Kansas City Parent Magazine: January/February, 1997 FAMILY HARMONY By Anne Morris If you love music but feel, shall we say, rhythmically challenged, don't despair. A local music therapist has a message for you and it may just be music to your ears: It doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter what instruments you own. Music can enrich your life, help enhance your personal and professional relationships and, most importantly, help you enjoy life a little more. Barry Bernstein, a registered music therapist, has been spreading his message at least since 1992 when he established his own company, Healthy Sounds, which he runs out of his Lenexa home. Through Healthy Sounds, Bernstein, 42, teaches people of all ages to incorporate music into their daily lives and use it as an educational tool, a basis for family activities, a vehicle for reaching new levels of personal communication, and a way to have a lot of fun. Each year since its creation, Healthy Sounds has expanded, encompassing an ever-wider range of audiences. Among its components are "Rhythm Sandbox," a program for elementary and middle school children; "Barry's Music Box," a birthday party entertainment program; and Unity With a Beat!» a music program designed to help people of all ages enhance relationships, improve the workplace environment, hone academic skills, and have fun. Bernstein also leads a prenatal music course along with his wife, Laura Harris, 37, and a handful of other programs. Debuting in 1997 will be a workshop designed specifically for families. The program will help families learn how to use music to entertain, enhance academic skills, and promote interaction between family members. "We've really become an isolated culture," said Bernstein. "Whereas 100 years ago, there were community activities, today we spend too much time with the TV. Turn off the TV once a week and make up a song. It can relate to what people in the family are experiencing." And if your family isn't exactly on par with the Jackson Five, who cares. Bernstein says it doesn't matter. "I think in our culture, the whole idea of playing music has become a stigma," he said. Contrary to what some may believe, you don't have to take lessons and you certainly don't have to be critically-acclaimed to play and enjoy music. You also don't have to be rich. Don't want to mortgage the house for a brand new set of state-of-the-art instruments? No problem. Just take a quick look around your house and you're guaranteed to find a few musical instruments. Not surprisingly, Bernstein's house is filled with instruments, not all of which were made to be played. A Mason jar filled halfway with water makes a nice drum. A Bundt pan serves as a different type of drum when held upside down and beat with a cloth-covered utensil. Film canisters filled with birdseed and tied together in a bunch are great as shakers. The point is, as Bernstein puts it, "Anybody can go into their kitchen and find an array of sounds." As Bernstein reaches out to families to teach them the value of music, he will undoubtedly draw on his own family experience. He and Laura, along with their two daughters, Leah, 5, and Sydney, 15 months, live with music. Their home is filled with it and the children are encouraged to use both their voices and instruments to make music of their own. Leah is eager to try new techniques with her instruments and Sydney enthusiastically dances to the beat. "I like the sound," Leah said about music. Laura, too, shares the family's love of music. "It definitely adds a lot to life, being actively involved in music," she said. The whole family collaborated on "Songs of the Spirit," a CD of music Bernstein uses in his workshops. Laura and Leah both sang on it and Laura arranged the songs. Family time in the Bernstein household is often spent enjoying music together. Bernstein and Leah have made up a game in which one beats a tune on a drum and the other must repeat it. The tune may begin with just three or four notes, growing more and more complicated as the game goes on. The whole family watches as Sydney gets in on the act, dancing on legs that only recently learned to walk. And, most importantly in Bernstein's mind, everyone enjoys themselves. Sticking with his belief that music is to be enjoyed, Bernstein is careful not to make it a mandatory activity for his daughters. "I try not to push anything on them," he said. "We really have made an effort not to be doting. We've pretty much left it to be self-discovery." Self-discovery was the method through which Bernstein himself fell in love with music. He remembers when he was 10 years old and inspired to buy his first guitar after seeing the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. He entered the record business in his 20's and soon afterward earned a bachelor's degree in music therapy at the University of Kansas. After serving for several years as a music therapist, most recently at the Colmery-O'Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Topeka, he started Healthy Sounds and has been nurturing his passion for music ever since. "I've always been a go-getter, creative, a self-starter, an entrepreneur, and I enjoy being out on my own most of the time," he said. "It gives me a lot of freedom." Though Bernstein won't be able to spread his message to every single family in the Kansas City area through his new family workshops, he certainly can spread it to individual family members, who then may relate the message to the rest of the clan. Schoolchildren learn about the power of music from Bernstein through Young Audiences, a national, non-profit organization that sponsors artists in schools. Adults learn from Bernstein through his corporate program, designed to encourage leadership, team building, problem-solving and stress-management. And people of all ages learn from him through drum circles, designed to foster a sense of unity and encourage self-expression. Interestingly, group size is not usually a concern for Bernstein: He has enough percussion instruments to accommodate 600 people. In the words of Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, quoted in one of Bernstein's brochures, "Barry Bernstein is the Johnny Appleseed of rhythm-based music therapy." Reprinted with permission © 1997 Kansas City Parent Magazine
	• TOP • (913) 888-5517 barry@healthysounds.com P.O. BOX 40304 • OVERLAND PARK, KS • 66204

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