The Stockton Record: May, 1997 JUST BEAT IT! Fighting stress, lack of confidence, despair? Therapist uses drums to deliver message that percussive music can be healthful, healing part of every life By Howard Lachtman, Staff Writer They formed a circle and started beating their hand-held drums with the persistent rhythm of a tribal gathering. “Just feel your rhythm,” said Barry Bernstein, a man with the good humor and goodwill of a summer camp counselor, “Feel how you fit into the circle. Look around at the other folks while you’re playing. You might notice somebody is playing the same rhythm as yours. You are rhythm mates, so to speak.” It looked like fun, and it was. But the drum circle was also something more. For Bernstein, the sounds of rhythm and music have healing potential. They’re capable of reducing stress and tension, promoting a sense of community and self-esteem. After the drums quieted, one woman told the group she’d always been told she had no sense of rhythm. Now she knew better. “I felt so strong!” she said proudly, as her rhythm mates applauded. “Beautiful!” Bernstein said. “Potent stuff!” Mind, body, spirit, drum St. Joseph’s Medical Center brought Bernstein, a Kansas City musical therapist, to Stockton for its “Know Your Mind, Body and Spirit” program. It was a return visit for the drumming, singing and dancing therapist, who took part of his music therapy internship at Stockton State Hospital in the early 1980s. “He gets people doing chanting and rhythm and, before you know it, they’re making beautiful music together,” said Jim Linderman, St. Joseph’s coordinator of support and educational programs. Bernstein met with great success two years ago at an earlier “Know Your Mind, Body and Spirit” program. “His was one of the most appreciated classes we’ve ever done,” Linderman said. “People said they felt upbeat about themselves. They said Barry had tapped their creative energy and woken up part of their soul that had been asleep.” Linderman decided to sample the magic for himself this time. When standing outside the circle and watching, he wondered if those in the group beating their drums were feeling childish. But when Linderman joined in, the magic caught him. “As soon as I joined the circle, I felt a sense of community,” he said. “I lost all anxiety about what people were thinking outside the circle. I felt totally absorbed and involved in the experience. I felt peaceful, accepted and relaxed. And that’s what surprised me.” ‘Everyone was one’ “Our first goal is to get people in touch with each other,” Bernstein said. “The drum is a communication tool, whether I’m working with families or developing team building and stress management for businesses.” Drumming also leads to exercises like a “group juggle,” with participants quickly exchanging little musical shakers, and vision exercises that help expand awareness of others. There’s also a time for personal reflection. Bernstein threw a beach ball into the circle and explained it was his equivalent of an American Indian “talking stick.” Whoever picked it up could talk freely and share their feelings openly. “It made me feel inebriated á I mean free!” one woman hastily corrected herself. “I felt my heart beat and my rhythm join to others, adding and subtracting hearts to my own,” another said of the experience. “It’s quite powerful, isn’t it?” Bernstein agreed. “At first,” a third said, “I was really aware of my own rhythm, my own body. Then it was as if everyone was one.” Bernstein knows that feeling. “The whole nature of playing music gets people focused,” he said. Making the connection Drum circles are a way to counter what Bernstein sees as a trend in our culture toward increasing personal isolation and lack of connection to others. “The beauty of the drum circle phenomenon is that it gets people connected through vibration,” Bernstein said. “Add the psychological component of what music does to the brain, and it’s a very potent experience that can really open people up.” Bernstein, who spent 10 days in February at a music therapy conference in Japan, offered in Stockton informal public programs and four-hour sessions primarily aimed at music-therapy and music-education students. He hopes to help change the public’s attitude about what music is and what music does. “So often, what happens in our culture is that people don’t think they can play music, or they see music as purely an entertainment, and so they think they can only listen to it,” Bernstein said. “As therapists, our charge is to have people playing musical instruments no matter what their training is. The drum and other percussion and rhythm activities are among the easiest places to start.” Bernstein wants more people to know music is a healing tool that can foster relaxation, stimulate brain activity and create a harmonic family. “Music making is such a beautiful way to connect with people,” he said. “It really works,” said Hazel Ivery of Arnold. “It made us all feel better.” All content © 1997 The Stockton Record
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