A Conversation With ... Harry Beckett

What is music therapy?
Commonly, music therapy is the clinical use of the tools of music to accomplish therapeutic goals that are nonmusical in nature for the purpose of improving the person’s physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual health.  

When you are an entertainer, the focus is on you or the group you’re playing with. In music therapy, it’s just the opposite. We are not performers; we are facilitators. We use music as a technique to pull and inspire responses in patients.

Music therapy is slowly, but steadily, gaining recognition on the national level as being an excellent therapy to complement various therapeutic programs.

My main instruments are piano and keyboard. In music therapy, I use other instruments to accomplish goals, such as acoustic guitar, hand percussion and quite a bit of singing. I do a lot of other music activities, games, trivia, song writing, music assisted exercise classes, relaxation exercises and breathing exercises.

How does music assist patients?
As a general rule, we use music a person can already relate to. We don’t force predefined music. The goal in mind, what we ask ourselves as therapists, is what can we do to help them improve from point A to point B? Say a person has had a stroke and is learning to walk again. You can use the rhythm of music to help a person improve. The music helps them pace their steps and improve posture as they engage in the music. They learn to walk more evenly and improve cadence, speed and depth of their steps.

We can use music for speech issues. It’s been know that the act of singing takes more energy than regular speech. You can use the timing and pacing of music, and the breathing involved in singing creates vocal power.

It also can be used to increase range of motion. Using the timing and dynamics of the musical phrase to help the person really move on a certain beat or certain note.

You primarily work in hospice care. What’s your goal with a patient?
In hospice, people are experiencing end-stage life symptoms. They may have labored breathing, mental confusion or be very depressed or anxious. We can all see how music can elevate a person’s mood. We tend to relax more with music.

Say somebody is having really irregular breathing. Because the auditory sense is still intact, when they hear the music, even if they are on their deathbed and in a coma, subconsciously they are processing that information. The tempo of the music will affect their heart rate and breathing rate. If they are breathing heavy and hear a gentle steady tune, their mind processes that info and their breathing will slow down to match that tempo. It’s a reflex.

What diseases are most often treated?
I do a lot of work with Parkinson’s disease. There are a lot of studies coming out right now showing music therapy is becoming recognized as one of the four main therapies for Parkinson’s treatment. Promoted by National Parkinson’s Foundation, the other three are physical, occupational and speech therapy.

I work with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia patients because music stimulates memory response. There is a lot a research going on right now, showing music creates enhanced activity in certain regions of the brain. Music has a way of bringing out those memories that are stored long term.

Is there a need for this service in southwest Missouri?
Since I became licensed – six years ago – I find so many places in the community would love to have music therapy because they already recognize the benefits. Yes, there is an increasing need. That’s why so many students are attracted to it. The Drury program started its first year with five students. When I took classes, we had maybe 15 students. Now, they are up to 48 students.

The other side of the fence is the issue of funding. Even though music therapy is recognized by a number of federal organizations, Medicare does not cover it. People who are looking for reimbursement can’t get it directly. Some third-party insurance companies may reimburse.[[In-content Ad]]