Advocate
Martha uses her skills as a pianist, presenter,and educator
to advocate for the cause of music in therapy.
Martha discovered the amazing power of music and the brain while working with a four year old autistic sibling of one of her piano students in the mid 1990's. The little girl was nonverbal, but her mother found out that she was a whiz with computers. Martha worked with her over the course of several years, and the little girl learned to read music on the computer, then play that music on the keyboard and begin to sing along with it. The power of music helped her to speak, and she mainstreamed from a special education class to a regular classroom in second grade. Martha was determined to share this experience, and the result was the founding of a nonprofit organization and a mission to advocate for the power of music in the brain.
Advocacy Concerts
Martha has performed in solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts across the country
to advocate for the benefits of music in the brain.
Click on the pictures below to view each program's content.
10/23/2021
Redfish Music Festival - Beethoven Celebration. Chamber music concert with pre-concert discussion.
11/8/2015
Dan Landrum Dances the Neural Tango - Hammered dulcimer adovacy concert with pre-concert lecture.
Educational Residencies
Martha has participated in educational residencies that combine performance, educational presentations for staff and audience, master classes,
and hands-on work with clients while collaborating with physical, occupational, speech, and music therapists.
The pictures below were taken at various performance venues and at the Barber National Institute in Erie, PA, during a weeklong residency in 2015 with the Erie Chamber Orchestra.
Presentations
Martha has presented #musicscience talks to educators, therapists, doctors, administrators, and musicians.
Click the "presentation history" link to view the full list.
Conclusive Results
Music therapy degree program at UTC
Martha initiated an annual series of advocacy concerts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) beginning in 2013 to inform the audience of the benefits of music in therapy while also providing them with a delightful chamber concert experience. She continued to advocate with the administration to begin a music therapy degree program there, and was delighted to see them move forward with the start of this program in 2019.
Martha was asked to give a short interview at UTC in February of 2020 to discuss the benefits of music in therapy once the new music therapy undergraduate degree program was in place.