Depressed? Take to music therapy

Gowri Ramnarayan

Art therapy is practised in several parts of India today with varying degrees of success. There is enthusiastic talk about the compelling power of the performing arts - dance, music and theatre - to heal the mind and body. Many expatiate on their therapeutic application for treating physical and mental disabilities. They believe that the arts make fascinating, flexible tools to help disabled children increase their cognitive/ communicative skills, motor coordination, develop speech and expression, originality and creativity. Learning to sing, dance and act enables them to socialise better, to become confident that they are in no way inferior to the so-called "normal" children. In fact, they have better abilities in certain areas.

However, it is one thing to theorise on the subject, another to engage in its practical application.

Aditya Dhawan

Ask yourself how you will make a blind child enact a rainy day. S(h)e will know the feel of raindrops on the skin, but not the spectacle of water pouring down from the skies. How will you teach a deaf child to skip on the second beat in the rhythm cycle of a song? Or make the orthopaedically disabled play the role of one who has the use of all his limbs? A mentally retarded child learns a poem and recites it without getting distracted?

For over 15 years, Kanchan Sontakke in Mumbai has been discovering answers to a whole range of such questions with hands on experience in using theatre arts to help hundreds of disabled children. She has also done pioneering work in training an equal number of teachers in the methodology she has devised for the task.

"Task?" Kanchan would say with a quizzical smile. "It is sheer joy to see the child changing before your eyes, acquiring so many skills within a short time."

Kanchan had no training for her life's mission which has brought her many honours - the Natyadarpan, Dalit Mitra, Apang Mitra, Maharashtra Kala Niketan, Bajrangbhumi and Natyagaurav awards as also a senior fellowship in theatre from the Ministry of Culture. She did start with a strong will, enthusiasm and a sound training in the theatre arts.

Kanchan Sontakke with hearing impaired children.

A graduate in chemistry and microbiology, she had put in ten years of Kathak and Bharatanatyam, a year in lab pathology, and two years in acting, direction and stagecraft at Amrut Natyabharati, Mumbai. Marriage to Professor Kamlakar Sontakke, took Kanchan to Aurangabad, where he headed the drama department at the Marathwada University. She became a faculty member. This gave her the chance to observe the "potential of the medium, its capacity to influence people to develop in different directions," recalls Kanchan. She refused to start a children's theatre though, feeling that she was not prepared for it. "People think it is easy, don't realise it is very demanding, requiring a grasp of child psychology."

Experience came with the birth of her two daughters. "I saw then that a child grows each week, day, hour... we lump them blithely into age groups. But what a difference between a first grader and a second!"

The next step was taken when the family returned to Mumbai. Her old school principal invited Kanchan to teach creative dramatics exclusively for personality development. "I had to devise my own syllabus - no books. The foreign texts were not applicable to our conditions."

A more exciting experimental process began in 1981 when Kanchan Sontakke launched an institution for her work with children. Her Natyashala's objective was to integrate disabled children with "normal" children, for their mutual benefit. "The hearing/sight impaired, orthopaedically handicapped and mentally disadvantaged special children are admitted into separate schools, with separate texts and a separate language. They don't get any exposure to society, branded as they are into unseen, alternative streams." Kanchan wanted such children to prove to themselves and to others that they were not inferior to their peers; and in some ways they were actually ahead. To the "normal" children, this interaction provided many startling lessons. They had much to learn from the disabled.

Kanchan Sontakke with physically disabled children.

The special children did not have magical gifts or faculties, but their very disadvantage made them finetune what they had to an intense sharpness. The volunteers who came to teach them at the workshops (usually the friends of the Sontakkes in the theatre world) were amazed by this and would say, "Though as theatrepersons we are trained to perceive more than laypersons, we perceive only half of what these children do!" The blind listened more, the deaf saw more fully - this was part of their instinctive survival strategy. Bearing this in mind, Natyashala's workshops and productions do not isolate the disabled, though some special programmes are confined to disadvantaged groups.

