Instagram story viewer> @samuel.gracida> Posts

Samuel Gracida - Music Therapist

@samuel.gracida

1.9K

followers

4579

following

30-year-old
🇲🇽🇩🇪🇨🇳🇺🇸
Music therapist - @bridgesmusik
7-String guitarist - @chorodoneckar
Founder - @bidadigital
Travel - @samuelg_viajes

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

More and more people are registering for tomorrow’s Soul Searching concert and I’m very moved by it. I wanted to share an important part of the program, albeit a shocking one if you’re not prepared for it.

As I said in my first video about Soul searching, I draw a lot of inspiration from Trappist monk Thomas Merton. Well, Thomas Merton was very concerned with social issues and considered them fundamental to his soul searching.

He also wrote numerous poems, and one of these poems will be part of the program tomorrow. The poem is entitled Chant to be Used in Processions Around a Site with Furnaces.

This is a so-called antipoem in the style of Nicanor Parra, and in it, Thomas Merton offers a portrayal of SS officer Rudolph Hoess, Auschwitz’s commander responsible for two and a half million murders. Through these texts and our underlying free improvisations, we approach the parts of our soul searching that are sometimes too horrible to get near to.

And we see it not as history, but as a critique of the ongoing wars and conflicts that are still happening today. The poem will be followed by a composition of mine, and I hope through it, we’ll be able to process some of the intense emotions that may arise.

This is all not to scare you, but to inform you about all the important facets of the concert. So, hope to see you there. Come with an open heart and an open mind, and let’s do some soul searching together.

bit.ly/soulsearching2026 taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

38

1

3 days ago

A new piece for our Soul Searching concert happening this Friday is entitled Flame Within. For what is soul searching, but looking for that flame within ourselves? For me, this piece represents my ideas and belief that we all have a spark of the divine in us.

The piece itself is in seven, which has its own kind of symbolism. The number seven comes up across many different spiritual traditions and practices as a number with deep meaning.

As just one example, ancient Greeks viewed seven as the union of three representing the divine and four representing the earthly, which I think speaks to the meaning of this tune.

So whether you feel the divine in you today or not, I hope you’ll find the time to join us on Friday to see if we can look for this flame within together.

bit.ly/soulsearching2026

#heidelberg #heidelbergmusik #soulsearching #jazz taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

30

1

6 days ago

Wow, can’t believe it has been a year being married!! Here’s a sneak peak at our wedding that included a Chinese ceremony, a ceremony at church, and of course, a dinner and party full of our beautiful family and friends, joining from all around the world.

May our married life be always as beautiful, magical, and full of love as our wedding day ❤️

Special thank you so much to @thebodarts for the video and photos! Our original team fell through just right before the ceremony and we were so lucky to have Ben and Kassie be able to jump into action and they made such beautiful photos and this video for us 🫶🏽 taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

76

18

7 days ago

SOUL SEARCHING ist ein Jazzprojekt unter der Leitung von Samuel Gracida, das sich mit der Beziehung zwischen Jazz und Spiritualität auseinandersetzt. Mit eigenen Kompositionen über Themen wie Hoffnung, Identität, Krieg und Frieden nimmt das Ensemble das Publikum mit auf eine musikalische Suche nach dem, was uns verbindet.

Samuel Gracida – Gitarre
Christian Monninger – Schlagzeug
Pierre Thomé – Bass
Tilman Rivinius – Piano
Maša Baničević – Gesang

16.10.2026 | 20:00 Uhr
Collegium Academicum Aula
Marie-Clauss-Straße 3, Heidelberg

Tickets und Infos: bit.ly/soulsearching2026

Wir freuen uns auf einen Abend zwischen Jazz, Spiritualität und persönlicher Suche.

#heidelberg #heidelbergmusik #soulsearching #jazz taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

35

0

11 days ago

Hope is the thing that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.

And so begins a poem by Emily Dickinson. And in the upcoming soul searching concert in October, we will try to sing and play to the tune of hope. For hope is the most divine thing that can exist in the human heart.

My composition “Hope” emerged from a meditation and with additional texts by our singer Maša and with a wonderful band that we have put together, it serves as a reminder to hold on to this hope throughout our soul searching.

