Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine

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Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine

We seek to bring music and medicine together by 1) making music and rhythm an integral part of treating illness, and 2) improving the health of musicians.

Music as Medicine. Medicine for Musicians.

08/10/2026

People often ask, “What kind of music is the most relaxing?” But our music therapists know that the answer to this question is nuanced because music isn't one-size-fits-all. The same song may feel calming to one person, energizing to another, or bring up difficult memories for someone else.

Rather than asking, "What music is best?" we suggest: "How is this music impacting me right now?”

ID: White and blue split graphic with JH Music Medicine logo in top right. Cursive text reads “Myth” and “Fact” over text reading “There is a ‘best’ type of music for relaxation. How music affects us depends many factors like personal preference, memories, culture, context, what we need in that moment. The music you like best tends to be the most relaxing!” A cartoon person with headphones on is surrounded by blue, yellow and beige music notes in the bottom left of the graphic. handle is bottom right.

08/06/2026

Our first BEAT PD Music & Dance class was something special. 💙 It was a joy to connect through music, movement, song, and conversation. Thank you to for facilitating and to all who joined us!

Missed the first class? There's still time! We have 3 classes remaining in August, and new participants are welcome to join for one or all remaining classes. We'd love to dance with you.

📅 August 13, 20, & 27�🔗 Register here: tinyurl.com/BEATS-PD-REGISTRATION

Photos shared with permission.

ID 1: BEATs PD class participants move while seated in chairs. Participants and facilitators from Dance & More are depicted smiling, each with with one arm stretched over their head.

ID 2: 9 BEATs PD class participants, facilitators, and team members stand and sit in a circle in a dance studio with windows. All are moving and gesturing energetically with both hands.

ID 3: Flyer with the Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine logo and decorative musical notes at the top, featuring the headline "FREE MUSIC & DANCE CLASS." The flyer reads, "For People with Parkinson's Disease and Related Conditions in Baltimore City." Logos for Dance & Bmore, Dance for PD, Boosting Education and Awareness Together for people with Parkinson's Disease (BEAT PD), and the Johns Hopkins Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center are displayed. At the bottom, the flyer includes the social media handle and the registration information: "VISIT HTTP://TINYURL.COM/BEATS-PD-REGISTRATION

08/03/2026

August is National Wellness Month. ☺️🧘‍♂️🎼🧠

At the Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine, we know wellness is more than a checklist, and that music is more than entertainment.

This month, we'll explore what the research and our own intuition as music lovers can tell us about music and well-being, invite you to think about music engagement as a form of mindfulness. Stay tuned for a music listening challenge and our own team’s music for well-being strategies!

ID: Beige watercolor graphic with JH Music Medicine logo in top right corner reads “NATIONAL WELLNESS MONTH. Exploring Music for well-being" in two different fonts. A brain containing flowers and music notes is below, with the handle on the bottom left.

07/27/2026

Research Reflections: MT + Cognitive Stimulation for People with Dementia

Eaglestone et al. (2026) model the cost-effectiveness of adding music therapy (MT) to Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) for people living with dementia in the UK.

In this study, CST+MT showed greater cognitive improvement than CST alone, but was not cost-effective over 3 months due to higher implementation costs.

However, cognitive benefits of the CST +MT group persisted over 6 months, indicating longer-term cost effectiveness. Rather than a simple “effective or not” answer, these findings underscore how the value of music therapy depends on how sustained outcomes are modelled within health system decision-making.

Read it here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13607863.2026.2639043

ID: Navy graphic with white box containing JH Music Medigine logo, light blue quotation marks, and a yellow, beige and blue brain with music notes. Navy text reads “Music therapy combined with cognitive stimulation therapy may offer cost-effective cognitive benefits for people living with dementia over a six-month period. (Eaglestone et al., 2026).” handle in white below.

07/20/2026

New publication from members of the Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine team!

In this scoping review of 97 studies, Dr. Kyu Kang and colleagues found substantial variation in how music interventions are described and categorized. To address this, they propose a new framework that conceptualizes interventions along a continuum:

🎵 Stimulus-based: using music or rhythm as an auditory cue
🎵 Task-based: engaging in rhythmic or instrumental activities
🎵 Process-based: emphasizing therapeutic relationships and interactive music-making

By moving beyond a one-size-fits-all definition of music-based interventions, this framework aims to improve consistency in research, support clinical decision-making, and guide the development of more effective rehabilitation strategies for people recovering from stroke.

Read the full article here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1774971/full

ID: Graphic from the Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine highlighting a new publication on music in stroke rehabilitation. The left side features the article title, Reconsidering music in stroke rehabilitation: a scoping review from auditory stimulus to relational process. The right side displays a highlighted takeaway: "Conceptualizing music as a multidimensional therapeutic component may support stronger integration of neuroscientific and clinical perspectives when explaining mechanisms of stroke motor recovery." Musical note illustrations and a line drawing of a person walking between parallel bars reinforce the rehabilitation theme, with the Center's logo and social media handle included.

07/14/2026

🌎🎶 Connecting Borders: Reflections from WCMT2026

Our team's World Café at the World Congress of Music Therapy in Bologna, Italy last week brought together representatives from 15 countries, with music therapists, students, speech-language pathologists, educators, a neuropsychologist, and physicians exploring how music therapy in neurology is evolving across healthcare systems, cultures, and clinical settings.

