Inside Cook Children's sound lab where music becomes healing for families

Tucked away inside Cook Children's in Fort Worth, Raymond Turner runs the sound lab where kids can create just about anything.

"We are in what I consider the Willy Wonka of music studios," said Turner, "Whether it's song writing, recording, producing music that they've written, or working with heartbeat songs, I like to describe it as leaving a sonic tattoo."

Music therapy used for healing and comfort  

Turner works closely with music therapists like Katie Bourland. Together, they use music to heal, sometimes through joy, sometimes through grief.

"So a music therapist is somebody who uses music as their main tool at the hospital," said Bourland.

That can mean giving kids space to create their own music, helping them deal with pain, or teaching mothers to sing lullabies to their babies in the NICU.  

But there's one part of Bourland's job no family ever wants to need.

"Even doing our heartbeat recordings," she said. 

Capturing heartbeats as lasting memories  

Not every child makes it home. For those families, Bourland uses a special stethoscope to record a child's heartbeat.

"So I'll just place it on their heart, get a few different recordings. Usually about 20-30 seconds long," said Bourland, "If it's an older person or older kid, sometimes they want to be the one that holds it or is listening to it."

"It can be a big challenge. I'm grateful that they trust me in those moments to be able to capture that for that baby because sometimes it's kind of a one-chance situation."

A family's story: Judah's 31 beautiful days  

That recording can be a gift for families like the Provosts.

"The day we found out we were expecting Judah, this had been after two years of infertility, we were really hoping for a boy," said Marquia Provost.

But about a month before Marquia and Tyler Provost's second son was due, doctors found a bowel obstruction in Judah.

"I was going in for my second appointment on July 11, and that's when they found bleeding in my uterus," said Marquia Provost.

After an emergency C-section, Judah was still in trouble.

"He was not breathing when he was born, they had to resuscitate him and... It was hard," said Marquia Provost.

"I remember sitting in the room and hearing them doing the counting and the compressions. Something I'll never forget," said Tyler Provost.

"From there, I didn't get to hold him, I didn't get to see him, he never cried, but they were able to revive him," said Marquia Provost. "And Judah, just, he fought. He ultimately succumbed to his sickness and his injuries. He passed away on August 12, 2025. He lived 31 days, 31 beautiful days, and we miss him."

During those 31 days, Marquia and Tyler Provost hardly left their son's side. But they did let Bourland in to record his heart.  

"They just had a lot of uncertainty in his diagnosis and prognosis going forward, and we wanted to, no matter what that outcome was going to be for them, capture his heartbeat and create some of those memories for him," said Bourland.

She took that recording back down to the first floor and gave it to Turner, where he did something he's done 328 times.

Turning a heartbeat into a song

"So the heartbeat recordings, I always describe to people when they come in as the pinnacle of what I get to do here," said Turner, "Sometimes they may want just the heartbeat. They may want that heartbeat put into a Build-A-Bear. Sometimes they just want the digital file; sometimes they want nature sounds. The really special ones are the ones where they want music overlaid on top of the heartbeat."

Creating a song out of a child's heartbeat is an extra-special service offered by Cook Children's. It's only offered to families that have lost a child. 

The Provost family chose a song. A cover of Forrest Frank's "Your Way's Better".

They recorded it as a quartet, a family of four.  

"It's me and Qui and Layla all on this song together. He's like the heartbeat of that song. He's anchoring that song together," said Tyler Provost. 

For Bourland and Turner, caring for these 328 heartbeats is a calling.  

"It's just so big and so meaningful. I can't really describe... It's just an honor, I guess, to... That's how I feel," said Bourland. 

"This was your baby. This was their heartbeat. This is their life's song that you wanted. So to be able to do that and to use music in a way that's healing and that's something that these parents will have for the rest of their lives. It means the world," said Turner.