By BETSY CRUMB
CD a day may not keep the doctor away, but music therapy can help people cope with emotions, manage pain and even overcome addictions.
"Music works because it is an art form that can speak to us very deeply," said James Borling, director of music therapy at Radford University.
Music therapists work with a wide range of clients, from those with addictions to those with Alzheimer's to those with mental and physical disabilities.
They work in schools with young children, in nursing homes with the elderly and with others in psychiatric wards, hospitals and private practices.
"Just [the other day] at the hospital we had a little girl who was very passive, very quiet, and they wanted us to increase her activity level," said Michael Rohrbacher, director of music therapy at Shenandoah University in Winchester. "So we were improvising songs on the spot about animals and those animals talking to her grandma, and before we were done, she was banging on the drums, this quiet little girl."
In the Fredericksburg area, music therapists work in a variety of settings, including hospices and with parents hoping to connect with their infant children.
"Before there were TVs and radios, there was music, and we've found this is a very good way to reach our patients," said Raquel Woodard, volunteer director for Mary Washington Hospice.
Borling, of Radford, specializes in using music therapy to help people overcome addictions.
It may not be the most traditional way of
intervening in an addict's life. But the therapy--whether it involves listening to music, writing lyrics or playing songs--can help addicts sort through the emotions that propel their abuse. Borling said substance abusers often are very cut off from their emotions.
"Music becomes a safe container through which emotional recovery happens," Borling said. "We give ourselves permission to have fun again, and everyone can have a lot of fun in a musical environment."
'A way to interact'The American Music Therapy Association explains music therapy as a method of achieving individual goals through the use of musical intervention. Those goals could range from learning to deal with the stress of midterm exams, to learning to interact socially, to fighting off the urge to drink.
"Music and rhythm organizes and energizes us in ways nothing else can," Borling said. "It makes us want to dance, makes us want to sing. It connects us with our emotions, makes us think on levels that go beyond the ordinary."
Darlene Watson, a music therapist from Fredericksburg, travels to Fairfax, Caroline and King George counties to serve her clientele.
"I have children that are all the way from severely developmentally disabled to gifted, and then adults that are working on developing skills," Watson said.
Before starting her practice a few years ago, Watson worked in psychiatric hospitals, with mentally retarded children, in the public schools and various other settings.
"Frequently, the addition of music assists in the learning and rehabilitation process," Watson said.
Allyson Zadnik, a Caroline County music therapist, works primarily with children and is currently in the process of opening a practice that will focus on infants. She's been teaching a class at Mary Washington Hospital called "Music Therapy and Your Baby," which helps expectant parents engage their baby's senses with music and touch.
"We teach parents humming, massage, rocking, all as a way to provide appropriate stimulation for your baby," Zadnik said.
The elderly also are often the recipients of music therapy services. In nursing homes and with hospice patients, the therapy can help increase or maintain physical, mental and social functioning. It's also used to help with pain management.
Woodard, of Mary Washington Hospice, said even patients in a vegetative state or very close to death show signs of calmness when music is used.
While Mary Washington does not use certified music therapists, Woodard said she's tried to tap into the talents of her hospice volunteers, many of whom have some musical ability.
Volunteer Carolyn Phillips, 59 of Fredericksburg helped start the music program for Mary Washington Hospice two years ago. Phillips and her musical partner, Stephen Hu, travel to area nursing homes twice a month and sing.
"I always start with 'You Are My Sunshine,'" Phillips said. "We try to pick songs we think they may have sung as children growing up."
She said they sing religious gospels and hymns as well as secular songs, and oftentimes patients will sing along with them.
Woodard said music is especially helpful for patients with dementia or who are unable to talk.
"Music is a way to interact," Woodard said. "One thing people don't realize about hospice is that it's more than a place to go when you have a terminal illness. We try to live life, and music is definitely a part of life that reaches all generations."
No typical sessionAll music therapists stress the same thing: No session of music therapy is like any other. There is also no right or wrong type of music to play or to use.
"If a person is just coming out of surgery and their interest is country, we better be able to provide that kind of music," Rohrbacher said. "We can't assume there is one piece that is helpful to everyone."
Zadnik agreed.
"Live music is best, but whatever they are able to interact with me on [works]," Zadnik said. "There is no such thing as a typical session. There are all types of creativity."
Using music as a healing tool began gaining popularity in Western culture only after World War I, despite its mention in works from philosophers as early as Plato and Aristotle.
The practice began as doctors in military hospitals noticed significantly positive responses to music played to veterans.
Music therapists, according to Borling, are primarily musicians and secondly, therapists.
"I'm really very analytical, but also very creative," Zadnik said. "It's hard to find a profession that does both, so this really works well "
Zadnik first obtained a degree in music education and then became involved in music therapy after recognizing difficulties connecting with disabled children in her classroom.
"I was never really able to incorporate [children with disabilities] into my classroom and work with them," Zadnik said. "They were better with small groups, and one-on-one, that's when I could really get great responses out of them."
Zadnik realized she was not trained in any sort of special education, so she went back to school to get a music therapy degree.
Training to become a music therapist includes spending time with patients in a variety of settings, either observing or providing services. At Radford, students also do a six-month internship where they work 40 hours a week honing their skills.
Rohrbacher, of Shenandoah, has traveled all over the world as a music therapist.
He said he frequently visits Indonesia, Bali, Japan, and just recently China, and dispenses his expertise about music therapy. His doctorate degree is in ethnomusicology, which is the study of music and culture.
He said the hospital staffs in many indigenous areas already are trained in art, music and dance because of their cultural expectations, so they are easily able to adapt to the improvisational techniques that are often required in music therapy.
"The human being is very complex," Borling said. "A medium of something like music can begin to speak to those levels of complexity."
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