Healing power of music and medicine

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

Shane Colvin had a lot of back pain last year after suffering a compression fracture while sledding on Peets Hill. He found that one of the things that really helped was singing.

THOMAS LEE/CHRONICLE Singer and MSU student body president Shane Colvin has won a prestigious national scholarship to study music therapy in Ireland. “It helped me personally maintain my sanity when I broke my back,” said Colvin, 23, who is Montana State University’s student body president.

“My passion for music and my desire to finish school with a music degree were the only things that saved me.”

The power of music to heal fascinates Colvin, who has the opportunity to study the subject in Ireland next year, thanks to winning a prestigious Mitchell Scholarship. He plans to earn a master’s degree at the University of Limerick in music therapy.

“Wow” was Colvin’s reaction when told he was one of 12 U.S. students to win the scholarship, named for former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who helped negotiate the peace agreement in Northern Ireland.

Colvin got the call on a Saturday, after the final scholarship interviews were conducted in Washington, D.C. He was at Reagan National Airport, trying to follow the ‘Cat-Griz football game via electronic messages from friends.

More than 300 U.S. students were nominated by their colleges for the award, said Mike Miles, MSU honors program director. The interview panel included the Irish ambassador and the oldest child of Robert Kennedy.

“This is a major, wonderful thing for Shane,” Miles said, adding that the University of Limerick’s motto is “Wisdom in action.”

“That suits Shane to a T,” Miles said. “He has quick intelligence and a generous heart.”

Colvin is a clearly a super-achiever. He was not only elected MSU student body president this year, but also sings in chorale groups at MSU and is working to graduate in May with three degrees n in cell biology, biochemistry and music.

Music therapy “combines all my interests,” Colvin said. “It’s sort of a new frontier.”

Music therapy is a new field, but it’s an old idea. Colvin cited the Old Testament story of David the giant-slayer playing the lyre to soothe the mentally unstable King Saul. The Greeks recognized the power of music to affect people’s moods, he said, yet the American Musical Therapy Association didn’t form until 1998.

Music therapy is less expensive than drugs, non-invasive, can speed healing, soothe pain, calm patients and assist memory, he said.

Colvin said he was 6 when his grandmother suffered a stroke. She couldn’t talk, could barely eat or recognize her family. But she could still play Chopin on the piano, he said, which moved the family to tears.

Colvin, one of four kids and son of a sawmill electrician, was home-schooled until the last two years of high school, when he attended Flathead High. He became an MSU presidential scholar, Miles said, but has also worked 20 hours a week or more to pay his way through college.

His plan now is to study in Ireland, then return to go to medical school and also earn a master’s degree in public health. Colvin said he wants to become a doctor, plus do something that would affect public policy n maybe by running for office, or becoming an advocate for under-served people, especially in rural areas and Indian reservations.

Colvin said he took an EMT class when he was thinking about medicine as a career. He said he’d grown up between the Blackfeet and Salish-Kootenai reservations, but the reality of their medical problems didn’t sink in until he went on ambulance runs “away from the mansions on Flathead Lake.”

Native cultures also have a strong musical heritage, he pointed out.

“Everything is coming together, I feel,” he said. “I’m really excited about that.”

Gail Schontzler is at gails@dailychronicle.com or 582-2633.

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