Music & Medicine
The rhythm of healing runs through everything I do
Where jazz improvisation meets the art of healing
Music isn’t something I add to medicine—it’s the foundation from which all my understanding of healing flows. As a bass player immersed in jazz since age 13, I learned that the most profound harmonies emerge not from following rigid rules, but from deep listening, intuitive response, and the ability to hear what wants to emerge in each unique moment.
This became the template for everything I do in medicine. When I sit with a patient, I’m listening for their unique rhythm, their personal harmony, the places where discord has entered their system. Every person has their own song. My job is to help them find it again.
“My passion for healing and my passion for jazz music infuse my life's work, so much so that I cannot imagine one without the other.”
~Donnie Yance
Cosmic Force (2023)
Donnie's Musings on Cosmic Force
“The overarching theme of the CD Cosmic Force is the sense of the Cosmos and the universal force or consciousness which brings life as we know it, and life as the unknown. The “cosmic force” is that energy present in the entire universe all around us, yet is equally present within us. We have faith in that energy (“Faith in the Gift”) and in the Cosmic Christ, as Richard Rohr states, and that faith brings us insight, and insight brings us faith. To find faith requires contemplation which is the deliberate seeking of God by inner dialogue.
The cosmic force inspires us to be God-like, seeking agape love. As we embrace this search, we find ourselves living as if we are already in heaven. Perhaps in our troubled world music is the answer. I believe this to be true. For me the more I write and the more I play, the closer I feel to the great mystery/God, the more love I feel and want to give, and the clearer I see.”
Heaven Awaits (2020)
The Inspiration Behind "Heaven Awaits"
Heaven Awaits was released in late 2020. The CD features Donnie’s original compositions, plus a special bonus song, Hope Alley, produced for Donnie by legendary musician and friend, Gino Vannelli.
The inspiration for this CD started with the title track song “Heaven Awaits”. Donnie was reflecting on how deeply connected he is to all his clients, including those that have passed. In contemplating the intersection of heaven and earth, he got a sense of a kind of feedback mirror that brings meaning to life, guiding us in such a way that everything we do and are should have some relationship to the day we die. When we allow ourselves to reflect on our death, we see that everything in our life matters – how much love and goodness we bring to this world and how well we serve. This intentionality to how we live brings heaven and earth together. The songs on the CD are based on the insights and inspiration of “Heaven Awaits” and “are a prayer of faith, hope, and love.”
About Donnie Yance, the Musician
Prior to pursuing a calling in natural medicine, Donnie Yance (aka “Funk Monk”) studied bass for several years in Stamford, Connecticut under master bassist, Rick Patron (Maynard Ferguson’s Big Band). In the early days of his music career, he toured with many popular bands on the East Coast including Moment’s Notice, Touchdown, Suspect, Funkestra, Encore, and two gospel bands, His Own and First Love. Donnie’s versatility of style encompasses many genres including jazz, funk, and R & B, and is most notably influenced by the great jazz bassists Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorious, Charlie Hayden, and Marcus Miller, as well as saxophonist John Coltrane and guitarist John McLoughlin.
For the past three decades, Donnie has continued to expand his musical horizons and his passion for music remains an integral part of his approach to medicine. In 2012 he produced the album “Under the Sun” with his band Infusion, featuring all original music, with an opening show for Earth, Wind, and Fire at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, OR that summer. Donnie currently performs throughout the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon with various groups including Tobago Breeze, Jeff K & Overtones, Souliverse, Pacifica 101, and others, captivating listeners with his “ethereal” solos and igniting dancers with his stylish grooves.