Dinosaurs decorate the walls of their “recording studio,” filled with colorful balls, mats and other props. Their audience in the Pediatric Rehabilitation room at Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder, Colo., generally consists of one true fan, Jackson’s mom. To her, the show is much more than fun. She has been using music therapy with Jackson most of his short life.

“It really helped my son get excited about walking,” Daphne McCabe said, adding Jackson did not begin walking until he turned 2, more than a year after most kids take their first steps. “There’s something about music therapy with children. The combination of music and movement works really well. It keeps it fun.”

Jackson was born with water on the brain, a condition that was diagnosed only after it caused nerve damage on the left side of his body. Overcoming the challenges of his cerebral palsy requires a number of rehabilitative therapies, but mom says the music version is hands-down his favorite.

Music therapy is not a new concept, but it is one that has gained more widespread ccceptance in the health-care arena during the past decade. Using it for anxious surgical patients, confused seniors with Alzheimer’s and chemically addicted teens, for example, is becoming more commonplace. Boulder Community Hospital, for example, recently placed a full-time music therapist on staff.

When patients walk into Boulder Community Hospital’s main lobby, they might notice something different. The rush of medical staff and urgent intercom pages is softened by the sound of classical music. A player piano sits near the couches, offering calm in place of chaos. The hospital solicits community volunteers to periodically provide live entertainment.

“There are different tiers of music therapy,” said Willow Pearson, the hospital’s new on-staff music therapist. “This is music in the environment,” she said, emphasizing it is separate from her profession. If patient feedback is positive, the hospital will consider giving the on-loan instrument a permanent home.

A player piano will be part of Longmont United Hospital’s new tower, expected to open early this year, said Betty Trueblood-Smith, community relations marketing manager. “The whole premise is that music reduces the stress level,” she said, adding that hospitals are continually moving toward the concept of administering to the mind as well as the body to enhance healing.

Boulder patients awaiting surgery or other anxiety-inducing procedures are offered headsets, and every hospital room in Longmont is equipped with a television channel that solely broadcasts relaxing music and scenic images.

The BCH pilot program with Pearson and other interns from Naropa University, where a master’s degree in the field is offered, went so well, the hospital made it permanent, said Margaret Van Cleave, vice president in charge of the music program.

“We learned that not only did it address the emotional needs of, for instance, surgical patients, but there were also definite physical advantages. There were some indications that patients would come out of anesthesia more quickly and really cope better with the whole anesthesia experience,” she said.

Van Cleave admitted those indications are all anecdotal, but said the hospital plans to begin collecting hard data to help verify the program’s effectiveness as it expands to other units.

Dr. Pete Sakas, a BCH anesthesiologist who has been offering headsets to patients before, during and after surgery for about a year, said he has not observed physical evidence of music’s advantages. “Does it make a difference in terms of their vital signs? I can’t really say it makes a big difference,” he said. But it seems to set patients’ minds at ease, he said.

“Surgery is an odd experience for people. They fear anesthesia and that loss of control maybe more than the surgery itself,” Sakas said. “The theory is if there are ways to help patients handle their anxiety better with nonpharmacological means, that’s good. They tend to handle the pre-operative period with more of a sense of control, with less fear.”

There are studies indicating that true music therapy can lead to physical improvements, and experts in the field say they have seen effects in a vast array of patients. Jackson’s mom says her son is one of them.

Jackson’s cerebral palsy causes his left hand to curl up in a ball. He has trouble with balance and coordination. Before therapy, he could not jump. To get on top of a mat less than 2 inches off the ground, he had to go to his knees and crawl up.

Judd, Jackson’s music therapist, uses a goal sheet from Jackson’s physical and occupational therapists at the Mapleton Center to create a routine. He improvises songs special to Jackson to capture and hold his attention and work on his physical challenges.

“Jackson’s tapping his sticks, Jackson’s tapping his sticks, Jackson’s drumming his sticks on the floor,” Judd sings, as he plays the guitar. “Now reach up high, reach up high.” The pair focus on reaching games to help stretch Jackson’s muscles, which the cerebral palsy causes to retract. They do jumping games, and Jackson is just beginning to get off the ground. They spin on the mat, which Jackson can now step up on. And each game, at Jackson’s insistence, is followed by a dual guitar session.

“Almost every night and several times a day, Jackson will pull out his guitar, singing songs that Ryan taught him,” McCabe said.

The guitar is an integral part of Jackson’s therapy, as he must use his left hand to strum, forcing the hand to open up. His love for the instrument makes home therapy easy, McCabe said.

“I’ll sing with him. And he likes to do concerts for me.” McCabe said Jackson is making great strides. Special-needs children have trouble maintaining focus when trying to overcome their physical barriers, and music changes that, she said.

“There’s sort of an automatic focus that occurs that helps them bring all their senses together. It makes it more natural.”

And, she said, it makes it more fun. “If you just tell a child to jump, you aren’t going to get very far. But if you make a song about jumping and then jump, it’s effective.”

Van Cleave said many pediatric patients have had success with the intern music program, provided free to rehabilitative patients through spring 2000.

“I think all of us react to music. It strikes an emotional chord with us. You can, if you will, lose yourself in music to a more calm state. So when you’re in a time of great stress, it gives you a place to retreat.”

That retreat is key to all music-therapy patients, whether their problem is physical or psychological, according to Naropa’s Laurie Rugenstein, director of the music therapy program, who has also worked with Boulder County Hospice for seven years.

Naropa graduates choosing music therapy must also complete the degree program in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology. Much music-therapy work has been done with mentally challenged people, such as those with autism, Alzheimer’s or ADHD. And, as in Rugenstein’s case, therapists work with those who are dying.

Rugenstein goes into people’s homes, offering her musical talents to help the terminally ill cope. She always tries to get the family involved, sometimes finding members to play other instruments. She believes in live music and improvisation. “I’m able to read a patient and create music that meets them where they are.” She also plays music to take them back, songs they choose with meaning in their lives.

“It’s important for people to review their lives. Many of the people I work with are couples. It’s a way for them to go back and remember things and events in their lives together and begin the process of letting go.”

Songs allow clients to say things they cannot put into words, Rugenstein said. And often times, they cry, she said. “I usually don’t stop. That’s what many of them want to do, is experience those feelings in a container where they can be held. The music provides tha 5/8”container for them.”

The music is what makes the therapy more powerful than other forms of counseling, said Pearson, who also works with dying patients or those who have suffered great loss, such as a limb.

“I would say that music has the capability to reach people where other means of communication may not. It can be a non-invasive way of communication with people and a direct inroad to their physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.”

Many music therapists are musicians who perform outside of work. But their psychological training is just as important as their musical talents, Pearson said, noting that with a suicidal patient, for instance, a therapist would have to know where not to go.

The field is becoming more recognized, with programs in some 50 general hospitals, 70 children’s hospitals and 120 rehabilitative clinics in the United States.