Kanchan is careful to emphasise that in a group of disabled children, there would always be a few with that extra something, some who get by, and one or two who will sit in the corner and refuse to participate. "We encourage them, but never use force. As their insecurities melt, they begin to socialise more, open up slowly. Their involvement gets stronger," explains Kanchan. The degree of involvement varies with each child. For the guide, success is in watching this change and growth of self assurance. Getting the bashful ones to join the group is counted as achievement. Kanchan recalls how a little girl who had refused to go to school for six months, and sat with her face to the wall, muttering unintelligibly, came out of her shell after joining a Natyashala workshop. The parents were delighted when she returned to school. To prevent regression, Kanchan ensured that she was involved in other Natyashala activities, including a play. Another case was of a boy with short arms, who refused even to clap at first, but ended up playing a musical instrument in a stage show. The manner in which children with different degrees and kinds of disabilities overcome them in group activity is an eye-opener for the adults. The process of teaching is the same for all, though the application has to necessarily differ for each child. It makes the work exciting, even thought-provoking.

"It is not me," disclaims Kanchan, "It is the medium which helps them unfold and realise their potential."

Some statistics tell their own tale. In the last 17 years, Natyashala has worked with over 1300 children and an equal number of teachers. It has produced 35 plays (Marathi and Hindi) with 450 shows, in Maharashtra, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It has conducted dance shows, instrumental/vocal ensembles and multilingual choral singing.

Kanchan Sontakke with at a teacher's workshop training to teach disabled children through the performing arts.

The institution has conducted state level dance competitions in collaboration with the State Department of Culture and Social Welfare. Natyashala has also helped to give shape to "Umang," a national festival for disabled children in Udaipur. "The children from all over India meet and have a gala time! They stay in Shilpagram, learn crafts from village craftsmen, participate in morning workshops, present plays in the evenings...." Natyashala's own productions have not only been featured in children's festivals and those of disabled persons, but in regular theatre festivals as well. "This integration is a source of great satisfaction."

Natyashala's plays are often written by well known playwrights, bearing in mind the theme and age group at a given time. They are evolved in rehearsals so that the audience does not perceive that a particular mode or technique has been adopted to serve the special needs of its participants. For example, a child with a speech problem was given a mannerism of rendering his dialogue in a staccato manner. The lack of fluent speech in the deaf became an advantage when the cast was asked to become live puppets to enact the story. The jerky movements matched the dialogue delivery!

Some of the plays are dramatisations of text books on various subjects like history and geography. "The Evolution of the Earth" was one such ambitious and acclaimed project as in "Maharashtra Amucha," performed enthusiastically before a Delhi audience at a national children's festival in November'98.

Kanchan Sontakke with a blind child.

The workshops (4 to 8 years) in the different schools do not have a stage production as their goal. "Then our focus will be to identify the more talented child for a successful show rather than help each child to grow in his/her way. We do present this process at the end before the parents. The thrill is to get the child sitting apart in a corner to join the group, to laugh and smile, to dance and sing."

Arun Madkaikar and his wife Rupa have been Kanchan's supportive colleagues from the start, with assistance from many others as and when required. Today there is a salaried staff to expand the work. In 1998, ten artists/teachers were appointed with a grant from the Central Government, among them three hearing and two visually impaired, who had been child participants in the Natyashala workshops! They have joined the staff as young adults.

"This is a great achievement for me," Kanchan's voice is full. She recalls another unexpected moment. "Once we did a play in which a mentally retarded child had to cry 'Wolf! Wolf!' in fun, until a real wolf appeared and frightened him. Another mentally retarded child in the audience then began to shout 'He is frightened!' over and over again. He had fully responded to the situation and its rasa!"

Dilip Sinha

Natyashala has not produced a full length play with mentally retarded children, because it is too time-consuming. But it has trained their teachers who in turn have produced plays featured in Natyashala's festivals.

Kanchan's daughters are deeply interested in their mother's work. Manasi, the elder, an architect and dancer, has choreographed, some of the Natyashala shows.

Funding comes from grants for the different activities from the State and Central Governments, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National School of Drama and the Centre for Cultural Research and Training. With a past full of achievements, a present of dizzying activities, Kanchan Sontakke and her colleagues in Natyashala look forward to expanding and networking with more groups and organisations in the future - to reach more and more children.

MUSIC THERAPY AND LANGUAGE
FOR THE AUTISTIC CHILD

Written by Myra J. Staum, Ph.D., RMT-BC
Director and Professor of Music Therapy
Willamette University, Salem, Oregon

Music Therapy is the unique application of music to enhance personal lives by creating positive changes in human behavior. It is an allied health profession utilizing music as a tool to encourage development in social/ emotional, cognitive/learning, and perceptual-motor areas. Music Therapy has a wide variety of functions with the exceptional child, adolescent and adult in medical, institutional and educational settings. Music is effective because it is a nonverbal form of communication, it is a natural reinforcer, it is immediate in time and provides motivation for practicing nonmusical skills. Most importantly, it is a successful medium because almost everyone responds positively to at least some kind of music.

