A Powerful Therapy
Music is a reminder, a safe place, and an insight into how one can feel. It’s also an understanding, a collection of the most beautiful sounds, and is a powerful form of therapy.
Note-Able Music Therapy Services which has two locations in Reno invites people of all ages to walk through their doors, attend a class and be transformed by the rhythm, beat, and aura of music.
Patients ranging in age from young children to the elderly attend classes weekly due to anything from neurological traumas to mental health issues and even physical disabilities.
“This is a fun environment where serious things happen,” said Sarah Toney, the Note-Able Director of Development.
“People who attend sessions at Note-Able are brought into a community where they are celebrated and appreciated,” Toney said. “It isn’t about getting fixed it’s about the journey in healing.”
At its Riverside Dr. location, at the McKinley Arts & Culture Center, Note-Able’s board certified music therapists lead weekly sessions.
A Varied and Inclusive Community
At the McKinley Arts & Culture Center, there are two, very generous in size, rooms where patients are able to explore a number of instruments, sounds, lights and art which personalizes the room and makes it feel like an inclusive community.
Note-ables also host two dance classes weekly, where people with developmental disabilities are able to gain their fair share of specialized attention in a physical dance class.
Note-ables is involved in the community with projects at the youth drop in center the Eddy House, Northern Nevada Medical Center, Renown, Northern Nevada Mental Health Services, The Life Change Center, and Quest Counseling and Consulting.
“A young girl from Eddy House sang in front of an audience at one of our performances,” Toney said. “She wasn’t the best, but she sang with intention and it brought her and the crowd to tears.”
Music therapists from Note-Able also go to the Renown Pediatric unit to help relieve some of the most stressful experiences the children there and their parents go through. Their services aren’t insurance based so their help comes both as paid services or in some instances free volunteerism, and their focus is on accompanying those suffering, rather than focusing on final results.
“Note-Able is here to create a sense of stability, at this time this is what we are doing, this is where we are present” Toney said.
In class, the experience provided is extremely personalized to each attendee. There is a wall of guitars, multiple drum sets and microphones to get everyone involved in the day’s activities.