Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Rock-and-Roll Therapy

“There’s a study by Barry Bittman,” says Davida Price, “that found that 30 minutes of drumming actually improves the production of T-cells.” Price, 29, is a certified music therapist. “Those are the cells that are helpful to the immune system.” Bittman, a Pennsylvania medical researcher, for decades has been studying the effects of music and drumming on human health, a subject that Price is familiar with. Her own work, which she calls rock-and-roll therapy, is directed at kids and teens. “I developed it working with children at various local hospitals.” She says she’d rather not say which ones for reasons of confidentiality.

“I get a one-time shot,” she says. “I’ll come in with a bass guitar and a regular guitar and some amps and some keyboards, and we all play music together.” Price says there is no time to teach the nonmusical how to play an instrument and therefore has developed a system. She tunes the guitars to open bar chords, then marks the fretboards and keyboards with strips of colored tape that tell a beginner where fingers should go. For example, red is the G major chord, while green is a C major chord and yellow a D major chord. “We could play ‘Three Little Birds’ with those chords.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

She then sings the colors, by way of demonstration, over coffee in Normal Heights.

The sounds of music, says Price, hold restorative powers. She describes a hypothetical scenario in which a patient has suffered sexual abuse and is depressed. “I’d say, ‘You’ve never played bass before?’ So then I’d put this big, heavy bass guitar in her lap. I’d say, play this cherry-red Ibanez. When she says ‘I can’t,’ I’d put her fingers in the right places and help her make some low notes.” That, Price says, is when healing begins to take place. “She’s playing this traditionally masculine instrument that is libidinous in a way, and she’s in control of it. Can you imagine how powerful that is?”

Price got her degree from Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Price considered a career as a performer but says she found music therapy emotionally and monetarily more rewarding. Following an internship in music therapy at Music Works of California in La Jolla, she opened Bliss Music Therapy.

In the final analysis, do drummers live longer than other musicians? “I don’t know,” Price laughs. “I don’t know if there are any studies on that.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Top Websites To Buy Instagram Likes + Bonus Tip!

Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

“There’s a study by Barry Bittman,” says Davida Price, “that found that 30 minutes of drumming actually improves the production of T-cells.” Price, 29, is a certified music therapist. “Those are the cells that are helpful to the immune system.” Bittman, a Pennsylvania medical researcher, for decades has been studying the effects of music and drumming on human health, a subject that Price is familiar with. Her own work, which she calls rock-and-roll therapy, is directed at kids and teens. “I developed it working with children at various local hospitals.” She says she’d rather not say which ones for reasons of confidentiality.

“I get a one-time shot,” she says. “I’ll come in with a bass guitar and a regular guitar and some amps and some keyboards, and we all play music together.” Price says there is no time to teach the nonmusical how to play an instrument and therefore has developed a system. She tunes the guitars to open bar chords, then marks the fretboards and keyboards with strips of colored tape that tell a beginner where fingers should go. For example, red is the G major chord, while green is a C major chord and yellow a D major chord. “We could play ‘Three Little Birds’ with those chords.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

She then sings the colors, by way of demonstration, over coffee in Normal Heights.

The sounds of music, says Price, hold restorative powers. She describes a hypothetical scenario in which a patient has suffered sexual abuse and is depressed. “I’d say, ‘You’ve never played bass before?’ So then I’d put this big, heavy bass guitar in her lap. I’d say, play this cherry-red Ibanez. When she says ‘I can’t,’ I’d put her fingers in the right places and help her make some low notes.” That, Price says, is when healing begins to take place. “She’s playing this traditionally masculine instrument that is libidinous in a way, and she’s in control of it. Can you imagine how powerful that is?”

Price got her degree from Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Price considered a career as a performer but says she found music therapy emotionally and monetarily more rewarding. Following an internship in music therapy at Music Works of California in La Jolla, she opened Bliss Music Therapy.

In the final analysis, do drummers live longer than other musicians? “I don’t know,” Price laughs. “I don’t know if there are any studies on that.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Unitarian Universalism allows you to be exactly who you are in the moment
Next Article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.