We're grateful to everyone who joined , shared their experiences, and helped shape such a thoughtful dialogue. Stay tuned for a future publication on this topic!

ID: Graphic with a navy blue background titled "WCMT Recap" featuring the Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine logo and a brain illustration with musical notes. Two photos from the World Congress of Music Therapy are displayed. The first shows Kerry and Alex facilitating a World Café discussion. The second shows Kerry and Alex standing together in front of a presentation screen displaying the session title, Music Therapy in Neurology: Developing an Agenda for Research and Clinical Practice. Text on the graphic reads, "15 Countries & 6+ Professions Represented," with the handle at the bottom.

07/09/2026

At the 16th World Congress of Music Therapy, we’re inviting clinicians, researchers, and educators to join us for a dialogue to help shape the future of music-based interventions in neurology.

Tomorrow morning, join our World Café entitled "Music Therapy in Neurology: Developing an Agenda for Research and Clinical Practice" at 10:45am in the Red Meeting Room 1st floor!

Conversation will include:
🎵 How music therapy differs across clinical settings and cultural contexts
🧠 Opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in neurology
🔬 Research questions and methods that can advance the field
🤝 How the priorities of patients, families, and communities can shape future practice

Facilitated by:
Kerry Devlin, PhD, LPMT, MT-BC
Kyurim Kang, PhD, LPMT, MT-BC, NMT
Alexander Pantelyat, MD, FAAN

This conversation is part of a larger effort to identify research priorities, clinical opportunities, and future directions for music therapy in neurology.

ID: Graphic promoting a World Café session at WCMT featuring the question, “What is the future of music-based interventions in neurology?” The design includes the Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine logo, WCMT logo, session details (Friday, July 10 at 10:45 AM in the Red Meeting Room 1st Floor), and illustrations of musical notes and a brain/lightbulb symbolizing innovation and collaboration.

06/29/2026

We’re excited that our Center for Music & Medicine team's work will be represented at the 16th World Congress of Music Therapy (WCMT) in Bologna, Italy next week! 🎶🌎

Join the JH Center for Music & Medicine for a world cafe on FridayJuly 10 at 10:45 AM, which our team hopes will be an interactive dialogue exploring how music therapy is practiced, experienced, and researched across neurological settings. We aim to exchange ideas, share perspectives, and imagine a future research agenda together. The goal is to produce and publish a white paper, co-constructed with world cafe attendees!

We’re also proud to amplify several additional presentations from team members across topics including post-stroke rehabilitation, music therapy education, and pediatric medical practice:

🎵 A Scoping Review of Music in Post-Stroke Motor Rehabilitation
🎵 Co-Creating Liberatory and Cure-Centered Pedagogy in MT Education
🎵 Roundtable: Connecting International Borders in Pediatric Music Therapy

Will we see you in Bologna?

ID: Graphic announcing Center for Music & Medicine presentations at the 16th World Congress of Music Therapy. The navy and gold branded graphic lists four presentations from team members, including “World Café: Music Therapy in Neurology” on Friday, July 10 at 10:45 AM, followed by presentations on post-stroke motor rehabilitation, music therapy education, and pediatric music therapy. The graphic includes Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine branding, presentation details, and WCMT 2026 “Connecting Borders” conference branding for Bologna, Italy.

06/24/2026

New publication from the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center teams! 🎶 😷🏥

We are excited to share that“Live Interactive Music Therapy Across the Perioperative Continuum: A Scoping Review" is now published in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

This review maps current evidence for live, music therapist–led interactive music therapy across the perioperative continuum, including preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative contexts. Findings highlight the feasibility of music therapy for patients of all ages and MT's potential role in supporting anxiety, stress, and pain management throughout the surgical experience. The review also identifies considerations for anesthesia teams interested in integrating music therapy as a low-risk, nonpharmacologic adjunct to perioperative care, while highlighting opportunities for future research and clinical integration.

Read the article here:
https://journals.lww.com/anesthesia-analgesia/abstract/9900/live_interactive_music_therapy_across_the.1844.aspx

ID: Graphic announcing a new publication from members of the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center teams. The design features institutional logos, a bold “NEW PUBLICATION” headline, a citation box highlighting the scoping review titled “Live Interactive Music Therapy Across the Perioperative Continuum: A Scoping Review”, the Anesthesia & Analgesia journal logo, and an illustration of a music therapist in OR scrubs with a guitar. The color palette uses Johns Hopkins-inspired blues with teal and warm accent tones. Associated logos are at the top of the graphic.

06/22/2026

Summer is a season of concerts, festivals, and live music performances.

Trost et al. (2024) found that live music evoked stronger emotional responses than recorded music in concert attendees, with greater engagement in brain regions linked to emotion and reward. Live music also supports entrainment, as listeners’ physiological and emotional rhythms align with musical timing and with other people in the shared musical environment.

Trost WJ, Labbé C, Zatorre RJ. Live music enhances emotional and neural responses compared to recorded music. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024;121(XX):e2316306121. doi:10.1073/pnas.2316306121

ID: Green-gray watercolor graphic with JH Music Medicine logo top right and text “Research Reflections” center in capital letters. Text reads “Live music evokes stronger emotional responses than recorded music, with greater engagement in brain regions linked to emotion and reward. Trost et al., 2024.” handle bottom center with graphic of many people at a concert with arms in the air across the bottom.

Address

600 N Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD
21287

Website

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/center-for-music-and-medicine/index.html

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