On November 12, 2016, I had the pleasure of hearing Jim Kennedy, an 84-year old Texan with Parkinson's Disease, wow us with his progress and funny PowerPoint presentation on how neurologic music therapy, specifically Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation, has helped Jim to rehabilitate the effects of Parkinson's Disease. Jim stressed the importance of remaining positive, exercising daily (he specifies cardio versus a light stroll) and using music apps and rhythms to help him gain better control over his attacked nervous system. You can see for yourself the remarkable strides that Jim has taken with neurologic music therapy here. To learn about the Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy, click here. The
Anita Katakkar is a specialist in tabla, and has studied with composer and musician Ritesh Das and with the pre-eminent exponent of the Lucknow Style, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. Together with her band, Rakkatak, she has released two albums with a third coming out in the Spring of 2017. Their work is a dynamic merge of the melodies and rhythms of classical Indian music with western instrumentation and a pop music aesthetic. Their next album is titled ‘Small Pieces,’ which Anita says is inspired from Rajasthani patchworks. “[Rajasthani patchworks] come from different people and the dresses and whatever else they are made for have different meanings to different people,” said Anita. “You often ha
Rita Di Ghent is a song-writer and jazz vocalist. Her journey to become the renowned musician she is today, is testament to the power of music and the message music Can Heal strives to express. During the recording of her first album, Rita was diagnosed with a mysterious illness that saw her fall in a coma on life support. Though she miraculously woke up out of it, Rita was in a vegetative state and was in rehab for two years. In an interview with Jaymz Bee on JazzFM during the summer of 2016, Rita described her emotional state as being “so ravaged and so depressed” that she could not even enjoy music. However, she accounted a moment when her brother played music for her – the beginning of h
