Stressful situations are sometimes unavoidable. Stress is a normal human response to situations and experiences at work, with family, and even internally- our attitudes and beliefs. There is a growing emphasis on taking care of our mental health these days, for good reason. There are many ways for people to alleviate symptoms of stress, including exercise, meditation, social support, and therapy. Music therapy is the use of music (singing, instrument playing, and songwriting and other interventions) to address the physical, emotional, mental, and cognitive needs of a person. Research has shown ..read more

Last week, we held the fourth Creative Health conference at Bates College. My presentation was about building better adaptive music programs, so I thought I’d share some of the key points here. We know that music is good for mood, motor skills, communication, social engagement, attention span, memory, sleep and pain. We know the need exists for better access to arts programming, especially for people whom our society tends to isolate. So it seems simple that we’d create arts programming that is accessible to all. But what does accessible mean? We can be more intentional about the manner in whi ..read more

The Creative Health Conference is in its fourth year, and this year we’re focusing on music! Join us for a day of learning, inspiration, and connection. Teaching artists and medical professionals will share their work, research, and philosophies about music and healing. Gain ideas and resources for using music as a tool for health, with yourself or with your clients. Sessions include lecture and experiential formats. No prior musical experience necessary.  Presenters Cognitive Neuroscientist Dr. Robert Zatorre ”Music and cognition, implications in memory care” Stroke survivor Tina Ca ..read more

When I started playing music, I played drums. I’d sit at our piano for hours on end, and took a few lessons, but I wanted to drum. My sense of rhythm was strong and constant. I was always subdividing, drumming on my desk, my thighs, my kitchen table. As a kid, I was lucky enough to be fully supported in this endeavor. My parents never discouraged me from following my passions. My band teacher let me choose what to march with and didn’t blink when I chose the huge bass drum. The jazz drummer who owned the local ice cream store gifted me a pair of sticks and a practice pad. And the two friends I ..read more

One of my favorite parts of the All Roads Music Festival (held in Belfast, Maine by our friends at Launchpad) is the Songwriter’s Circle, a panel discussion by musicians about their process writing songs. As a percussionist, I never considered myself a songwriter until I started playing guitar and realized I could use chords and melodies to paint pictures of the poems I used to write. For a few years, I would sit outside with a guitar and come up with tunes. But because the guitar is not my main instrument, the songs didn’t always sound authentic to my voice. Last year, I decided to write an a ..read more

I was facilitating a group at a memory care center, and there was a man in it who had been silent throughout the group for weeks. He usually had his eyes closed while the other members sang. One day, I brought drums to hand out- they were Remo’s buffalo drums, which have a handle and a mallet. This man was playing his drum with one mallet when he suddenly reached over and took the mallet from his neighbor. He started playing a military drum cadence with two mallets on the drum on his lap. When we finished the drumming as a group, I sat next to him and he told me about his service in the army ..read more

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month! Since I wrote about Music Therapy for TBI in November, I thought I’d dig into the brain itself. Why does the human brain respond so well to music? There is a common belief that the right brain is the creative side, and the left brain is the analytical side. As it happens, multiple areas of the brain are involved in processing music, whether you’re performing it or engaging in it in some other way. When sound enters the ear, its vibrations against the eardrum convert to electric signals that travel (via nerves) to the brainstem, which relays messages to ma ..read more

February is National Heart Month, and the heart is truly something to be celebrated. The heart pumps blood around our body all day and night, through a network of blood vessels and electrical signals. Have you ever listened to your heartbeat?  One heartbeat is a cycle of contraction and relaxation that your heart pumps in order to keep an adequate supply of blood moving. For most adults, the heart beats at 60-100 beats per minute. Infants’ hearts beat faster, and babies born prematurely have even faster hearts. For various reasons, the heart rate will sometimes be much too fast or mu ..read more

Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress, one that we can usually move out of rather quickly. Unfortunately, the pandemic has caused many people to experience recurring or ongoing anxiety. This leads to fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritation, muscle tension, and sleep problems. For folks who aren’t used to managing mental health issues, it’s hard to know where to find relief.  Music is a great tool to find peace and relaxation in the midst of stress that we don’t have much control over. A 2021 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that anxiety significantly declined wit ..read more

As a musician, I often think about how to protect my hearing when playing in rock bands or at loud shows. I make a habit of using earplugs whenever I am at a loud concert. I have "musician earplugs" that are specially made for my ear shape (thank you, Northeast Hearing & Speech!). I don't always carry these around, though, and there are times I've found myself stuffing tissues into my ears because there is so much noise around me! I work with some people who were born Deaf, but going from from full hearing to loss of hearing is a big change to our quality of life. Hearing is part of o ..read more