The symphony of drums, maracas, and songs was enough to let any casual passerby know that there was fun going on inside. Recently, the Woodbury, Minn.-based Woodbury United Methodist Church was the setting for a “family fun” music therapy event, which was aimed at children with disabilities and their immediate families.

The expressions on the children’s faces as they sang and played the instruments left no doubt about the “fun” aspect of the evening, which was organized by the St. Paul, Minn.-based organization, Arc Greater Twin Cities. In addition, a trained music therapist was on hand to explain some of the theories behind the therapy to the parents.

Todd Schwartzberg, MT-BC, NMT, a music therapy coordinator with the Minneapolis-based MacPhail Center for Music, lead the group in song. “A lot of the research is pointing to a whole-brain response when we participate in music, whether it’s active involvement in making music or passive listening,” Schwartzberg says. “When we are listening to music, we are activating both hemispheres of the brain, and smaller areas of the brain that deal with learning, memory, and emotions.”

Arc Greater Twin Cities, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families throughout life, decided to partner with the MacPhail Center for the free workshop in Woodbury – the first of its kind in the Twin Cities – after Arc staffers experienced for themselves a music therapy session, and saw the potential it could have for the families they worked with on a daily basis.

Woodbury resident and Arc’s GetSet! program specialist Sharon Mulé has a daughter with epilepsy and got involved with Arc when she realized she was being given merely a glimpse of what many families coped with. And, she says it was extra-special that Arc’s first music therapy event was being held in her home city. “My motivation is this is my community,” says Mulé. “You get highly motivated to see things change in your community … We [at Arc] are there because we have a passion for change and a passion for the people in our community.”

One of the parents at the music therapy workshop was Michele McAlister, whose 12-year-old son, Justin, has autism. “I want him to have every opportunity,” says McAlister. “Often, especially in the autism world, there’s so much out there that you are supposed to try – all the diets and gimmicks … but what I’ve found one of the most effective things to be with my son is music. He became more organized – it’s very powerful.”

McAlister says part of her motivation for attending the event was to make contact with other families and network with parents in similar situations. Justin has been through music therapy three times now, and McAlister says she continues to believe strongly in its effectiveness. “[Justin] is not very good at it, but he believes he is, and that’s all that matters,” she says, smiling.


Source: Louise Ernewein/Woodbury Bulletin