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EDU CA TIOJ\T TODAY

Jennifer Dale gets the hang of the triangle in a music therapy session at Sunnyhill Hospital with
students from Capilano College.

Helps y_oung_ and old

Vancouver using music therapy
as aid in treatment of disabled
B.C. is fast becoming the music
therapy centre of Canada mainly
because of a unique program at
Capilano College in North Vancouver and the interest and
dedication of people like Roy
Hudson who teaches at Sir Guy
Carleton school in Vancouver.
The importance and success of
music therapy is detailed in this
article which was edited from a
story by Capilano College information officer Bill Little and includes comments by Roy Hudson
about his experiences as a music
therapist.
Mr. J . had not talked for 30
years when he came to his first
music therapy session. He sat at
the back and joined in the first
song! Slowly, he began to talk
again, adding more and more
words to his vocabulary.
John D. was an autistic seven
year old. His world consisted of
objects, not people. When he
heard a certain classical piece of
music, however, he would allow
himself to dance with the
therapist. Each week he made
more and more contact with other
people, so long as the session
began with "his" music.
These are just two of the
reasons why the music therapy
program at Capilano College is
becoming widely recognized by
hospitals and other institutions in
British Columbia. Music therapy
is a well-established field in
Europe, but it is relatively new in

ldu«afion
Iodal' @)
Vol. 8, No. 6, May - June, 1982 Education Today is published
monthly during.the school year by
the Information Services Branch
of the Ministry of Education,
Parliament Buildings, Victoria,
B.C. V8V IX4.
Editor - Seth Halton

Canada. The program at Capilano
College, which started in 1975,
has broken a lot of ground.
Capilano College students in
music therapy are trained in
clinical practice, the disabilities of
children and adults that respond
to music, assessment and evaluation procedures, and professional
conduct and responsibility.
Each week the students attend a
clinic, hospital, school or boarding home for at least six hours,
where they are expected to direct
therapy sessions with different age
groups.
Music therapy co-ordinator
Kerry Burke has watched many
students go through the program.
At first they find themselves very
upset and emotional, he said.
"It's not easy, but with group
support from other students and
from therapists or staff, students
overcome personal barriers and
find greater personal fulfillment."
Music therapists now work
mostly with the elderly and with
special needs children. There are
two music therapy departments at Sunnyhill (Children' s) Hospital
and at Valleyview (Senior's)
Hospital. With both groups music
therapy has been shown to reach
clients with emotional and communication difficulties faster than
other kinds of therapy.
Capilano College students are
now employed in Valleyview, Sunnyhill, UBC Extended Care and
Riverview hospitals, group
homes, and other facilities such as
the North Shore Association for
Physically Handicapped and
Daycare programs and by Vancouver Family Services.
Roy Hudson, a Vancouver
elementary and secondary school
teacher for nine years, believes
that music therapy is an important
method of establishing communications with disabled or handicapped children. His work with
the Paci fie Association for
Autistic Citizens, a Vancouver
group which has been operating
for a number of year, brings him

in touch with many people he says
have benefitted from music
therapy. He is presently training
eight youth workers in a program
at the Dunbar Community Centre
in Vancouver. They will work on a
one-to-one basis with autistic
children this summer at Camp
Squamish.
"The basic principle is the same
as that recognized by Plato; that
music effects the nervousemotional condition of the
listener," says Hudson. "A
number of reports on specific
courses which have been conducted explain its merit in clinics
for autistic, brain damaged, hearing impaired, or otherwise crippled or handicapped children.
''The fact is that music, though
itself superficially undisciplined,
in fact can introduce an element
of order and organization into a
child's chaotic emotional life. The
therapist first plays the kind of
music that seems to him to echo or
reproduce the child's mental state,
while the child is given a drum to
beat. The character of his
response, shown in his drumbeating, often provides a valuable
key to the diagnosis of the child's
illness and may reveal potentialities which may help with curing or alleviating his condition."
"There seems to be no doubt
that to these children music is indeed a kind of language," according to Hudson. "Emotional
maturity is closely connected with
the ability to express oneself in
speech, and singing is one of the
most integrated yet intimate and
revealing of our expressive acts a direct expression of the ego. In
music therapy it is possible to
"take hold of the ego directly"
and bring it into activity within
the impaired or disturbed emotional life. The combination of an
all important sense of mastery or
achievement and the sheer delight
of the activity itself will in many
cases overcome the deep selfdistrust that afflicts all these
children in different forms".