Healing Sounds : Music Therapist Who Comforted Kids After Quake Is Off to Oklahoma

As residents of the Oklahoma City area try to come to terms with the horrors of last month’s bombing, Ron Borczon will be there to help.

Borczon, founder of the Music Therapy department at Cal State Northridge, will conduct a training session next week at the Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Oklahoma City for at least 30 local therapists. He will teach them some of the same techniques--including rhythm games and songwriting sessions--he used last year to comfort 2,000 Valley youngsters who suffered through the Northridge earthquake.

“There are people driving to work each day going past those blown-up buildings,” Borczon said. “There are stresses that build and build and will affect their lives. Music allows us to take that frustration and do something powerful with it.”

Borczon’s invitation to pass on his unique experience came from Flora Elmore, resident music therapist at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Oklahoma City, just a few blocks from the blast site.

“I can close my eyes and still hear that booming sound,” said Elmore “The music helps silence the thunder of that bomb. A lot of the staff came to me and asked, “Do you have any music to get that sound out of my head?’

“People are just walking around in a daze and they may not know how to vent their anger and their grief,” she added.

After the bombing, requests for help overwhelmed Elmore. She called the National Assn. for Music Therapy, the nation’s largest music therapy accreditation board, to get some advice.

The board recommended that Borczon fly out for a three-day seminar and offered to pay his way to Oklahoma City.

“Being in L.A., (Borczon) has experience working in disasters,” said association spokesman Al Bumanis. “That’s why he was at the top of our list to go out and help.”

The program Borczon developed here last year, funded by a Federal Emergency Management Administration grant, involved groups of children doing impromptu raps and giving them opportunities to talk about their earthquake experiences.

Borczon uses the “trust game” to foster group unity. Members are blindfolded and their movements are directed by the sounds of instruments.

The rattle of a tambourine signals a step forward. A chime tells them to turn to the left.

The game teaches people that they are not alone, especially in the wake of widely experienced disasters like the bombing or an earthquake, Borczon said.

He will use similar principles to train the Oklahoma therapists, and they will treat others.

“The first thing that they are going to have to deal with is their own post-stress trauma,” he said. “Half of it will be (about) how to take care of yourself.”

Borczon, a 40-year-old Moorpark resident and father of three young daughters, regards helping others as a mission.

“I love my job,” he said as he strolled across the CSUN campus, a guitar in one hand, a drum in the other. “I can create unity within a group in an hour.”

“Ron has been so good to me, calling me on a daily basis just to see how I’m doing,” said Elmore. “I’m excited about him coming. It will help me establish where I want my department to go.”

Music therapy has been used to treat a wide range of psychological maladies, especially among those suffering from brain damage or diseases such as Parkinson’s and those who have lost the ability to talk.

In less severe cases, it can be used as a diagnostic and rehabilitative tool, gauging and repairing emotional distress. Music therapists believe teaching patients to listen to and understand the harmonies and rhythms of music can have a profound impact on how their clients see themselves.

“A lot of the people lost family members in the building and their lives are totally changed,” said Elmore. “Through songwriting and playing music, they can regain the rhythm of their everyday lives.”