The training of a music therapist involves a full curriculum of music classes, along with selected courses in psychology, special education, and anatomy with specific core courses and field experiences in music therapy. Following coursework, students complete a six-month full time clinical internship and a written board certification exam. Registered, board certified professionals must then maintain continuing education credits or retake the exam to remain current in their practice.

Music Therapy is particularly useful with autistic children owing in part to the nonverbal, non threatening nature of the medium. Parallel music activities are designed to support the objectives of the child as observed by the therapist or as indicated by a parent, teacher or other professional. A music therapist might observe, for instance, the child's need to socially interact with others. Musical games like passing a ball back and forth to music or playing sticks and cymbals with another person might be used to foster this interaction. Eye contact might be encouraged with imitative clapping games near the eyes or with activities which focus attention on an instrument played near the face. Preferred music may be used contingently for a wide variety of cooperative social behaviors like sitting in a chair or staying with a group of other children in a circle.

Music Therapy is particularly effective in the development and remediation of speech. The severe deficit in communication observed among autistic children includes expressive speech which may be nonexistent or impersonal. Speech can range from complete mutism to grunts, cries, explosive shrieks, guttural sounds, and humming. There may be musically intoned vocalizations with some consonant-vowel combinations, a sophisticated babbling interspersed with vaguely recognizable word-like sounds, or a seemingly foreign sounding jargon. Higher level autistic speech may involve echolalia, delayed echolalia or pronominal reversal, while some children may progress to appropriate phrases, sentences, and longer sentences with non expressive or monotonic speech. Since autistic children are often mainstreamed into music classes in the public schools, a music teacher may experience the rewards of having an autistic child involved in music activities while assisting with language.

It has been noted time and again that autistic children evidence unusual sensitivities to music. Some have perfect pitch, while many have been noted to play instruments with exceptional musicality. Music therapists traditionally work with autistic children because of this unusual responsiveness which is adaptable to non-music goals Some children have unusual sensitivities only to certain sounds. One boy, after playing a xylophone bar, would spontaneously sing up the harmonic series from the fundamental pitch. Through careful structuring, syllable sounds were paired with his singing of the harmonics and the boy began incorporating consonant-vowel sounds into his vocal play. Soon simple 2-3 note tunes were played on the xylophone by the therapist who modeled more complex verbalizations, and the child gradually began imitating them.

Since autistic children sometimes sing when they may not speak, music therapists and music educators can work systematically on speech through vocal music activities. In the music classroom, songs with simple words, repetitive phrases, and even repetitive nonsense syllables can assist the autistic child's language. Meaningful word phrases and songs presented with visual and tactile cues can facilitate this process even further. One six-year old echolalic child was taught speech by having the therapist/teacher sing simple question/answer phrases set to a familiar melody with full rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment The child held the objects while singing:

Do you eat an apple? Yes, yes.
Do you eat an apple? Yes, yes.
Do you eat an apple? Yes, yes.
Yes, yes, yes.
and

Do you eat a pencil? No, no.
Do you eat a pencil? No, no.
Do you eat a pencil? No, no.
No, no, no.

Another autistic child learned noun and action verb phrases . A large doll was manipulated by the therapist/teacher and a song presented:

This is a doll.
This is a doll.
The doll is jumping.
The doll is jumping.
This is a doll.
This is a doll.

Later, words were substituted for walking, sitting, sleeping, etc. In these songs, the bold words were faded out gradually by the therapist/teacher. Since each phrase was repeated, the child could use his echolalic imitation to respond accurately. When the music was eliminated completely, the child was able to verbalize the entire sentence in response to the questions, "What is this?" and "What is the doll doing?"

Other autistic children have learned entire meaningful responses when both questions and answers were incorporated into a song. The following phrases were sung with one child to the approximate tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and words were faded out gradually in backward progression. While attention to environmental sounds was the primary focus for this child, the song structure assisted her in responding in a full, grammatically correct sentence:


Listen, listen, what do you hear? (sound played on tape)
I hear an ambulance.
(I hear a baby cry.)
(I hear my mother calling, etc.)

