Music for Healing
U of U Collaborates with ccMixter to Create New Collection of Healing Music

Project Overview

For centuries, music has been regarded as a powerful tool for healing body, mind and Soul. Given our advanced medical research today, particularly from the School of Medicine at the University of Utah, we’ve learned even more specifically how music has the power to connect and heal.

The Music for Healing Project is a collaboration between ccMixter.org and the University of Utah Schools of Medicine, Music, Business, Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and the Marriott Library – to facilitate the creation of a new collection of music that focuses on healing and supporting patients and their families. Specific focus will include, but not be limited to, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Autism, and Epilepsy. Visit the forum post on ccMixter for links related to medical research for this project.

The School of Medicine helped pioneer this project through the vision of its Dean, Dr. Vivian Lee. This is a natural alliance, as through the University’s Center for Alzheimer’s Care, Imaging and Research has a long-standing interest in the relationship between the arts and dementia care. With the leadership of Director Dr. Norman Foster, the Center’s efforts include a multi-disciplinary research project to investigate the effect of music on brain imaging.  It also is involved in a statewide collaborative effort to improve the care of nursing home residents by providing music through its “Music and Memory” program.  Dr. Norman Foster in association with composer and musician Phillip Bimstein and English Professor Vicky Newman taught a University Honors College undergraduate course that explored how the arts effected the experience of individuals, families and society.

The School of Music, in conjunction with the College of Fine Arts, is supporting this project by presenting a lecture-recital to Music Students, publicizing it, and by contributing recordings of creative works by students and faculty.  

The Marriot Library is helping coordinate this project campus-wide by providing engineer-operated recording sessions to students, building and hosting web-pages, creating flyers and web-banners, sharing information on campus marquees, hosting an Open House, and working directly with ccMixter.org on sign-up and uploading processes.

The Lassonde Entrepreneur Center, in partnership with the David Eccles School of Business, conceptualized this project and has coordinated between the various disciplines on campus. In addition to marketing and promotion on and beyond campus, the Center is working directly with ccMixter.org to help provide support to all University contributors who participate.

ccMixter.org, a nonprofit music community operated by ArtisTech Media, is helping to facilitate this special project through use of their website, tools and support staff. ccMixter’s 45,000 artists worldwide collaborate musically via Creative Commons licenses and will produce healing tracks utilizing University of Utah contributed musical source material, also called “stems”. More info HERE.

Students, faculty and alumni across campus may contribute to Music for Healing by submitting recordings:  spoken word, a cappella and choral voice, instrumental melodies and arrangements, and field recording samples. All recordings submitted must be the contributor’s original composition or clearly known to be in public domain. These submissions will then be incorporated into fully produced tracks, mixed and produced by the community at ccMixter.org as well as students, faculty and alumni who produce and remix music. Through this project, a new Creative Commons library of music will be created to help patients and families.

Calendar

January 27:  Introduction to the Project
Lecture-Recital "Music for Healing: Campus Wide Collaboration" by Emily Richards, ccMixter.org CEO

February 3-16: Composition Phase 
Compose and record a cappellas (sung or spoken) on subjects of healing, facing illness, supporting patients and families, etc. Compose and record instrumentals, samples, and field recordings of nature sounds, ambient tones, classical, choral, cinematic, etc. Must be original compositions or in public domain. Record and upload all components as separate tracks.

February 17-March 9: Uploading Phase
Recording and uploading of a cappellas (sung or spoken) and samples (instrumental, orchestral, field recordings) to ccMixter.org. Upload a preview as a 128k MP3. Upload all stems as FLAC. Genres of focus: Ambient Nature, Classical (including but not limited to Mozart), Cinematic Music for Healing Video Games, Story-telling, Singer/songwriter, etc. U of U students and faculty may book engineered recording sessions with the Marriott Library Tuesday through Thursday from 9a until 4p -- 1 hour in length. To book a student recording session click HERE. 

February 19: Open House at Marriott Library Recording Studio
Visit the Library Recording Studio in the lower level Faculty Center and learn all about the Music for Healing project. Record selected quotes, sign-up for ccMixter, listen to music, and enjoy free food!

March 10-31 – Mixing Phase:
Producing and remixing of pells and samples from Uploading phase. Students, Faculty, Alumni, ccMixters should upload fully produced tracks to ccMixter.org. All remixes must include stems from University of Utah contributors to be considered for curations and prizes. Please upload a 128k MP3 preview as well as any original stems and a full mix as flac.

Curation, prizes, album releases and other distribution will take place in the months following. 

Sign-up and read more details on how to submit your tracks HERE.