NAMM FOUNDATION SPONSORS 20th ANNIVERSARY FORUM OF CENTERLIGHT’S INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC AND NEUROLOGIC FUNCTION

– Foundation’s Grant Bolsters Two Decades of Groundbreaking Research on the Relationship Between Music and Brain Function –

IMNF Forum 2015
Carlsbad, CA

The NAMM Foundation makes this week’s Institute for Music and Neurologic Function’s (IMNF) 20th Anniversary forum possible. The forum entitled Celebrating the Science of Music and the Brain in Human Development, Health and Healing focuses on the IMNF’s central work: how and why music affects brain development and healing. 

“Supporting credible, peer reviewed research that studies how and why the brain interacts with music is work that the NAMM Foundation has been committed to for decades,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “With the NAMM Foundation’s support researchers are helping more people worldwide understand the value and power of learning to play music.”

The forum gathers diverse stakeholders in the world of music therapy, including: multidisciplinary experts in the study of brain functioning; artists and musicians involved in the healing space; educators and students of science and the arts; activists and advocates of transformative and innovative medicine; and others who are interested in the connection between music and brain therapy.

“We’re marking this landmark anniversary in the most meaningful way we know how – by continuing to promote and share the advances in neuroscientific research, which fuel the limitless therapeutic applications of music,” said IMNF Co-Founder and Executive Director Dr. Concetta M. Tomaino. “We’re immensely grateful to The NAMM Foundation for their generous support of our mission.”

Neuroscientist and best-selling author of This is your Brain on Music, Daniel J. Levitin, PhD serves as the event’s keynote speaker. The forum features panels and conversations with leading scientists, researchers, music therapists and music therapy clients/consumers in the areas of cognition, emotions, motor function and language, Live and mixed media presentations including the highly visual Mickey Hart-Dr. Adam Gazzaley collaboration on rhythm and the brain, will also run throughout the forum.

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About The NAMM Foundation
The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit organization funded in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its 9,900 members. The Foundation’s mission is to advance active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs. For more information about the NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org.

About the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF)
The Institute for Music and Neurologic Function is a non-profit organization and a member of CenterLight Health System.  Founded in 1995, the IMNF is driven by 35 years of clinical observations on the actual effects of music on different types of physical and neurological trauma.  Directed by renowned music therapist Dr. Concetta M. Tomaino, with medical guidance from distinguished neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, its distinctive setting allows researchers to not only apply their theories, but to follow patient rehabilitation in the long term. The Institute actively collaborates with researchers and practitioners at other leading organizations to advance world progress in understanding and applying the power of music to promote healing and wellness. Learn more at http://www.musictherapy.imnf.org.


Media Contacts
NAMM Communications - John Dolak, Director
johnd@namm.org
619.735.4028

The Lippin Group for NAMM
namm@lippingroup.com
201.317.6618

About NAMM

The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is the not-for-profit association with a mission to strengthen the $19.5 billion music products industry. NAMM is comprised of 15,400 global member companies and individual professionals with a global workforce of over 475,000 employees. NAMM events and members fund The NAMM Foundation's efforts to promote the pleasures and benefits of music and advance active participation in music-making across the lifespan. For more information about NAMM, please visit www.namm.org.