Autistic children have also made enormous strides in eliminating their monotonic speech by singing songs composed to match the rhythm, stress, flow and inflection of the sentence followed by a gradual fading of the musical cues. Parents and teachers alike can assist the child in remembering these prosodic features of speech by prompting the child with the song.

While composing specialized songs is time consuming for the teacher with a classroom full of other children, it should be remembered that the repertoire of elementary songs are generally repetitive in nature. Even in higher level elementary vocal method books, repetition of simple phrases is common. While the words in such books may not seem critical for the autistic child's survival at the moment, simply increasing the capacity to put words together is a vitally important beginning for these children.

For those teachers whose time is limited to large groups, almost all singing experiences are invaluable to the autistic child when songs are presented slowly, clearly, and with careful focusing of the child's attention to the ongoing activity. To hear an autistic child leave a class quietly singing a song with all the words is a pleasant occurrence. To hear the same child attempt to use these words in conversation outside of the music class is to have made a very special contribution to the language potential of this child.

www.autism.com

Notes that heal

Effectiveness of music therapy in treating several conditions is now proved by scientific.

Nalini was in her mid-forties when she went into clinical depression. One of the root causes of her condition were the severe business losses that she and her husband suffered.

Depression wreaked havoc in her life to the point that she began approaching every event in her life with negative thoughts. Even when Nalini was advised to undergo music therapy to help improve her condition, she was convinced that it would never work. But after attending a few sessions, each of which lasted 25 minutes, she began to feel the difference. Having undergone the therapy for ten weeks, she now feels she is coming out of her depression CAN MUSIC DO THAT?

For most of us, music is a cultural frill, something that we all have grown up with and enjoyed different forms of. So it's difficult to associate music with healing and think of it as a form of alternative medicine. But with scientific studies now vouching for music's efficacy in treating several ailments, maybe we'll start appreciating the art differently. YES, IT'S BACKED BY RESEARCH Latest findings by researchers from the Cochrane Library in the UK suggest that a therapist may be able to use music to help some patients fight depression, and improve and maintain their health. After combing through international literature, the researchers identified five studies that met their criteria. Four of these reported greater reduction in symptoms of depression among people who had been given music therapy than those who had been randomly assigned to a therapy group that did not involve music. MUSIC THERAPY CLOSER HOME Closer home, several people like Nalini have experienced the firsthand benefits of music therapy at the Music Therapy department in Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. "Based on our own research studies, we have found that music therapy is especially beneficial to depressed and stressed individuals and hyperactive children," says Dr T Mythily, neuro-psychologist and director, Music Therapy department, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. HOW DOES THE THERAPY WORK?

Mythily says,"Our brain sends and receives messages from the rest of the body ceaselessly with the help of our senses - vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell etc. So when it receives signals of the body feeling stressed in any way, it activates our endocrine system to release stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These have effects on the target organs like the release of stored glucose for energy, increasing blood flow to the muscles and increasing blood pressure. There are now several studies which address how music itself, changes the amount of release of our stress hormones." She reveals that music therapy is one mode of altering the altered biochemistry of the brain and the endocrines. It helps relieves tension and fear and emotional pain.

Fred Silverstone (at piano) serenades elderly patients at a psychiatric hospital. Such music therapy helps people deal with physical ills and mental problems. Staff photo by Rose Lincoln

She was the only one to survive the horrible car crash that killed her parents and siblings. The teenager was inconsolable. Shipped from her home in Oregon to the East Coast to live with an uncle, she suffered from depression and thoughts of suicide.

Annie (not her real name) was enrolled in a special high school at McLean Hospital, a private psychiatric facility in Belmont, Mass., affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Here, she showed a liking for music, particularly songs with lyrics she felt had a personal meaning for her. Always interested in the guitar, she began playing the songs that affected her most.

"It was a way for her to climb out of her personal sorrow and to reconnect with other kids her age," says Fred Silverstone, a McLean music therapist. Along with psycho (talk) therapy and relaxation techniques, the combination brought her back into the social world and enabled her to think about her lost family with less pain and sorrow."

No one can tell you how music therapy works. But there is overwhelming evidence that it does. The Web site of the American Music Therapy Association lists 57 pages of research articles published in its Journal of Music Therapy and other publications. The articles chronicle successful use of music, in combination with other therapies, to treat Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, pain of childbirth, autism, and other physical and mental problems including substance abuse.

