Music can soothe the soul ... and the body

The song Jonathan Moore is playing is an old-time New Orleans jazz anthem called Basin Street Blues.
While his right hand frames the melody, his left hand builds a rich, gutty sort of a musical floor for the song. Clearly, the man knows his way around a piano.
Musically for the moment, hes in New Orleans. Geographically and professionally, hes in thelobby at Chesapeake Regional Healthcare. Moore is a music therapist, putting into action the very real mental and physical benefits that music can provide.
During World War I, some soldiers, overwhelmed by the horrors around them, went into a closed-off state called shell shock. In World, War II, that condition was called battle fatigue.
In military hospitals, Moore said, it was found that music could have medical and mental benefits. It would elevate peoples moods, decrease anxiety, aid in the ability to benefit from limited movements and, as Moore put it, bring emotions out of their hearts.
Moore grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan, in a neighborhood where, he said, everybody played piano. His sister was his primary teacher and he went on to Michigan State to earn degrees in piano technique and music therapy. Music is a competitive discipline, he said, and being qualified as a therapist gave him something else valuable to offer. 
Then the Navy became his playing field. He joined bands while stationed in Florida, Hawaii,Tennessee and Rhode Island. He was even part of two performances at the White House. The President was Clinton.He spoke to me, Moore said. I'm a Republican, but he had charisma.
While he was in the Navy, Moore also worked as a music therapist in Navy hospitals. After 20 years, he left the service with the rank of first class musician. Then, in 2006, he joined the staff at Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.
When he plays for patients or for hospital events, he said social interactions tend to develop in the atmosphere of pleasant music. Silent people may begin to talk and inactive people might get involved in mild chair exercises. 
Because he plays for so many different groups, he can come at you in a whole range of varying styles and composers, even back to that World War II musical fad, boogie-woogie. 
Among Moore's favorite composers and artists are Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, Duke Ellington, Henry Mancini and George Gershwin. They're unfamiliar in today's music world of over-amped clamor so if they don't ring bells for you, look them up. 
And, because Moore sometimes plays for seriously ill patients, one of his favorite hymns has the line Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Moore is also choir director at First Landing Chapel in Virginia Beach. 
He played a couple of songs for me on the piano in the lobby of the hospital recently. One of them was made famous by Armstrong Its a Wonderful World. And it is, certainly for the few moments of the melody. 
As for Moore's personal music library, its in his head and in his hands. Hes got one of those electronic gadgets that fetches up words and music faster than the plink of a finger on a piano key. 
I wondered if there were younger Moore's carrying on the musical tradition. The answer bore no tone of regret because they're following their own paths. One child is an artist, one is a chef and one is studying environmental science. Moore's wife, Karen, is a physical therapist.
As for Moore himself, he brings forth a bit of Louis Armstrong philosophy: Musicians don't retire. They stop when there's no more music in them. 
Listen to Moore on the piano and you figure that's not going happen for a very, very longtime. 
Tony Stein, steinstuff@aol.com 
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