Return to Main Menu

Soothing minds with musical soundscapes by Heather Woolwine Public Relations Many of MUSC’s health care professionals have interests and lives outside the rapid collegiate and clinical atmosphere.   Those interests range from horticulture and dancing to athletics and collecting, but for the members who participate in the group, Of Sound Mind, music is the passion beyond the MUSC campus.   Of Sound Mind are Austin O'Malley, from left, Evans Jenkins and Yates Brown.  Austin O’Malley, a master’s level outpatient clinician for the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry; Yates Brown, M.D., IOP chief resident; and Evans Jenkins, IOP/CDAP information technology coordinator, form Of Sound Mind. The musical group is an aptly group with a unique approach to instrumental music.    “Our music is somewhat hard to describe,” said Brown. “Austin and I come from slightly different musical backgrounds; he plays traditional Native American flutes (more than 90 different flutes) and I play a variety of instruments like the banjo, sitar, guitar, fretless bass and a dulcimer.”   “Our music is an eclectic compendium of instrumental world soundscapes,” O’Malley said. “We’re finding that it appeals to all ages because of its evocative nature. It’s meant to be meditative and reflective, but also high spirited.”   Evans Jenkins provides natural visuals and graphics for the group that are meant to invoke a feeling of connectedness to nature in particular during performances. “Austin came to me after seeing some images playing on a Mac that were in sync with the music playing on an MP3 player and wanted something like that for the group’s performances,” Jenkins said. “I’m into anything that plugs in, so I was happy to help. We put together images of national parks, birds in flight, things like that. I try to pick things that go with the music and each time it seems to get even better. But my role is really pretty minor.”   “He’s just being humble,” O’Malley said. “Evans is a gifted computer tech who’s a true member of the band. I wanted everything to be amplified by a visual aesthetic so that not only would audiences have an auditory experience, but a visual one too. Evans has the aesthetic sensibility to combine visual with audio in a musical fashion.”   In addition to computer visuals, members of the interpretive dance troupe, Ancient Echoes, choreograph the group’s music.   With a truly unique quality, Of Sound Mind mixes Native American flutes with instruments like the banjo, a combination that as far as the group knows has not been produced before. The members recently performed as part of Piccolo Spoleto’s “Music from Nature in Nature” at Frances Beidler National Forest and further combined their occupational interests with their musical talent when they performed for IOP patients on Memorial Day.   “At first I wasn’t sure about the dual role, on the one hand as a physician and on the other as entertainment for our patients,” Brown said. “But they weren’t my patients directly so I didn’t see an immediate conflict. After we played, I realized that there is a therapeutic aspect and that they smiled and seemed to really enjoy it.”   O’Malley sees nothing wrong with playing for patients and in fact believes that it is beneficial. He noted that he subscribes to therapist Irvin Yalom’s belief that an ideal therapist-patient relationship creates conditions in which necessary risk-taking, catharsis, and intrapersonal and interpersonal exploration may unfold.   “Yalom believes that ultimately it is the relationship that heals and I feel blessed to use music to create harmony,” O’Malley said. “All relationships are about seeking harmony, a safe place to share one’s truth.” According to O’Malley, the Native American flute has a profound calming effect on those who hear it and he and outpatient clinician Geoff Cheek use flutes in their weekly relapse prevention group. Patients in that group reported that the flutes’ involvement was transformational in their recovery.   Bob Raynor, a recreation therapist who also works with CDAP’s intensive outpatient program, sought O’Malley’s collaboration to facilitate music in his patient group.    “I often use music in various forms in recreation therapy groups, and Austin and I were able to work out a means of including patients in an active music process,” Raynor said. “Each patient plays a rhythm instrument and finds a place in the group-induced rhythm and then Austin improvises with using the Native American flute. The parallel of working together with others during therapy is explored. Austin’s dual expertise as musician and therapist is powerful and quite meaningful for patients and the sessions are now a regular part of our four-week program.”   In addition to working with patients and performing at events like Piccolo Spoleto, O’Malley and Brown have recorded more than 18 solo CDs between them. The first self-titled CD belonging to the group was released this month.   “Austin brought in Jeff Peters, a world-class engineer who ran the sound at the original ‘Live Aid’ concert and worked extensively with the Beach Boys, Brian Setzer and jazz great Charles Lloyd to record and master our CD,” Brown said.   “The recording is encoded HDCD, meaning that the sound quality is state-of-the-art, and there are only a few thousand CD’s that have been produced this way so far,” O’Malley added.   Barnes and Noble agreed to place it in its stores locally and nationwide, and the CD will also be available at Millennium Music along with O’Malley’s other works.   With the help of viola player Sadie de Wall, pianist Fred Hudson, bassist Kevin Hamilton, world renowned drummer Quentin Baxter, and Ancient Echoes, Of Sound Mind will perform a special concert at the Dock Street Theater, 135 Church Street, at 8 p.m. on July 2 to introduce their latest work.   Tickets, $20, are available in advance through any group member, Millennium Music downtown or Mount Pleasant, Unity Church, or through the group’s Web site, http://www.ofsoundmindonline.com. They may also be purchased the evening of the performance. Friday, June 3, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.