The night before Judith Pinkerton’s previous husband went in for emergency back surgery in 1986, her intuition told her she needed to play her violin for him.
“I recorded music — sitting on the living room floor with a mono microphone playing into an audio cassette — and used a Walkman to deliver the music to him in his hospital room after he got out of surgery,” she said. “It was just out of my love for him I was doing this.” The nurse who monitored his vital signs was astounded when she found he didn’t need blood pressure medication after 30 minutes of listening to the violin music. “She said, ‘This isn’t possible. I’m supposed to be giving him medication and he doesn’t need it,’” Pinkerton said. “His blood pressure returned to normal range without the use of medication.”
As a musician who grew up in a musical family, helped lead a youth orchestra and founded a talent agency and music conservatory in Alaska, Pinkerton realized she had found her calling. “My passion was ignited. I had no clue about the research,” she said. “I did not know that music therapy existed.”
She went to her first music therapy conference in 1990. “I cried through the entire conference because I had finally found my people,” she said. “You can practice music therapy your entire work life.” Music therapy is just what it sounds like: Therapy based on music. “As a music therapist, we’re trained to apply music therapeutically, no matter what,” she said. “Once you understand how to do that, as a music therapist, it’s amazing what can happen.”
When her dad was struggling to breathe in the hospital, she changed the music in his ICU room. “Within minutes, his skin changed back to pink. He began breathing again and he is alive and well today,” she said. “The point is, a music therapist tunes into how music activates the central nervous system affecting physiology, emotions, behaviors, and mindsets. We may instantly correct a situation; potentially life-threatening conditions may be reversed.”
Pinkerton explained how music as sound travels through the air as mechanical energy. “When music as sound enters our inner ear in the basilar membrane, thousands of hair cilia instantly convert mechanical energy into electrochemical energy that enters the brain stem with whole brain effect, activating the central nervous system instantly,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “When it activates the central nervous system, it engages diverse brain regions to restore, retrain or process sensory-motor, emotional, cognitive and memory components, ” she said. “You can immediately affect a person with Parkinson’s, open doors into memories and awaken those with Alzheimer’s to communicate in a sensitive, loving wonderful way that has loved ones crying because they can finally connect. You can manage behaviors in the classroom or at home.”
Pinkerton splits her time between North Idaho and Las Vegas. She is a life strategist, author of several books and a public speaker as well as a certified music therapist. She developed the Music4Life wellness system and recently created a phone app, Key2MEE (key2mee.com), which invites users to take emotional profile quizzes that will direct them to the appropriate prescriptive playlists. She has treated over 11,000 patients in addiction centers, helping them to improve their health through the Music4Life Music Medicine Protocol. “The first question is, ‘What do you like to listen to?’ then we play and discuss it and that immediately opens the door,” she said. “I am able to map probable challenges and recommendations.” Through this protocol, Chronic Comfort Zones are identified. These are related to music habits that support people releasing trapped zones of anxiety, anger, depression and grief.
Pinkerton pays attention to 10 music elements plus song lyrics. It’s not about music theory, but how a person interacts with the music behaviorally, emotionally and physiologically. “Those are the three ways we respond,” she said. “It truly is an individual experience. Once you understand how it affects you, you can better explain it to someone else.” A problem in the world is there are not enough music therapists, Pinkerton said. “We have a little over 10,000 in the United States. That gives us a .03% capability of addressing the mental health crisis,” she said. “I’m in the business of training mental health providers about the Music Medicine Protocol. Our accredited trainings are designed to train health professionals, musicians, educators, and caregivers.”
Visit themusic4life.com and judithpinkerton.com to explore music therapy and connect with Pinkerton.
Weeks, D. (July 31, 2025). Tuning in: Wellness through music therapy. Coeur d’Alene
Press, Idaho, p14. https://coeurdalenepostfallspress-id.newsmemory.com/special=Live+Well
