Juanita Muriel Stilwell McElwain
1928
- 2012
Juanita McElwain,
a pianist, was a music therapist who wrote and spoke extensively about the
effects of music. A Registered Music Therapist, during her career she was
Director of Music Therapy at New Mexico University (1980-1985) and Phillips
University (1985-1993).
Juanita was born in Geneva,
Ohio, one of three children and the only daughter of George Myron and Muriel
Maude Randolph Stilwell. She attended and graduated from Mount Vernon Academy
in Ohio. She married Ogla Dempsey McElwain
in August 1948 and they had one son, Thomas George.
McElwain completed a B.Mus.Ed
at Florida State University in 1958 and an M.Mus.Ed
in 1959. She began teaching in the Jennings, Florida, public school system.
From 1962-1967, she taught piano, organ, and music classes at Monterey Bay
Academy in California and, then taught at Antillian
Union College in Puerto Rico for two years. She subsequently did additional
graduate work at FSU, completing an M.Mus. in music
therapy in 1974 and a Ph.D. in music education with an emphasis in music
therapy in 1978.
McElwain wrote several articles and books on
the effects of music on the mind and body. Additionally, she made a number of
presentations on music therapy, including its use for the severely handicapped
and for exceptional children, and wrote materials for possible use in working
with the deaf and blind. More recently, she gave lectures on the
"Philosophy of Morals and Ethics of a Christian Music Therapist" and
several Power of Music Seminars, presentations on the power of music in the
spiritual experience.
Beginning in 1992, with the
release of her first book, The Power of Music, McElwain
was a spokesperson for the importance of choosing music carefully and
thoughtfully. Her counsel, based on her experience as a music therapist, was
summarized in her fourth and final book, The Lord is My Song. It is a
revision and compilation of earlier writings and spoken presentations on the
subject of music's influence on the moral, mental, and physical aspects of
life.
The McElwains
retired to Kerens, West Virginia, in 1993, where he died in 2009, and she died
three years later, at age 84.
ds/2012
Sources:
Interview with and Information provided by Juanita McElwain,
2003; Obituary, The Inter-Mountain.com, 21 April 2012.
Articles/Books
All
of McElwain’s books have been merged into one volume
and can be found at www.lulu.com/spotlight/juanitamcelwain. It is formatted for free download.
Articles
"The
effect of spontaneous and analytical listening on the evoked cortical activity
in the left and right hemispheres of musicians and non-musicians," Journal of Music Therapy 16(47), 180-189,
1979.
Review of
Michel, Donald, Music Therapy: An Introduction, Including Music in Special
Education, Journal of Music Therapy,
23(3), 178-179, 1986.
"The
Effect of Somatron and Music on Headache," Southern Medical Journal, 85(2), S18,
1992; also in Forum on Arts and Medicine, Proceedings of the MedArt International 1992 World Congress on Arts and
Medicine, 1992.
"Worship
and Music," Landmarks, May,
2002.
"Demon
Possession and Music," Landmarks,
June, 2002.
Books
The Power
of Music,
1992
Rhythm
of the Gods,
1993.
Effects
of Music,
2000
The Lord
is My Song,
2002
The Story of Music, 2007