Many people say that music heals the soul. And that certainly seems to be the case at one Venezuelan hospital, where children with cancer are easing their pain through the power of music. The hospital has adopted a program that provides instruments such as violins, drums and flutes for patients.

Venezuelan hospital uses music therapy for children with cancer.

Meet nine-year-old Emily Aponte. She was diagnosed with cancer six months ago and has been undergoing chemotherapy. Aponte is one of the many children partaking in a new music program at the Jose Manuel de Los Rios Children's Hospital in Venezuela.

Because of the new initiative, children at the hospital are able to pick up an instrument like the violin to help them ease the suffering of cancer treatment. Fifteen-year-old Rafael Rendon, a 3-year cancer sufferer, says the program has made him forget he's in a hospital.

Rafael Rendon said, "You feel excited when you're playing, you forget that you're receiving treatment, what the doctors are telling you, or that something hurts."

The program, which began in June 2012, is one of the many run by the System of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs. Children can take lessons in the hospital classroom or in their rooms. And when they are discharged, they have the opportunity to continue their musical studies at centres closer to their homes.

Marlon Franco, Program Director, said, "It's amazing how fast they learn - unlike a child who is regularly with their families - because they are here all day with their instruments, and it is the only thing they have to hold on to. It gives them something different to do, something to live for, because they want to get better and learn to play something else."

Franco says the goal is to form an orchestra of hospitalized children in the future, and also to extend the program across the country.

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