Music helps reach young patients

The teenage girl awaiting a bone-marrow transplant suffered in silence.

Laurie Reddick, assistant director of recreational therapy at the N.C. Children's Hospital, had tried everything to get her to open up.

On a whim, she brought in an "omnichord," an easy-to-play electronic instrument. The patient, whom Reddick would not identify, took to it immediately.

Reddick worked with the girl to compose a rap filled with questions for her doctor.

She played it for him, and he talked with her about her treatment and her condition. "She communicated something she hadn't been able to say, and got the answers she needed," Reddick said.

Reddick hopes a new "School of Rock" program at the hospital will duplicate that experience for many patients.

Rock Against Cancer, a group founded by Chapel Hill resident Lisa White, and the Hot Topic Foundation donated $10,000 to the hospital to hire music therapists to work with young patients.

The therapists will help patients create, perform and record their own music. The goal is both to cheer up patients and to help them give voice to their sadness and anger.

"I firmly believe music does help heal," Reddick said.

Rock Against Cancer sends cancer patients to meet their favorite music stars. The Dave Matthews Band, Mary J. Blige, Matchbox Twenty and many others have participated. Hot Topic Foundation is the charitable arm of the Hot Topic chain of apparel stores.

The groups plan to donate money to create nine more "Schools of Rock" across the country, including one at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Al Bumanis, director of communications at the American Music Therapy Association, said more and more hospitals are starting music therapy programs.

There are 71 colleges and universities in the nation that offer degrees in music therapy, including East Carolina University and Appalachian State University, he said.

Bumanis praised the "School of Rock" effort.

"A lot of times people have good ideas, and they donate tapes or CDs to a hospital without actually having a program that can utilize music therapy," he said.

"This sounds great," he said.

White's son, Gabriel, survived leukemia and now is a healthy 11-year-old boy.

She said the sound of a harp in a hospital lobby helped her realize the power of music.

"Chemo sucks; it's no fun at all," White said. "Music is healing. The ultimate goal of this is to make music part of the cure.

"And let's face it, there's nothing more important to teens than music."