Writing Songs Of Love

Dan Rather Talks To Children's Composer Richard Beltzer

(CBS)  Beltzer rarely gets the chance to witness a child’s first reaction to a song, so 60 Minutes asked him to hand deliver David’s CD so we could watch both of them.

"Some kids really respond well, but some kids get very shy, but inside they’re bubbling with joy. You can see it," says Beltzer. "They’re like, they look, ya know back and, this, 'Wow, this is about me.'"

Beltzer: So how does that sound?

David: Good.

Beltzer: Yeah? You approve?

David: Yeah!

Beltzer receives lots of thanks from grateful parents and children. But there was very little appreciation for his talent back when he began his musical career as an aspiring rock star.

At 27, he competed on a 1980s talent show, and lost. And there was personal tragedy: his twin brother, Julio, a musician himself, was suffering from schizophrenia. In 1984, Beltzer witnessed his brother's leap to his death from a rooftop.

How did that experience change him? "What I did was I tried to cope with it by keeping the dream alive," says Beltzer. "I know Julio would not have wanted me to fall apart. So I kept going with the music. And I kept pursuing it."

And then one day, Beltzer had a revelation. "I was walking down the street in my neighborhood, and I had the epiphany," says Beltzer. "The realization, like, 'Wow, could you imagine writing a song to help a sick child feel better?'"

He wrote six songs in four days for kids at St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, and then he heard a voice on the telephone.

"The voice I heard was this little girl's voice saying, 'Thank you for my song.' And she had cancer," says Beltzer. "I hung up the phone, and I cried my eyes out for half an hour. And that was what -- sort of the confirmation. I knew that I was on the right path."

Beltzer’s songs of love have crossed paths with kids like Aiyana Middleton and her mother. Aiyana, 3, is recovering from stomach cancer.

The sound of music can't always drown out the sound of sickness, loneliness, and isolation. But there is medical evidence that music can help patients where machines cannot. We saw just how potent a prescription of music can be for 8-year-old Victoria Sidorski. When we first met her, Victoria wasn't interested in any music. She was feeling nauseous. She was uncomfortable.

Victoria has brain cancer, and she is undergoing grueling chemotherapy. Sometimes, she can feel better by playing her song -- best of all with her family, where she takes center stage.

At moments like this, Victoria feels embraced: "It is all about me. When I listen to it, it makes me feel good when I do not feel well."

Victoria’s parents, Jeff and Cathy, say when their daughter is not singing along in a crowd, she listens alone in her bedroom.

"She starts to sing along with the words, smile. It makes her think about something positive other than that she's sick," says Cathy Sidorski. "They really should know that what they're doing has a true impact on a child's life like Victoria, who's going through such a difficult time. For them to see -- if they could only see her smile and sing that song, I think they would appreciate that."

And for Beltzer, the reward he gets is not measured in record sales, but in smiles. These are his gold records.