Eric Mammen brings a stash of musical instruments with him as he enters 13-year-old cancer patient Lawrance Garcia's hospital room.

He sits down at Lawrance's bedside and hands the boy an electronic drum.

``What would you like to start with? Fast or slow?''

``Fast, I guess.''

Mammen strums and sings Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Lawrance, who has lymphoma, pounds the drums with a bandaged hand.

They move on to Santana's Evil Ways. Mammen calls for a drum solo.

''You've got it! Very nice,'' Mammen says.

Lawrance smiles shyly in front of an audience of his mother and sister.

MORE THAN FUN

The drumming session isn't just for fun or for passing boring afternoons at Children's Hospital of Orange County, Calif. Just like his chemotherapy, this is part of Lawrance's treatment. He was referred to Mammen, the hospital's first music therapist, because he felt sad and withdrawn about spending the summer in the hospital.

''This takes a lot of depression away,'' says Lawrance's mom, Margaret. ``This is his time now.''

A study published last year in Critical Care Medicine found seriously ill patients who listened to Mozart needed less sedation than a control group of patients who didn't listen to music. Stress-related hormones, blood pressure and heart rates all went lower. And, in other studies, music, as medicine, has been shown to have positive effects on everything from calming patients before surgery to helping premature babies gain weight.

It's not particularly new. Music therapy developed in the United States after World War I, when musicians began performing for injured veterans. It's now used everywhere from psychiatric hospitals to nursing homes. While music appeals to (and may have benefits for) all ages, songs and musical sound can encourage important milestones for children.

More hospitals are seeking to incorporate nonmedical forms of healing, including music, in hospital design.

After Mammen leaves Lawrance's bedside, he heads to the isolation room of 21-month-old J.R. Brunmier. The toddler underwent a bone marrow transplant and has not been allowed in the play room because of risk of infection.

Mammen, 33, is friendly but soft-spoken with adults. His demeanor turns animated when he sits on the floor and belts out Old McDonald Had a Farm. He makes loud animal sounds that send J.R. into shrieks of laughter.

He gives the toddler a tambourine to shake.

''He's been in this room for two months,'' Mammen says. ``He can't go out and get stimulation so I bring the stimulation to him.''

Mammen hands J.R. a stick and holds a drum a bit out of his grasp. That forces J.R. to develop his motor skills by reaching to hit the drum.

Like encouraging J.R.'s reach, Mammen often finds ways to bring about a clinical outcome other than laughter.

MOTIVATION

One little girl would not walk around after having her appendix removed. After a singing session with Mammen, she decided to visit the play room.

``The parents said it's like the music woke her up. It really elevated her.''

A preschool girl, bald from chemo treatment, began making up her own lyrics as Mammen played the omnichord.

''It was about a little girl with no hair, going to get some hair at the wig shop. And then she went to the park and felt the sun on her face,'' Mammen says. ``For a moment, she's a little girl with hair, swinging on the swings at the park and having fun.''

Then there was the 16-year-old intensive care patient in a semi-comatose state. Mammen put her hand on his guitar to feel the rhythm. The music seemed to rouse her to look around the room. Her mother noticed monitoring machines showed an increase in her heart rate.

''She's inside there. She needs a memory or a thought to help her connect with what's going on around her,'' Mammen says.

While Mammen hasn't had a serious health problem like the young patients he meets, he has struggled to master the music he shares with them.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@