Authors

Martha Summa-Chadwick, DMA

Martha Summa-Chadwick has achieved a national reputation as an educator, presenter, performer, and advocate for the cause of music in therapy. She has performed as piano and harpsichord soloist with orchestras across the country and served for twenty-six years on the faculty of the Cadek Conservatory of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Tennessee. For the past two decades, Dr. Summa-Chadwick has explored various ways to use music for therapeutic as well as aesthetic ends. She is the Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Music Therapy Gateway in Communications, Inc., and a frequent guest speaker at both national and regional conferences, discussing the use of biomedical music techniques for challenged children. She has established a series of both chamber and solo concerts to help educate diverse audiences in an overview of biomedical music protocols and how music can be used in collaboration with improved neural learning patterns, and is also exploring how biomedical music protocols could be automated into software applications for persons with motor, speech, or cognition challenges. She is also an avid fiber artist who loves to weave and create quilts using intricate geometric patterns.

Ava Navin, MA

Ava Navin is an editor with extensive experience with publications and other products of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both as health communicator and senior writer-editor.

Martha

Ava

Inspirations

Mrs. Hopkins

Mrs. Hopkins taught Martha on piano from the time that Martha was 4 years old all the way through high school. She studied with Milo Benedict, a student of Franz Liszt, and was an incredible pianist who cared deeply about all of her students. She was not a certified music therapist in real life as she is in the book, but Martha credits her with being the inspiration for Trevor's piano teacher. She was born in Whitefield, NH, and spent her formative years there before moving to Massachusetts, where she performed live on radio and opened up her studio to private students. She passed away in 1987, having lived for decades as a remarkable widow, caring for her son Richard, as well as her sisters May and Gladys, after her husband passed away during WWII. Her house had glass doorknobs, a wonderful piano studio, and always a welcoming smell of food coming from the kitchen.

Mr. Hanson

Mr. Hanson was the organist at Wesley Methodist Church where Martha grew up. He was the consummate musician and inspired generations of people in loving music. His energy was boundless; he was always upbeat and a wonderful person to be with. He was choir director of the youth, high school, and adult choirs, and Martha sang in each group over the duration of many years. He was extremely proud of his college education at St. Olaf College, where he graduated in 1951. His actual quote in the book, wanting to make sure that the audience at the Metropolitan Opera didn't mingle with Brunhilde during intermission, was used very often, and never failed to bring a smile to his groups when he said it.