Elgin teen's Eagle Scout project: Make people feel better with his music

To earn an Eagle Scout badge, Noah Akemann sought to do something different from the typical construction and beautification projects many Scouts undertake.

An upright bass player at Larkin High School's Visual and Performing Arts Academy, Noah wanted to use his musical talents to give back to Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, which helped him as a baby.

He and other members of Larkin's string quintet have been playing Christmas-themed music in the hospital's main lobby this month to elevate the mood of patients and visitors and help with memory improvement and relaxation.

“I wanted to do something different that meant something to me,” said Noah, 17, a senior who has been playing bass since fourth grade.

“(Research has) found that music stimulates part of the brain that helps memory. My goal is to help with memory loss and rehabilitation, and this is enjoyable because a lot of people like music. It helps them relax. I can look up and see the faces and see the smiles and joy it brings.”

Noah's parents are involved in health care and many family members were born at Sherman, which is why he chose it for his project.

“We have family histories of Alzheimer's and dementia, so it struck a cord,” said Noah's mother, Kelly Akemann, an Elgin nurse whose husband is a firefighter/paramedic in Morton Grove.

Nearly 18 years ago, Noah was born in Sherman's Family Birthing Center. A complication due to pre-eclampsia forced doctors to induce delivery when he was at 36½ weeks. Noah was kept in the Special Care Nursery for a week until he could breathe on his own.

Part of the project for Boy Scout Troop 128 at Epworth United Methodist Church in Elgin involves organizing and managing the schedule with other string players and working with hospital officials.

Jose Macias, Sherman's manager of development, said the hospital has a musicians care program designed to enhance patient care.

“Once a week we have the Elgin Symphony Orchestra quartet play one hour in the cafeteria and one hour on patient floors,” he said. “In addition to that, we have a therapeutic musician who plays a harp for individual patients once a week.

“What Noah can bring is something different, something fresh with his age group. While the music can be for the patients, it's also (for) everyone in the hospital. It does bring them to a happy place. It's a different way for that patient to experience the healing process.”

Noah plans to record CDs of the quintet's holiday music to distribute to nursing homes to play at their facilities.

“We've prepared a few classical, a few modern, and a few movie soundtracks,” he said.

It is being recorded and produced by Noah's grandmother, Donna Akemann, who volunteers with Children's Theatre of Elgin, which was co-founded by Noah's grandfather, Peter Akemann.