At age 14, I was teaching piano to kids who got off of the school bus with me.  My sister's patience will attest --- I then moved into many hours of figuring out those classical piano scores that contained treasures of sound and expression. Tear it apart, put it back together.  Do I want it to sound like this, or this? Or something else?  What did the composer intend? What is the music's context, now? What technical skills are needed?  What emotions are going on in me and maybe in listeners? What artistry can be created?

Fast forward through intense years of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in music, with an ever-growing passion for psychology of religion and pastoral care. Integrations jumped out and would not leave me alone, like concepts of active listening, expressing and exploring one's emotions and meanings, and being fully present in this moment, to name just a few.

These became fleshed out in interdisciplinary academic coursework, dissertation research and writing, real-life experiences of loss and healing, professional clinical roles and certifications, and my growing sense of life-purpose. Through it all, the school bus ride moved from safe confines and predictable paths to vaster travels, triumphs, and travails.

"Professionally, I moved faster and further into pastoral care and music therapy paths. In 1993, hospice became yet another music room. Death and Life became my teachers. As chaplain and music therapist, my new roles were to hear and explore others’ “life music,” sometimes with literal music, sometimes without. To affirm and learn from and with hospice patients and families. To sustain through life’s harsh truths and fragile hopes. To prepare for death. To guide (when wanted). In the midst of loss and brokenness, to heal toward wholeness. This book celebrates the diverse persons I have been privileged to know as a musician, chaplain, music therapist, and now as hospice educator and administrator."  [Excerpt from "Preface," Music of the Soul: Composing Life Out of Loss, p. xiv.]

Moving still further into teaching and preparing employees and volunteers for the full hospice experience, I continue to serve Hosparus, the 30-year community hospice provider for Louisville & Central, KY, and Southern Indiana, as Director of Education and Volunteers. 

Today, like at age 14 in the nurturing spaces of my home, I find great joy in exploring "music of the soul" moments which connect us with our larger world, and within our most personal life-stories of loss and grief, of hope and healing, of life and living.  I hope for my book and website to find homes wherever they might serve as catalysts for composing life out of loss, and into joy anew.

I invite you to send me your own stories, links, and questions, using the Contact page.  Most importantly, my best hope is to spark your creativity.     

"Pick up your composer’s pen