Please feel free to explore this site for performances, articles, pictures, etc.
Martha has combined her lifelong interests in music, technology, and education into advocacy for the cause of music in therapeutic as well as aesthetic environments, in the concert hall and beyond. With a varied career in professional music performance, pedagogy, and computer development over her lifetime, some of her long-term goals are to bring music into the mainstream of medicine and education, and to facilitate the automation of some of the biomedical music techniques that have proven so powerful in working with children with special needs.
Career Highlights
Click on the links below to find out more about the various aspects of Martha's career and interests.
This is a TEDxChattanooga (2020) talk discussing how we can create unique networks of doctors, therapists, educators, musicians, researchers, and caregivers will provide new ways for us to use the power of music and benefit us all. It also quotes a research project that indicates that music creates positive chemical changes in the brain.
Music is a direct conduit to the brain and can have amazing benefits to persons challenged with motor, speech, and cognition issues. The powerful outcomes of music in the brain are well known in the upper circles of neuroscience professionals, but not so well known on the street, where much benefit could be realized for those with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, traumatic brain injury, autism, and stroke.
The Power of Music concert premiered on the YouTube platform on Tuesday June 1 at 6:00 pm EDT. The full concert was viewable online for 30 days, but concert highlights that include violin/piano and solo piano selections are still available. Links to the concert, as well as all additional supporting materials, are all found on the event website: https://powerofmusicconcert.com.
This performance was part of the "Alumni and Friends: A James Sellars Memorial Celebration" concert which took place on December 7, 2017, in the Lincoln Theater at the Hartt School, University of Hartford.
A very long time ago during her undergraduate days at the Hartt School of Music, Martha worked in constant collaboration with other musicians rather than focusing much on solo literature. For example, Martha's many orchestral friends collaborated with her to perform several concertos, her favorite piano genre at the time. These concert collaborations were fondly referred to as the Summa Radio City Orchestra recitals.
Cassette tapes of several of these collaborative concerts dating from the early 1980's were recently copied onto digital format so that these concerts could again be enjoyed by friends.
Originally recorded at Hartt School of Music in September of 1983, featuring the Summa Radio City Orchestra. This recording also features a surprise encore following the Gershwin that was written by Ken Steen.
Music is universally loved, and the joy of listening to favorite works can bring people together, heighten emotions, and inspire nonverbal communication on a deep level. The therapeutic element of music is equally as important as the aesthetic element; music protocols based in scientific research are applicable to many diagnoses that involve motor, speech, and cognition challenges. Evidence-based research verifies that music helps encourage brain plasticity, resulting in regrowth or repatterning around damaged or diseased areas for conditions such as stroke and traumatic brain injury. Unfortunately, there are some disorders such as Parkinson's disease that affect an area of the brain where plasticity cannot develop. However, greater quality of life can still result from the use of music to assist with motor movement and speech. Please view the TED talks and articles in this website as well as the link listed above for the Music Therapy Gateway in Communications "MusicScience Overview" page for more in-depth information.
