How Music Therapy is Changing People’s Lives
By Anicka Quin, Reader's Digest Canada
“Once a week Carol Cameron hops on Zoom from her home in Madison, Wisconsin. She’ll be joined by a dozen or so other participants, all following along as music therapist Jason Armstrong Baker leads them through drumming exercises—sometimes clapping their hands in a distinct rhythm he’s laid out for them, sometimes tapping on their own bodies.
Like everyone taking part in the session, Cameron, 71, has Parkinson’s disease, and this drumming circle—known as Rx 4 Rhythm—is designed to help strengthen her coordination. “My tremor is on my left side, so learning things with my left hand is difficult,” she says. “But it’s really good to get this regular rhythm going—it gives you a feeling of overcoming a problem.”
Rx 4 Rhythm is just one of the programs offered at the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine in Baltimore.”
Hearing Music Differently
By Marc Shapiro
“Jason Armstrong Baker’s online drumming classes help Dale Tepper, a 71-year-old Annapolis woman, calm her tremors and strengthen her hands. She says that working in a group setting, learning new participants’ names and remembering rhythms and movements for different songs get her brain firing.
“The hardest thing in Jason’s class for me is using my hands and feet at different rhythms. That makes your brain just work and work,” she says. “It’s great for Parkinson’s.”
Harnessing the Healing Power of Music
By Marc Shapiro
“The Zoom meetup begins with Jason Armstrong Baker playing a melody on a metal drum to welcome his class.
Five people log in to the weekly, one-hour session, hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine, during which Baker teaches rhythm skills through call-and-response clapping and by listening to music with the group.
Why all the clapping? The participants have Parkinson’s disease, and according to a 2015 study of 20 patients conducted by the center’s director and co-founder Alexander Pantelyat, drumming can help improve overall quality of life and mobility.”
Music Therapist Is Also An Educator, Entrepreneur In Baltimore
By Susan Brown
Q: What inspired you to enter music therapy and to start Revolution Rhythm LLC, your own music business designed around music therapy?
A: "I have always been interested in music and helping others. My music therapy work has been a great way to combine both interests. Since everyone has some kind of relationship with music, it can be used as a tool to engage people, have fun, and learn all at the same time."
Wilde Lake alum uses music to teach geography
By Sara Toth
“When Jason Armstrong Baker looks at a map of the world, he doesn’t see things in geo-political terms. He sees maps geo-musically.
Baker, 38, is a 1993 graduate of Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, and is the creator of a new program called Sounds Around the World that uses music to teach students geography.
“I’m a map guy. I’ve always loved maps and globes and I just thought there had to be some way to solve this,” said Baker, now of Halethorpe in Baltimore County.”