Dr. Michael J. Rocha plays to the beat of his heart

Posted by MARIA JOSÉ on Jan 27, 2012 in Community News | Comments Off

This post is also available in: Portuguese (Portugal)

NEW BEDFORD — Talent abounds when it comes to Cardiologist Michael J. Rocha.
Music and sports have captured the beat of his heart since a very young age.
When he is not attending to patients, you can often find him playing with a local orchestra or on the court coaching a junior basketball team.
“I started playing the trombone in fourth grade, that’s when my arm was longer and then I stopped growing,” he jested. “They came down with a range of instruments for me and I tried everything out. I was given a trombone.”
As he entered college, he opted for medicine, but his love and dedication to music did not subside.
“I suppose I could have veered either way,” Dr. Rocha said. “As for cardiology, it’s just something I gravitated to. Cardiology has a lot of different things that you are able to do. There is a lot of cutting edge things that have been going on over the last 20 years in the treatment of heart disease and it tends to be always changing and evolving.”
He believes music and cardiology are very much related and connected.
“Cardiology tends to be very musical in some respects, because you are listening to heart sounds,” he said. “As to the advent of my interest, I am not sure, I would tend to say that I always thought I’d chose something between cardiology and music.”
While he enjoys taking care of cardiac patients, when he speaks of music the words come from his heart.
“Music has always been a part of me and it’s not going to go away. I was told one time that I wouldn’t have time for it, but it’s kind of hard, when you’ve done it your whole life, to have that portion go away. So, I kind of kept it going,” explained the soft-spoken physician.
Dr. Rocha currently plays with the SouthCoast Jazz Orchestra and his parents are his biggest fans.
“I’ve played with the guys from the South Coast Jazz for many years and we are all friends,” he said. “They are professional musicians in the area and a lot of them are music teachers.”
Many solid examples of experienced musicians have molded his character.
“In terms of music, I paid dues in a lot of different bands, like Eddy Rodrigues who used to run the Melow Larks and Eddy kind of brought me along in a lot of his bands. I played my fair number of Holy Ghost feasts, and did a lot of different types of bands in this area.”
As for his favorite style of music, he professes to be well rounded.
“I play a little of everything. As one of my teachers, Jack Martin who lives locally, would say you kind of have to do a little of everything — in music, anything done well is enjoyable,
and I like a lot of different things. I probably gravitate a little bit more towards the jazz, but I play plenty of classical things.”
But unlike in the heart, there are no valves in the trombone.
“And no keys, you don’t get away with anything,” he said. “Every instrument has its challenges in one way or another, but I think speed becomes a challenge on trombone because from one note to another, it can be seven feet away.”
This unassuming physician is a fourth generation Portuguese-American on his father’s side. His great-grandfather was born in S. Miguel, Azores.
“My grandfather could not speak Portuguese, maybe it was the great-grandmother’s influence, she was Irish,” he joked.
As for the Portuguese culture, he says he is perfectly comfortable with it.
“I lived my whole life under the culture. I went to medical school up in Worcester and did my internship at Tufts Medical Center, but, otherwise, I have been here.”
And, he is sure he has attended every local Portuguese feast in Southeastern Massachusetts.
Yet, Dr. Rocha has another love under his cuff.
“Basketball has also been another big part of my life since I was a kid. My dad, in the back yard, showed me how to play, and since about eight years old I have been playing basketball. Now, I am on the other side where I am coaching.”
During his senior year at New Bedford High School, he won a state title.
“I was on the ’93 state championship team and that was a lot of fun for me,” he said. “I did some high school coaching for a while and now I am coaching at the junior level with my kids. And that is a lot of fun for me.”
Jonathan and Jacob accompany their dad to many matches and have a yearning for the game.
And some evenings the boys accompany their mom and grandparents to see dad play with the South Coast Jazz Orchestra at the Airport Grille in New Bedford, where it performs on Mondays.
Dr. Rocha indeed runs to the beat of the heart.
Talent abounds when it comes to Cardiologist Michael Rocha.
Music and sports have captured the beat of his heart since a very young age.
When he is not attending to patients, you can often find him playing with a local orchestra or on the court coaching a junior basketball team.
“I started playing the trombone in fourth grade, that’s when my arm was longer and then I stopped growing,” he jested. “They came down with a range of instruments for me and I tried everything out. I was given a trombone.”
As he entered college, he opted for medicine, but his love and dedication to music did not subside.
“I suppose I could have veered either way,” Dr. Rocha said. “As for cardiology, it’s just something I gravitated to. Cardiology has a lot of different things that you are able to do. There is a lot of cutting edge things that have been going on over the last 20 years in the treatment of heart disease and it tends to be always changing and evolving.”
He believes music and cardiology are very much related and connected.
“Cardiology tends to be very musical in some respects, because you are listening to heart sounds,” he said. “As to the advent of my interest, I am not sure, I would tend to say that I always thought I’d chose something between cardiology and music.”
While he enjoys taking care of cardiac patients, when he speaks of music the words come from his heart.
“Music has always been a part of me and it’s not going to go away. I was told one time that I wouldn’t have time for it, but it’s kind of hard, when you’ve done it your whole life, to have that portion go away. So, I kind of kept it going,” explained the soft-spoken physician.
Dr. Rocha currently plays with the South Coast Jazz Orchestra and his parents are his biggest fans.
“I’ve played with the guys from the South Coast Jazz for many years and we are all friends,” he said. “They are professional musicians in the area and a lot of them are music teachers.”
Many solid examples of experienced musicians have molded his character.
“In terms of music, I paid dues in a lot of different bands, like Eddy Rodrigues who used to run the Melow Larks and Eddy kind of brought me along in a lot of his bands. I played my fair number of Holy Ghost feasts, and did a lot of different types of bands in this area.”
As for his favorite style of music, he professes to be well rounded.
“I play a little of everything. As one of my teachers, Jack Martin who lives locally, would say you kind of have to do a little of everything — in music, anything done well is enjoyable, and I like a lot of different things. I probably gravitate a little bit more towards the jazz, but I play plenty of classical things.”
But unlike in the heart, there are no valves in the trombone.
“And no keys, you don’t get away with anything,” he said. “Every instrument has its challenges in one way or another, but I think speed becomes a challenge on trombone because from one note to another, it can be seven feet away.”
This unassuming physician is a fourth generation Portuguese-American on his father’s side. His great-grandfather was born in S. Miguel, Azores.
“My grandfather could not speak Portuguese, maybe it was the great-grandmother’s influence, she was Irish,” he joked.
As for the Portuguese culture, he says he is perfectly comfortable with it.
“I lived my whole life under the culture. I went to medical school up in Worcester and did my internship at Tufts Medical Center, but, otherwise, I have been here.”
And, he is sure he has attended every local Portuguese feast in Southeastern Massachusetts.
Yet, Dr. Rocha has another love under his cuff.
“Basketball has also been another big part of my life since I was a kid. My dad, in the back yard, showed me how to play, and since about eight years old I have been playing basketball. Now, I am on the other side where I am coaching.”
In his senior year in high school, he won a state title.
“I was on the ’93 state championship team and that was a lot of fun for me,” he said. “I did some high school coaching for a while and now I am coaching at the junior level with my kids. And that is a lot of fun for me.”
Jonathan and Jacob accompany their dad to many matches and have a yearning for the game.
And some evenings the boys accompany their mom and grandparents to see dad play with the South Coast Jazz Orchestra at the Airport Grille in New Bedford, where it performs on Mondays.
Dr. Rocha indeed runs to the beat of the heart.