{"id":67837,"date":"2007-02-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-counselor-uses-music-as-medicine\/"},"modified":"2007-02-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-14T00:00:00","slug":"uri-counselor-uses-music-as-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2007\/02\/uri-counselor-uses-music-as-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 counselor uses music as medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013February 14, 2007\u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 once a week, you\u2019ll find Brian Howard, interim assistant director of the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Counseling Center, tucked behind the nurses\u2019 station of the intensive care unit of The Miriam Hospital in Providence, filling the unit with music from his Native American flute.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe unit is usually very quiet and sterile, so it is nice to be able to break the silence with some soothing music,\u201d Howard said of his reasons for volunteering at the hospital for the past year. \u201cThe flute is a nice instrument because it is very relaxing and research has shown that music has a capacity to heal. The music is also a tension reducer for the staff. They are more relaxed and work more efficiently, which in turn gives the patients better care.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHoward also focuses on calming the patients\u2019 families. \u201cBeing able to sit and hear the music is a nice release for them,\u201d he explained, noting that playing the flute is a form of meditation for him. <\/p>\n


\nHe doesn\u2019t play any particular pieces, but rather plays whatever he feels at the time. \u201cI don\u2019t have to think about what I am playing,\u201d Howard said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the breathing and not stopping to think about the right key or how it sounds.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe 溏心vlog免费B站 counselor likes to work in a behind-the-scenes environment. \u201cI try to stay hidden and not get in the way. I usually go and play and kind of sneak out the back door.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nArlene Orcutt, volunteer coordinator at Miriam, says the music therapy program at the hospital gets rave reviews, particularly from the staff. \u201cThe music\u2019s very soothing and helps relieve tension, especially in a critical care area where things are tense and serious,\u201d Orcutt said.<\/p>\n


\nVolunteering at hospitals is something that Howard has done since college. While attending the University of Hartford, Howard played music at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. <\/p>\n


\nHoward played more traditional instruments in concert and jazz bands before deciding to pick up the flute in 1993.<\/p>\n


\n\tFor a man who is constantly submerged in a world of counseling with words, he says it is nice to communicate with people through a different medium. <\/p>\n


\nHe recalls a time when playing his flute with a man in Laos was his only means of communication. He also describes another time when he played music on the steps of a bank of the Ganges River near a funeral pyre with a mourning family in the religious town of Varanasi, India. \u201cIt is a remarkable way of communicating with people,\u201d Howard explained. <\/p>\n


\nHe owns several flutes. The six hole flute shown in the photograph is a Native American style flute, constructed of cedar and walnut. <\/p>\n


\n\tHoward currently lives in Hope Valley, and also serves as the assistant training director at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Counseling Center. He did his post-doctorate work with the 溏心vlog免费B站 Counseling Center and returned to the center last spring.<\/p>\n


\n\tHoward plays for Miriam year-round. \u201cICU is not for long-term patients,\u201d Howard said. \u201cI try to celebrate every day if I can.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tHe is currently thinking about organizing some volunteers and set up a similar program locally in Westerly or South County. Anyone interested can e-mail Howard at bhoward@mail.uri.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 News Bureau photo by Nora Lewis<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013February 14, 2007\u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 once a week, you\u2019ll find Brian Howard, interim assistant director of the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Counseling Center, tucked behind the nurses\u2019 station of the intensive care unit of The Miriam Hospital in Providence, filling the unit with music from his Native American flute. \u201cThe unit is usually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}