ASHLAND — Music has a way of transforming the mind.
Bekah Smith, a board certified music therapist at University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center, demonstrated music’s transformative power Thursday during an Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon, “Celebrating Women in the Workplace.”
Around 260 women attended the luncheon, held at John C. Myers Convocation Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Smith, armed with an acoustic guitar, brought this year’s women three tips on “practical meditation” to use during the work day.
Before getting into that, she encouraged everyone to place both feet on the floor. She then invited everyone to close their eyes and take a deep breath. As the room hushed, it filled with the melodic sounds of her guitar.
“Just fully let that sink in for a second, that presence that is around you,” Smith said.
The music therapist then shared her three tips for using music to be mindful. Contour, she said, is a way to understand a person’s productivity during the day. She pointed to the bell curve as a visual. In the late morning, for example, someone might be the most productive — the highest point of a bell curve.
During that time, she said, it might be helpful to listen to upbeat music to match, or even encourage, productivity.
The second tip is easy: use the music you prefer, she said. Don’t listen to upbeat metal, for example, to achieve high productivity if you can’t stand that genre of music.
Her third tip involved matching a song’s beat per minute, or BPM, to your psychological state.
“In the morning, for me, there’s not much happening. So 60 BPM is pretty slow and relaxing,” she said.
To demonstrate a music therapy session, she invited a friend to the stage. Her friend, Ellie, expressed being nervous — for being on stage — and wanted to bring her anxiety levels down.
Smith said she would meet her anxiety with a higher BPM and slowly work it down, using “diminuendo,” a musical technique that means to “decrease in loudness.”
She played and sang Billy Joel’s “Vienna.”
‘That was interesting’
Guests Cameo Carey, director of Ashland Area Economic Development, and Amanda Furman, a communication specialist in the Ashland mayor’s office, found it all helpful.
“The mindfulness part for me … the reminder of ‘think about what you’re doing while you’re doing it’ stuck out to me,” Furman said.
Neither of them had prior exposure to music therapy.
“That was interesting,” Carey said. “I listen to music, but not in that way.”
Carey and Furman both encouraged other women to come next year. They enjoyed the speaker, but said the camaraderie is helpful, too.
“(The City of Ashland) had two-and-a-half tables full of women from all different departments. We see and know each other but we don’t get to hang out that often,” Furman said.
Renae Osborne, the chamber’s director of programs and finance, said the annual luncheon has changed through the years. In its early stages, the event focused on administrative professionals. Since 2012, the luncheon invites women from a broad spectrum of industry.
All women present Thursday represented different roles, such as receptionists, factory workers, advertisement professionals and those who work in the medical field, Osborne said. There were also 15 vendors from area nonprofits.
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