As a music therapist, I have been bombarded for years with the question, “What is music therapy?” And after my typical 30-second speech, the other person often replies with something like, “I do that all the time, when I play music when I clean or when I rock out to my favorite song in the car. That is MY music therapy.” At that point I can try to educate further, or I can just sigh and walk away letting them believe what they want to believe. Most often I do the later. Trying to convince someone to change their way of thinking is nearly impossible in most cases, unless the person is truly interested in learning.

Hi to all of West Music’s great customers from Janet Stephens at Bear Paw Creek. Did you ever wonder how a bean bag is made or who makes it? Here’s a little history of how I came to the point of sewing approximately 10,000 bean bags per year.

We need your help! Whether you have experienced music therapy first-hand, or you are a parent of a healthy, normally-developing child who took music lessons, or perhaps you yourself took music lessons as a child or as an adult, you have seen and/or experienced the benefits that music involvement offers your child. Would you consider spreading the word about the benefits music therapy to your local state legislator on behalf of the many children and adults who desire to experience the power of music as well, but have difficulty gaining access to music therapy services? Please read my story below and contact your state legislators to let them know how powerful music is in your life and is in the lives of those receiving music therapy services.