News Archives - 1996

Dr. Ralph Spintge, the leading international researcher in the use of music in medicine, and Dr. Frederick J. Schwartz, an Atlanta anesthesiologist who introduced music to the operating room at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta more than 30 years ago, will headline a Music Medicine Symposium on Sunday from 2-7 p.m. in Sateren Auditorium on the Augsburg College campus.

The symposium, dedicated to providing information about the therapeutic use of music in health care settings, will include a panel discussion titled "Music in Medicine--Future Aspects."

Panelists will include Spintge, Schwartz, local music therapists, music therapy faculty members from Augsburg and the University of Minnesota and Augsburg students majoring in music therapy.

Sunday's Music Medicine Symposium will be the first at Augsburg in seven years, said Roberta Metzler, director of Augsburg's music therapy program.

"Since then, interest in alternative health care has exploded," Metzler said. "People in the West are starting to recognize that music not only can help reduce pain and be a relaxant, but it also can serve as a stimulant and energizer." Spintge is director of the Interdisciplinary Pain Clinic and of the Music Medicine Research Laboratory at Sportkrankenhause Hellersen, Leudenscheid, Germany. He is also executive director of the International Society for Music in Medicine and teaches at the University of Texas-San Antonio.

Spintge, who will speak from 4-5:30 p.m. Sunday, will be preceded by Schwartz, whose introduction of music in surgery at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta led to a hospital-wide central music system that calms patients' anxieties and reduces the need for general anesthesia. Schwartz, who will speak from 2:30-3:45 p.m., has also collaborated on a recording of female voice and womb sounds to soothe babies (and adults, too).

All interested health care professionals are invited to attend the symposium. The registration fee is $10. For more symposium information, call Augsburg's music office at 330-1265. Sateren Auditorium is located in Augsburg's Music Hall at 715-22nd Ave. S. in Minneapolis.

The symposium is cosponsored by The Schubert Club; Augsburg College Faculty Development; Schmitt Music Company; Minnesota Music Therapy Association; Robert Kaplan Complementary Medicine Fund and the University of Minnesota.

MUSIC MEDICINE SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

2:00 - 2:30 p.m. - Registration, Musical Beginnings

2:30 - 3:45 p.m. - Fred J. Schwartz, M.D., "Therapeutic use of music in the milieu of anesthesia and consciousness"

3:45 - 4:00 p.m. - Break

4:00 - 5:30 p.m.- Dr. med. Ralph Spintge, "The functional and therapeutic effects of music from a medical and neurophysiological standpoint"

5:30 - 5:45 p.m. - Break

5:45 - 7:00 p.m. - Panel Discussion "Music in Medicine -- Future Aspects" Spintge; Schwartz; David von Weiss, M.D. Family Practice Physician, Mindful Meditation Teacher; Jon Hallberg, M.D., Family Physician with Fairview Nicollet Mall Clinic; Ruthann Ritchie, RMT; Music Therapy Students; Professor Roberta Metzler, Director of Music Therapy, Augsburg College; Professor Chad Furman, Director of Music Therapy, University of Minnesota

7:00 p.m. - Dinner in Augsburg's Minneapolis Room ($8, prepaid registrants only)