Music is My Therapy, How About You?

IHAD THE PRIVILEGE OF speaking with another one of San Diego’s Inspirational Women, Barbara Reuer, Founder, CEO, and Internship Director of MusicWorx. Before I talk about MusicWorx, great name, I’d like to tell you a little about its’ founder. Barbara Reuer, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Iowa. Master of Music Education, University of Kansas. Bachelor of Music

Education, Northern State University, and I need to add a gutsy woman.

I would never put words in Dr. Reuer’s mouth, but after speaking to her and reading about her, I think she would agree when I say music therapy picked her she didn’t pick it per se. She pursued her passion by following a path that led her from the plains of South Dakota to the sunny shores of San Diego, California.

Barbara was born in South Dakota, the eldest of six children which brought a lot of responsibility. She learned a work ethic that was instilled in her as a young farm girl, and she was the example that her siblings emulated. Her early education consisted of a one-room schoolhouse with just 13 students in 8 grades. By the time Barbara got to high school, she was ready to participate in just about every activity her new school of 99 students had to offer. Music began to pull her, and she played the clarinet and cymbals in the marching band and the bass clarinet and oboe in the concert band.

In 1970, Barbara was heading to Northern State College, and she was undecided as to what her major would be; languages, math or music. It was then her life would change when her youngest brother, Ronnie, stricken with muscular dystrophy subsequently

died in Barbara’s freshmen year. She made a vow to herself when Ronnie succumbed to complications from pneumonia, that she would honor his memory somehow. Again, music called her when a visiting professor mentioned a career in music therapy, a fairly new field at the time. Barbara decided right then and there that was the road she was going to follow.

She pursued her education and wanted to work with disabled children, but she would accept jobs that presented themselves along the way and ended up working with adults. Then in 1975 with the passage of a new law concerning disabled children, a new position presented itself, and Barbara's wish of working with disabled children finally came to fruition. And the rest, as they say, is history. History except for the part where armed with lots of degrees she decided to sell everything she owned, asked friends to store her books, packed up her car and with $100 in her pocket moved to San Diego.

I asked her what she was thinking when she decided to move, and she responded with "Obviously I wasn't." We joked about how when you are young nothing seems crazy or impossible. After one week in San Diego, Dr. Barbara Reuer registered her brandnew business, MusicWorx. Now you know why I called her gutsy!

“Founded in 1987, MusicWorx Inc. is a music therapy and wellness agency whose mission is to create, nurture, and maintain an environment of growth and unlimited potential for those around us. The company executive office is located near Del Mar in north coastal San Diego County, California.” This is the statement that appears on the MusicWorx website. I guess I could have paraphrased it, but why tinker with perfection.

Barbara is a dedicated professional and shared with me the many ways music is used in therapy. She has some 40 years of clinical and administrative experience. This includes a myriad of different ways music can achieve her personal goal: “My life aspiration is to develop music therapy and wellness programs nationwide, create opportunities for other music therapists, build a music therapy and consulting agency that sets a precedent for superior quality, ethics, morals, and program delivery."

For further information about Dr. Reuer or MusicWorx, please check their website which lists in detail their services (clinical, corporate, and wellness needs), the staff of music therapist, the internship program, past and upcoming events, at www.musicworxinc.com.

By Carol Heath

Photos by Dawn Nicoli/Nicoli Productions

I believe it was Shakespeare who said: "When words fail, music speaks." I've always found when I'm sad; music makes me happy; if I'm stressed music relaxes me; if I feel lonely music is a great friend. I could go on with just about every feeling one can experience, but I think you are beginning to see why I acquaint music with therapy.