Thanks to the warm and wonderful people at REACH CDC and our generous sponsor CareOregon.

Thanks to CareOregon Advantage, Golden Harvest Music brought its brain wellness music performance to the Elm Court Meals on Wheels Center in the heart of downtown Portland. Ellen Whyte and Mark Jeleniewski got the crowd up and dancing with a setlist that ranged from Judy Garland to Bob Seger.

The CareOregon team put together a great flyer - "Why Listen and Dance? It's Good for You." Check it out.

Oregon Music News
Sunny Clark
July 5, 2014

The PNW blues scene suffered some heavy losses this year, with the passing of Mel Solomon and Janice Scroggins. Another deeply felt loss will be the stuff of tribute today at Waterfront Blues, as we celebrate the life and good works of Jim Miller who left us unexpectedly in December. Those that have attended Blues Fest for years knew Jim as a tireless production manager with a quick wit and a warmth that was simply contagious.

What some may not know is that Jim Miller was not only a musician and Waterfront Bluesman extraordinaire, but was also a dedicated advocate for music therapy. Jim’s life partner, Wendy Schuster recalls, "Since the moment I met Jim, he talked of nothing but his dream of Golden Harvest Music. The dedication and zeal of his dream was unsurpassed. He lived and breathed Golden Harvest every day. It is my dream to carry it forward for him. I encourage people to visit the Golden Harvest Music website and consider becoming a sponsor.”  Jim’s close friend and neighbor, Scott Niesen, is Golden Harvest’s Business Development Director.

Jim’s music-grounded brain wellness techniques were featured on February 20th 2010 at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. as a part of mindRAMP’s seven-hour neuroscience seminar, “Jump-Starting Aging Brains: Re-Imagining Mature Minds.”

Miller would be quick to explain that “Every life has a soundtrack” and why music is so much more than entertainment to the human brain. As the Golden Harvest website phrases the benefits of music therapy, “It’s Not Just Music. It’s Cognitainment.”

Michael Taut, Scientific Director at the Center for Biomedical Research in Music at Colorado State University explains the impact of music therapy,

“Music engages brain systems that share a variety of other functions: verbal language, motor control, attention, memory, decision making, pattern perceptions. With specifically designed music exercises we can access the structure and function of these brain systems and make changes that have measurable  outcomes.”