arts & life
Adam Rubin, holding the microphone, shares the stage with patients and performers at last year's "Celebrate World Voice Day."
Healing Chords
A local actor,
musician — and
doctor — lends
a helping hand
to celebrate the
human voice.
"Celebrate World Voice
Day," a free event, begins
at 7 p.m. Thursday, April
16, at The Baldwin Theatre,
Royal Oak. (866) 501-DOCS;
world-voice-day.org .
48 April 9 • 2015
Suzanne Chessler
I Contributing Writer
att Dery listened to
his voice growing
increasingly hoarse
and became worried. As host
of the midday show on Detroit
Sports 105.1 FM, he relies on a
clear speaking ability to make
a living.
After a course of therapy
did not offer improvement,
he consulted Adam Rubin, a
specialist at the Lakeshore Ear,
Nose, Throat Center in St. Clair
Shores.
Rubin diagnosed a polyp,
performed surgery, recom-
mended breathing exercises —
and asked him to participate in
a musical variety show.
Dery agreed to be part of
"Celebrate Voice Day:' an annu-
al event developed by the doc-
tor to spotlight the talents of
healed patients and also inform
the audience about ways to care
for their speaking and singing
capabilities.
Some of the performers
— including Rubin — have
enjoyed professional entertain-
ment careers.
This year's event will take
place Thursday evening, April
16, at the Baldwin Theatre in
M
Royal Oak. It is a free program
sponsored by the St. John
Providence Health System and
the ENT center where the doc-
tor works.
"Dr. Rubin saved my career,
and I will be introducing him
at the event," says Dery, whose
voice, he adds, did not take to
singing even before the polyp.
"The doctor is a great musician
and a great friend?'
World Voice Day was started
in South America to raise
awareness of vocal-cord cancer
and the need for early diagno-
sis. It has been up to medical
professionals to ensure the day's
observation internationally.
"It was easy for me to figure
out how to celebrate this day,"
says Rubin, who majored in
theater while earning pre-med
credits at Yale University and
was a short-term performer on
the professional stage.
"We started these presenta-
tions with patients in 2004 at
St. John Macomb Hospital's
auditorium. There were about
50 people in the audience then,
and we grew every year [into
larger venues]. We now get
audiences of 350-400."
The show will cover opera,
rock, jazz, musical theater
and gospel with participants
representing ethnicities just as
diverse. Dery, among the Jewish
presenters, will talk about
his healing process as others
describe what threatened their
well-being, including benign
lesions, nerve damage and
scars.
Rubin, slated to sing Cole
Porter's "I've Got You Under My
Skin," also will lead the audi-
ence in a closing number, "Drift
Away," a country-rock hit writ-
ten by Mentor Williams.
"I knew I would go into
medicine because I came from
a family of doctors who loved
what they did," Rubin says. "But
right out of college, I booked
two summer-stock shows and
played Jud in a national tour
of Oklahoma! [then] did some
off-Broadway and commercial
work."
When entertainment oppor-
tunities became lean, Rubin
began thinking about long-term
priorities, and went on to medi-
cal school at Harvard University,
where he met his wife, Bloomfield
Township-raised orthodontist
Rebecca Lash Rubin.
The doctor, who grew up
near Philadelphia, had his
residency at the University of
Michigan, ultimately settling in
the state so his wife could prac-
tice with her dad, Steven Lash.
"I think of our World Voice
Day celebration as a fun time,"
say Rubin, 46, who has been
asked to perform at national
and international meetings
about the voice. "I try not to
put too much of myself in the
program because I'm usually
hosting it.
"I have quizzes for the audi-
ence, and I give out little prizes.
I've given out copies of my
own book [The Vocal Pitstop:
Keeping Your Voice on Track],
and DVDs of my voice con-
certs?'
Another professional per-
former in this year's event
is Cantor Daniel Gross of
Farmington Hills' Adat Shalom
Synagogue. He will be calling
attention to his career's secular
side with "Avant De Quitter Ces
Lieux" ("Before Leaving This
Place"), an aria from Faust.
The cantor, who was treated
for irritation of his vocal cords,
wants to both demonstrate and
explain how people can bounce
back.
"I will be singing a chal-
lenging aria that I've never
performed before he says. "I
like to perform a piece that's
demanding and regarded as
very beautiful:'
❑