In none of these journal articles and pundit plaudits, however, can you find an answer to the question, "How does it work?"

The power of placebo, the ability of a treatment to work if a patient believes it will work, certainly is a factor, Silverstone notes. "But it doesn't account for everything that we see," he adds.

When a patient listens to music while his or her brain is being imaged with magnetic resonance imaging, many areas of the brain are affected that are not affected when not listening to music. That kind of result is still more qualitative than quantitative; it's not hard science. However, as more and more such studies are done, Silverstone believes, "our result should reveal exactly what brain areas are affected and the specific connections between brain cells that change."

More than placebo

Suzanne Hanser plays a lyre as part of complementary treatment for cancer patients. Her research demonstrates the value of music for helping people deal with pain and stress. Staff photo by Kris Snibbe

Suzanne Hanser, now chair of the Music Therapy Department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, did an experiment demonstrating that people suffering from a combination of severe depression and high anxiety can do better when music is included in their treatment. Ten patients were visited at home by a therapist who used music to help them relax their minds and bodies. Ten more were coached by phone to develop their own program. Ten others received no music therapy as part of their treatment and served as comparison subjects.

"The result clearly showed that people being treated for depression and anxiety are helped by music," says Hanser. "The benefit lasted not just for a day or two, but for at least nine months, according to the results of a follow-up study."

Hanser did this research six years ago at Stanford University Medical Center in California. She adapted the same techniques to a new program created in June to help cancer patients at two hospitals in Boston affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

A former president of the American Music Therapy Association, Hanser is now secretary-treasurer of the World Federation of Music Therapy. She's not sure we'll ever know the scientific details of how music eases mental and physical ills.

"It's not limited to one part of the brain as we used to believe," Hanser maintains. "Rhythm is visceral; it affects our autonomic nervous system [the same system that controls breathing without our being aware of it]. Add in cultural influences, our private emotions, and personal memories and you have an effect too complex to analyze with current technology."

Playing to Alzheimer's

Oliver Sacks, the best-selling author and neurologist, has commented that patients with nervous system disorders who cannot talk or move are often able to sing, and even dance, to music. "I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders [like] Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, because of its unique capacity to organize and reorganize [brain] function when it has been damaged," he says.

Oldsters who suffer brain damage from Alzheimer's can still respond to music. "It touches those parts of the brain that are uninjured, and can help Alzheimer's patients communicate with others and lead a more social life," Silverstone says. Hanser agrees. "People who are not even aware of their own names or of their family and friends will sometimes respond to music," she notes. "People who can't put two words together may be able to sing songs associated with birthdays, weddings, and other important events from their past. They not only understand the music; they may even hum a tune or play part of it on a simple instrument like a drum."

Grief and pain

Most therapists can tell you stories about how music helps people manage grief and pain.

Silverstone cites the case of a man trying to overcome grief for his dead wife. Working with a psychologist, Silverstone had the man reminisce about the songs he and his wife once enjoyed. Then Silverstone encouraged the man to sing these songs. That helped him talk about his loss without feeling so sad. After a month of three to four music sessions a week, together with talk therapy, the man got his obsessive grief under control. He became able to think about the loss of his wife in less painful and more normal ways.

Music is used successfully for management of all kinds of pain, ranging from natural childbirth and dental work to unrelenting discomfort from injuries or disease. "We employ mental imagery to distract people from physical pain and the mental stress that accompanies it," Hanser explains. "While playing on a lyre or other instrument, I tell a person to close their eyes and focus on an image that the music brings to them, trees swaying in a breeze, waves coming quietly to a beach, rain falling gently. Music can get people out of a painful body, and let them focus emotionally on more pleasant, positive things."

"For chronic pain, singing or playing an instrument can help as much as listening," Silverstone adds. "Almost anyone can play simple instruments like drums or xylophone with a little training. Singing provides further distraction. Stretching and dancing moves stiff muscles, particularly in people with Parkinson's disease."

What tunes to play

Almost any music will do. "Everyone likes to listen to some type of music - classical or country, rhythm and blues or rock and roll - so we play whatever a patient enjoys," Silverstone notes.

"We play the music that has meaning for the patient," Hanser adds. "All people find some kind of music that relaxes them, gives them pleasure, or takes their minds from obsessive thought and negative feelings."

