Music therapist brings harmony to disabled children and adults

For 30 minutes every Thursday afternoon, the music room is quiet except for the tickling of small fingers on the keyboard and the occasional giggle.

It doesn’t matter that cerebral palsy has compromised Madelynn Legge’s motor coordination. For those moments, the 5-year-old from Scituate sits on the piano bench or nods her head to the rhythmic tunes of the ivory keys. Horn, slide whistle and kazoo, she gets moving.

Eve Montague has taught Madelynn since she was 2 to use music as a way to improve coordination, gait and balance.

For the past four years, certified music therapist Montague has been using song and sound to open the world to disabled individuals at the Duxbury campus of the South Shore Conservatory.

Montague, 48, of Pembroke, uses music to create an environment where her students can explore their own world with freedom and safety.

“Music has been a pathway for those with communication barriers to find their voice and express their needs and wants,'' Montague said.

Madelynn can’t talk and finds it hard to produce enough sound to laugh, says her mother, Melanie Legge.

“Most people take laughing for granted,'' Legge said. “For our daughter, laughing occurs when her father does a running cannon ball into the swimming pool for the sheer delight of hearing Madelynn laugh.

“Eve has this same effect on Madelynn.''

That effect was evident from the start when Legge saw her daughter stand on her own for the first time, mesmerized by Montague and her music, almost forgetting about her lack of balance.

Patient and energetic, Montague pours her heart and soul into the 30-minute session, Legge says.

Rhonda Carson says her son Billy, 26, born with Down syndrome, didn’t play the piano before he began working with Montague.

Carson says Montague has Billy pick out a few songs on the keys and he sings now with more rhythm.

“When Billy sings with Eve, you can hear them all the way down the hall,'' Rhonda chuckles. “She brings out the music in him.''

Before coming to the conservatory, Montague spent 12 years as coordinator of the creative arts department at the Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton, a nonprofit servicing children with neuromuscular, progressive diseases.

It was there she developed a performing arts program and a music therapy internship program.

Montague says, “I was excited by the idea that the power of music could transcend learning challenges and help individuals lead as independent lives as possible.''

Montague said music helps people relax and reduce pain and anxiety. It also guides them to work within structure and demands. Montague tailors her teachings to suit each student’s needs.

Madelynn, who could not speak or walk, has developed into a steady walker who can even run.

“Music has helped organize her motor patterns,'' Montague says.

And the joy is not all Madelynn’s.

“I have the opportunity to witness the power of music as it opens new learning channels for those who struggle with more traditional forms of learning,'' Montague said.

“Seeing growth as an individual becomes more confident, empowered and independent in their life-long learning – and knowing I may have opened some doors for them – is truly powerful.''