EMBRACING SOUNDS OF SERENITY : MUSIC THERAPISTS USE INSTRUMENTS, VOICE, PARTICIPATORY PERFORMANCE TO SOOTHE VARIETY OF ANXIETIES, PAIN.

Byline: Sandra Fish Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

For centuries, music has been said to soothe the soul.

Nowadays, music therapists are using voice, instruments and participatory performance to help soothe substance abuse, chronic pain, disabilities, psychological problems and even the difficulties of death.

``Lots of areas have opened up,'' says Laurie Rugenstein, who coordinates the Naropa Institute's program in music therapy counseling. ``There's been a large interest in using music therapy with the elderly and also in medical settings.''

The program, which leads to a master's degree in transpersonal counseling with a concentration in music therapy, received accreditation from the American Association for Music Therapy earlier this year. Colorado State University also has offered music therapy specialties for years.

But music therapy is relatively new in the mental health field.

``In this country, it really got started after the second world war in VA hospitals,'' Rugenstein says. ``Psychiatrists were asking musicians to come in and work with men who had what was called shell shock then, and now it would be called post-traumatic stress syndrome.''

The practice then moved into residential settings.

``Music therapy is probably most thought of in working with disabled children, autistic children,'' said David Ramsey, executive director for the American Association of Music Therapy.

But in recent years, music therapy has branched out:

A study by CSU and Poudre Valley Hospital researchers indicated rhythmic music therapy improved walking speed for Parkinson's disease patients by 25 percent.

Hospitals are using music therapy to manage chronic pain and even in pre- and post-operative settings to calm patients.

Hospices are hiring music therapists to work with dying patients and their families.

Some music therapists are entering private practices, operating much like psychotherapists but using music as a vehicle.

People with closed-head injuries and other neurological disorders may benefit from the patterning of music therapy.

Ramsey estimates there are about 5,000 music therapists in the United States. There is a certifying board for therapists, and Ramsey's group plans to merge with the National Association of Music Therapy in January 1998, in an effort to coordinate standards for colleges and universities training music therapists.

Therapists say music often reaches something in people that words won't touch.

``It's a nonverbal medium,'' says Rugenstein. ``It allows people to access and express emotions that they might not be able to express verbally.''

In addition to working at Naropa, Rugenstein works with hospice patients, often playing music that transports them to earlier, happier times in their lives.

``There's the part about music evoking feelings - a familiar song - and bringing up feelings,'' she says. For some, music becomes ``a container for their grief that feels manageable.''

Music also may be a way for patients to express more troubling feelings. John Burt uses percussion instruments with troubled youths in his work as clinical director of child and adolescent treatment services at Longmont United Hospital.

``I guide them through an experience where they can gain insight into their own behavior, particularly their expression of emotions and their interpretation of other people's emotions,'' Burt says. ``We might have an impulsive and angry kid who would settle on a loud and angry'' rhythm.

``You can see from somebody's musical improvisation pretty much what they're expressing and separate what is their stuff and what is other people's stuff,'' Burt says.

Gradually, the aim is to work with the young people - who are at the center for substance abuse treatment - to develop and practice a slower, more controlled approach to both musicS and life.''

``Eventually they get to playing together as a group and play as a whole,'' he says. ``They're turning it into a whole of the group all at once. It's almost beyond social.''

Often, those who enter music therapy are combining a love of music with a desire for a therapy career.

``It was a good mixture of my interest in psychology and being a musician,'' says Diane Thoe, one of the first graduates of the Naropa program.

Naropa students must have a music background and pass proficiency tests in voice, guitar and keyboard. Plus, they take a range of other counseling and psychology courses over three years.

Thoe is now in private practice and one of her clients suffered a brain injury.

``She cannot speak,'' Thoe says. ``She sings, but nothing comes out. We're trying to get her to verbalize more. Singing kind of triggers something, the part of the brain that was not damaged.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Music hath charms ...

Therapists use voice and instruments to help those in pain

(2) Percussion instruments are among the tools used by music therapists in treatment that is relatively new in the mental health field.

Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service