

Selma Zollman [00:19:41]:
Mhmm. Yes. I agree with you. I don't know of any, but I know that is, something must that we must have because we see and we feel the difference. I was even telling them that if we do, like, a Netflix documentary, you know, that everybody could see the difference that we leave behind. And it's it's just not we're we're not staying there for a performance of thirty minutes or we just pass by, and we are making such a such a transformation on the hospital hallway. So it's like if everybody could just experience even if you're watching it. But because of privacy, that's almost impossible.

Selma Zollman [00:20:22]:
Because, you know, recording and you're making it make it the makeup of it would be very, very I mean, not let's not say impossible because nothing is impossible, but very hard.

Pam Uzzell [00:20:37]:
Wow. That's too bad because I would volunteer to work on that documentary if you were gonna make it. Because I just I don't know. There was something so mind expanding when you told me about this group. And I just thought, yes. That is what a medical center needs. A hospital, a God, a chemotherapy treatment center, you know, just when something like that happens, when people walk by singing and performing, it kind of you as the spectator, it kind of makes your heart beat a little bit faster and you feel really special and lucky. Especially it's not a concert you bought a ticket to.

Pam Uzzell [00:21:27]:
You just happen to be in a place where this is happening. And it would give you something if you're going to a chemotherapy treatment, it would give you something to bring back from that day that is like the light spot.

Selma Zollman [00:21:42]:
Yes. Couple weeks ago, a guy we were at the lobby of the hospital, and that guy came, like, walking fast towards us. And we were like, you know, we we never know, you know, if they are gonna just they are in a hurry to go somewhere or say, actually, coming to us. Right? And he said, please, can I can I say something? Once we finish singing, you know, can I can I please, talk to you for a minute? We're like, sure. We we finished the music. We stop. And he's like, you girls passed on my room just a day after I had a transplant in my heart transplant, and that gave me courage and strength to move on. I was feeling like I had no strength.

Selma Zollman [00:22:28]:
And then when I heard those voices, I was like, yes. I need to move. I need to go on. And he said, I I I can't explain to you, and his wife was with him, how how thankful I am for the work that you do. And it's something you see that we we didn't even know who he was. We didn't know what had had happened to him, but he just had had a heart transplant. And he came that day. He's like, you know, every single time I come here to the hospital, I wanna find you girls.

Selma Zollman [00:23:00]:
And today I find you girls. So I'm super, super grateful.

Pam Uzzell [00:23:07]:
This just captured my imagination so, so much that I really do think that it needs to be in more places. I don't know if you guys can create different chapters or something like that. But the whole philosophy behind it of singing quietly in harmony and just being present, however a person there wants to receive it is just so, so, I don't know. It's very inspiring to think about how that could change someone's someone's experience.

Selma Zollman [00:23:43]:
Mhmm. And outcome too. You know? Because Right. We're talking about arts and medicine. So, you know, the outcome might be changed just because of that, because somehow that person got that feeling. Hey. I can I can go on? You know? I'm going through this. It's really hard, but I can hold on and I can get out of here.

Selma Zollman [00:24:07]:
You know? This is not it. You know? So you just gotta kinda brings that hope.

Pam Uzzell [00:24:13]:
Yeah. Just completely opens up possibilities, first of all, but then also just the inherent healing power of music. Both of those things are amazing. Yeah. Well, I'm so glad just to have found out about this. And I think it is such a generous gift that your group is giving to people and it doesn't surprise me. You are a very generous person. I experienced that by hanging out with you for that short time, but we spent a lot of time together.

Pam Uzzell [00:24:48]:
And I'm just wondering, is there anything else that you wanna share about this group that we haven't talked about?

Selma Zollman [00:24:55]:
I think it's like a you have to have a lot of heart and a mission and a focus. It's not a easy task. You know? Going to hospitals is not easy. It's not anybody that can just say, hey. I wanna go in. Nobody's gonna go. Right? Because we have all kinds of, protection. Right privacy, germs.

Selma Zollman [00:25:18]:
It's it's so much into it, right, that it was a a very long way for us to get where we where we are right now, and we just feel very blessed. We are a nonprofit organization, so that's another thing. You know? So everybody needs to give their time and go in, you know, for the help of others. And, at the end of the day, we just feel very blessed because we can bring some smiles, and we can bring some sun where it's very, very, very seldom your hospitals.

Pam Uzzell [00:25:54]:
Right. Well, Selma, thank you. And everyone else in Brazilian Voices for doing this work. I am so happy to know about it. And where can people find out more about Brazilian Voices?

Selma Zollman [00:26:11]:
Instagram, Brazilian Voices. So, Facebook, we have a page there as well, Brazilian Voices with Brazil with z. Just like in America. Yeah. Because Brazilian and Portuguese is with "s", but Brazilian voices. I think that's the two best places. We have a website as well. I'll send you some songs that we just sing at, the family cafe.

Selma Zollman [00:26:35]:
Out there now.

Pam Uzzell [00:26:36]:
Could I use a little snippet in the podcast? That would be so cool. I would love that. Thank you, Selma.

Selma Zollman [00:26:42]:
And thank you so much, Pam, for the privilege to be with you.

Pam Uzzell [00:27:30]:
You're listening to Art Heals All Wounds. Thank you so much to Selma Zollman for being on the show and sharing the work that Brazilian Voices does. I know from my own life that music is very healing, and I love the work that this musical does for those facing low moments in their lives. I'm sure that they've contributed to the healing and comfort of so many people. I'll leave information to find Brazilian Voices in the show notes so you can see the incredible work they do in medical settings and other places as well. If you want to get in touch, I'm not on social media so much anymore, but you can always reach out via my website arthealsallwoundspodcast.com. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for listening.

Pam Uzzell [00:28:45]:
The music you've heard in this podcast is by Ketsa and Lobo Loco. We also heard beautiful music from Brazilian Voices. This podcast was edited by Iva Hristova.