Of course, music plays two ways; it can bring out anxiety and anger. "But that's not all bad." Silverstone notes. "Such music can lead people to express feelings they may otherwise find too difficult to talk about. "It's a path to verbal expression of what's bothering them, and that makes it easier for therapists to help them deal with negative feelings."

Hanser notes that she and her colleagues often use music to prepare patients for psychotherapy, as well as for medical procedures such as chemotherapy.

The music therapy department at Berklee College boasts 55 majors. It is one of more than 70 such degree programs in the United States, according to the American Music Therapy Association. Those who graduate become eligible to work in places such as hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, senior and adult day care centers, hospices, drug and alcohol programs, and schools.

In some cases, music therapy can be covered, at least partially, by medical insurance.

Those interested in more information on the subject can log on to http://www.musictherapy.org/.

A runaway hit, the film is about a bucktoothed, wide-eyed boy who is scolded and punished by teachers and parents for poor test scores, and repeatedly called an "idiot" and "duffer." He retreats into a shell of silence and tears - until a new, messiah-like arts teacher discovers the boy has dyslexia and encourages him to paint.

The film has lifted the veil on an issue that has remained shrouded in private pain for many families in India. Parents, schools, activists and policymakers have held conferences and public meetings to talk openly about dyslexia since the film was released in December. Though a handful of groups have addressed the issue of dyslexia in India's big cities for more than a decade, public awareness and acceptance have been woefully low.

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability among children, and it affects a person's ability to process the written word, symbols and numbers. Most Indian schools do not have programs to help children with learning disabilities, and teachers are generally not trained to deal with the issue, if not completely ignorant of it. The few private schools that offer special education charge extra fees.

Activists estimate that five to 10 percent of Indian children show signs of dyslexia, but there are no official figures on the matter.

"There has been a sudden awakening about dyslexia in the popular consciousness after the movie. So many people are hearing the word for the first time. People who lived in denial or hid it for years are now coming out to talk about it," said Anjuli Bawa, a parent-activist who founded Action Dyslexia Delhi and fought for the right to an amanuensis, or a scribe, for dyslexic children taking national high school exams.

WASHINGTON - Scientists have come up with a new mobile tool to deliver music therapy, and help paediatric patients cope with the fear, isolation and pain associated with being in the hospital.

Making an announcement in this regard, Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA described the Music Rx unit as a high-tech, interactive studio on wheels that includes everything necessary for music therapy, both in group settings and one-on-one.

The experts said that the device holds a variety of instruments, including drums, keyboards and guitars, as well as Apple GarageBand software for recording music, a custom-built iPod docking station with 10 iPods to loan, and a large LCD screen that plays hundreds of music videos.

The cart was officially unveiled during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Mattel Children’s Hospital on Wednesday.

The Music Rx cart was donated to UCLA’s Child Life/Child Development Services department by the Children’s Cancer Association (CCA), with support from the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

UCLA is one of first hospitals to participate in the CCA’s nationwide expansion of the Music Rx program, which began in Portland, Ore.

“We are proud to join hands with our friends at Mattel Children’s Hospital and Starlight to bring the healing power of music to thousands of hospitalized children in California. The staff have been incredible partners throughout this project, and I have no doubt they will change lives through the Music Rx Program,” said Mary Turina, president and CEO of the CCA

UCLA’s board-certified music therapist Vanya Green, who is also a musician and songwriter, will incorporate Music Rx in her work with children.

“The Music Rx cart is very versatile and has really streamlined everything I need to help our patients benefit from music therapy. When the kids, nurses and staff see the interactive music video screen and hear the instruments, the mood is lightened and they get really excited!” Green said

In the hospital setting, music therapy can be used to help alleviate pain, improve a patient’s mood, stimulate movement and communication, calm anxieties and fears, promote relaxation, and make the hospital feel more like home.

The patient does not need any musical experience or ability to participate in music therapy.

A previous study has already shown in 2008 that Music Rx positively affects a child’s mood, family bonding and pain scores.

A second component of the Music Rx program features a live music element, with professional harpists, cellists, flautists and other community musicians playing soothing music in the paediatric hallways.

Further expanding on the music therapy program at UCLA, experts are developing a recording studio where patients can compose and record their own music using industry-standard software. (ANI)

Album Description

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Music: A healer of ills, and souls