Hope to see you there on October 16th.

bit.ly/soulsearching2026

#heidelberg #heidelbergmusik #soulsearching #jazz taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

43

0

18 days ago

Here’s a couple of pictures from our biggest Bridges concert of the year which took place last week at Karlstorbahnhof with over 180 guests!

As always, I’m proud of our students, proud of our tireless team and just generally proud of what Bridges has achieved so far 🙌🏽

Thank you, Zhiqian Xu @zq_with_camera for the photos!

#bridges #bridgesmusik #musiktherapie #musictherapy #musicoterapia taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

36

1

24 days ago

Reflecting on Coltrane’s legacy of music and love 100 years after his birth.

“I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music.”

- John Coltrane

Join us on October 16th to continue the soul searching that Coltrane was fundamentally concerned with.

bit.ly/soulsearching2026

#johncoltrane #coltrane #jazz #soulsearching taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

33

3

25 days ago

Soul Searching was born almost ten years ago while I was studying in the US. It came out of studies with my guitar professor, Stan Smith, and my religion professor David Belcastro. We studied the lives of John Coltrane and Mary Lou Williams, as well as the philosophy and writing of Thomas Merton.

Stay tuned for further videos where I talk about the content in the program.

And hopefully see you on October 16th 20:00 at Collegium Academicum.

#heidelberg #heidelbergmusic #soulsearching #jazz taken in Heidelberg, Germany by @samuel.gracida

59

8

a month ago

A successful conference depends on the dedication of many people working behind the scenes. We would like to recognize members of the IAMM 2026 Organizing Committee whose contributions are helping bring this year’s conference to life.⁠
⁠
Dr. Suzanne Hanser (Co-Chair)⁠
Purvaa Sampath (Co-Chair)⁠
Dr. Shantala Hegde (Chair, Scientific Committee)⁠
Vera Brandes⁠
Jennifer Townsend⁠
Samuel Gracida⁠
⁠
Their collaboration, insight, and commitment play an important role in shaping the program and supporting the global community that gathers through IAMM at the intersection of music, health, and medicine.⁠
⁠
#musictherapy #musiktherapie #musicandmedicine #musicoterapia #iamm #iamm2026 by @samuel.gracida

64

2

a month ago

live at El Oasis ☀️

Join us for an evening of jazz, ballads, Balkan and Latin music, with voice, guitar, and songs from different corners of the world.

📍 El Oasis · Palo-Alto-Platz 11 · Heidelberg
🗓 23.09.26 · 20:00
🎟 Eintritt · 10€

We would love to see you there! 💛

#Heidelberg #LiveMusicHeidelberg #Jazz #BalkanMusic #LatinMusic by @samuel.gracida

47

0

a month ago

Bei unserem interkulturellen Konzert und Fest kommen Kinder, Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene aus Heidelberger Flüchtlingsunterkünften gemeinsam mit Musiker:innen aus dem Bridges-Team und der Region auf die Bühne.

Musik verbindet und schafft Begegnungen: Neben dem gemeinsamen Musizieren gibt es ein internationales Buffet und Zeit zum Austauschen, Feiern und Verweilen.

Am 18. September laden wir euch ab 17 Uhr herzlich in den Karlstorbahnhof ein. Von 18 bis 20 Uhr findet das Konzert im Saal statt. Der Eintritt ist kostenlos, eine Anmeldung ist erforderlich.

Anmeldung unter bridgesmusik.com

Wir freuen uns auf einen besonderen Abend mit euch!

#musiktherapie #bridgesmusik #MusikVerbindet #Heidelberg taken in Karlstorbahnhof by @samuel.gracida

75

2

a month ago

I am honored to be a speaker at the upcoming MUSICONNEX conference, which will take place from 22 to 24 of September!

Originally I was very excited to travel to Jyväskylä, Finland, but alas, that did not pan out… Instead I will be presenting online.

I will be reporting on two core aspects of our work at Bridges: our thinking around trauma and our thinking around community music therapy. In fact, we had two Bachelor’s students write their thesis on these topics, so I will also be sharing a bit of their work.

Looking forward to it!

#musiktherapie #musicoterapia #musictherapy #mt by @samuel.gracida

26

0

a month ago