Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Dan Schneck (left) answers a question during a music therapy information session sponsored by the AARP at the YMCA at Virginia Tech. "People think of physical therapy in the sense of changing the way the body works," Schneck says. "Music therapy can be used in the same way."

BLACKSBURG -- Some tapped their feet. Others swayed with the music. Some sat with their eyes closed, taking in the recording of "When the Saints Go Marching In."

"They're wanting to dance," noted one onlooker.

And that's exactly the reaction Daniel Schneck wanted of his audience.

The Blacksburg chapter of AARP held three events Tuesday in Blacksburg to raise awareness of music therapy. Schneck, along with his wife, Judi, gave a presentation on the scientific side of music therapy at the YMCA at Virginia Tech.

Harpist Virginia Bethune, musician-in-residence at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, played during a lunch meeting accompanied by a presentation by Gail Billingsley of the YMCA at Virginia Tech. Debby Hix, a certified music practitioner, played her folk harp and talked about her experiences using music to heal.

People have known for years that certain songs make them feel better, Daniel Schneck said. Now, researchers such as himself and musical therapist Dorita Berger -- co-author with Schneck of the 2006 book "The Music Effect: Music Physiology and Clinical Applications" -- are trying to find the reasons behind music's effects on the body and clinical applications for it.

The reason people were tapping their feet to upbeat music is a phenomenon called "entrainment," where music drives the body's response, Schneck said.

Entrainment is what causes heartbeats to become slower and steadier when listening to rhythmic music, Hix said.

"When someone has an arrythmic heartbeat, what I would want to do is play music that has a beat of 60 to 80 beats per minute, or the rates of human hearts at rest," Hix said. "I've seen people hooked up to monitors and watched their heartbeat change."

Hix plays the folk harp, also known as the Celtic or lever harp, and previously was employed part time at Montgomery Regional Hospital, where she played for patients.

The music isn't a performance and she doesn't take requests while playing for patients, Hix said.

"I go in knowing a little about the patient's condition and play certain music depending on that," Hix said. "I see how they respond to it and change according to their response."

Using entrainment, the body can learn to form new connections in the brain, giving the response the patient and doctors want, Schneck said. That process of using entrainment to help the body fix itself is called physiologic adaptation.

"People think of physical therapy in the sense of changing the way the body works," Schneck said. "Music therapy can be used in the same way."

There has been progress in the music therapy fields, but there is still a lot to be learned, Schneck said. Doctors still don't have specific prescriptions for illnesses as they do for medicines or physical therapy.

"We don't know all the details yet," Schneck said. "There are no rules on how long the treatment could take. It's different for everyone."

As a musician, retired minister Bill Finley said Schneck's presentation seemed to reinforce what he'd been seeing for years.

"I have never been a part of using music as a therapeutic tool to help people except going in to visit people in hospital or nursing homes, and sometimes we sing hymns," Finley said. "What was most interesting to me was the connection with the actual hearing of music, what it does physiologically and chemically and seeing a concrete and scientific explanation of what music does."

At age 78, AARP member and event organizer Carl McDaniels said he's willing to try just about anything that can help heal or prevent illness.

"With this day, we're hoping to show as many aspects of music therapy as possible," McDaniels said. "For our age group, and others, this is something that could have a positive impact on our lives."

McDaniels said he has compact discs and tapes he plays when he's not feeling well and has felt the positive effects of music on his body.

McDaniels said he thinks that music therapy is a growing phenomenon in the country. "We're just trying to give people access," he said.