About Muchelle Muth

Michelle Montgomery Muth, MT-BC, is a board-certified music therapist with the unique experience of having worked in both the corporate world and music her entire professional life. Becoming a music therapist has influenced every aspect of Michelle’s personal, professional and musical life: from working with family groups, to faith-based organizations, to businesses.

Having worked her way through college to receive a bachelor’s degree in music (piano performance), finding work strictly in music was always a challenge. Not afraid of hard work, Michelle worked in various administrative roles during the day, honing her music skills in the evening with long hours of practice and directing various choral and church groups. She was invigorated by both the business and music work in her life.

Both areas of her life bloomed. Movement up the corporate ladder in the areas of marketing and public relations continued while taking on more music responsibilities as music director of church music programs for adults and children and the <em>Cantemus Chamber Chorus</em>.

When her career track guided her to the Internet search engine and information technology industry, specifically Northern Light Technology, Michelle found a company and industry in which she could believe. She was passionate about the industry, had fantastic co-workers and a gift for communicating and understanding all aspects of the business. She carried a full workload managing all tradeshows, creation of marketing collateral along with press and analyst relations.

Music had to be put aside… in hindsight, having kept music alive in her life would have helped to provide balance. Her work was exciting, fast-moving and cutting edge. With 60+ hour work-weeks and travel often 6 weeks at a time, she experienced burnout – frustration, short-temper, no creative outlet, feeling under-appreciated.

Why didn’t Michelle simply sit and play the piano to relax? She is a classically trained pianist and up to that point, had never really learned how to improvise and relax at the piano. So, to play, when she had not been practicing, was torturous often causing more frustration than relaxation for Michelle. She was not engaged with the music and beginning to disengage from her job and career.

Michelle needed a change but not until 2006 did she find the right ‘fit.’ Life circumstances allowed Michelle to return to her first love – music. She completed a second undergraduate degree in music therapy and music education – both areas she had an interest in when first attending college.

Fast forward to 2011, Michelle became a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) and founder of M3 Music Therapy, LLC. The training and experience of becoming a music therapist has influenced every aspect of Michelle’s personal, professional and musical life from her work with family-groups to faith-based organizations to businesses in which she uses music to build community.

Following her passion, she has worked with a variety of clients using music therapy and music-therapy based experiences to:

• Help new families to strengthen their bond and enhance their child’s development.
• Facilitate intergenerational drum circles that bring community together
• Meet specific goals and objectives with children with a wide-range of developmental, physical and behavioral challenges including autism and neurologic disorders.
• Use music to decrease anxiety levels and assist with memory for an aging population.

Most recently Michelle has begun developing music-therapy based programs for businesses and custom music facilitated events.