Barry Bernstein was a music therapist and children’s entertainer known as Bongo Barry in the Kansas City area



A graduate of the music therapy program at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, Barry Bernstein was affiliated with Geriatric Services in San Francisco, California, and Colmery O’Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Topeka, Kansas, prior to relocating to his hometown of Kansas City. He served as a music therapy consultant for the Blue Valley School District in Overland Park, Kansas.



In 1991 Barry Bernstein co-founded Rhythm For Life with the American Music Therapy Association, NAMM, Mickey Hart, Remo Belli, Barbara Crowe, and Arthur Hull, among others. One of the organization’s primary activities was researching the therapeutic benefits of music on elderly Americans, specifically those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.



Barry Bernstein helped adapt and design instruments for Remo that met the needs of special populations, including the Drum Table. “One of the goals of Rhythm for Life is to bring drumming back into the family,” Bernstein said in an August 1995 Percussive Notes article. “Turn off the TV and play drums together. It gets you talking and enlivens you, and we might not have so many family problems. I don’t think that’s idealistic; I think it’s a real solution to some of the problems in our society right now.”



As a registered music therapist, workshop facilitator, and recording artist, Barry Bernstein maintained an international schedule providing services to schools, businesses, and healthcare facilities for his consulting company, Healthy Sounds. Awards included Drum magazine’s 2003 Best Drum Circle Facilitator of the Year and the 2004 Kansas Distinguished Service Award for Arts and Disabilities from the Kansas State Board of Education.



"Bongo" Barry Bernstein died at home on August 26 at age 55. He is survived by his wife Laura and two daughters, one in eighth grade, and the other, a freshman at the University of Kansas.