Heidi List Murphy has been making music and teaching music for over 30 years. Born into a musical family, she is a trained pianist, music teacher, and mid-career home healthcare provider. Since founding List Academy of Music (LAM) in 1993, she has helped more than 8,000 Newport County families to pursue, and often achieve, their music education goals. She holds a B.A. in Music and Early Childhood Education from Rollins College in Florida and studied non-profit management at Harvard University.
List Murphy believes that early music education serves as a foundation for a lifetime of creative achievement, including language fluency. A firm believer in the idea that musical memory is never lost—even with aging or cognitive decline—she has reimagined her 25-year-old performing arts nonprofit to now focus exclusively on music therapy for Seniors and Veterans.
“After the pandemic and observing that many Seniors were not getting the attention and care they needed, I began working in the home healthcare industry,” List Murphy explains. “At one point, I worked with a client with late-stage Alzheimer’s; she was mute, and I was told she hadn’t spoken in a long time. When we sat at the piano, she sang all the words to ‘All of Me’, the 1931 song by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons. We were all stunned. That was the moment I knew it was time to re-envision List Academy and create a new mission: to solely (and soulfully) help Seniors and others experiencing cognitive decline, PTSD, and other neurological disorders.”
LAM’s New Mission: Music as Medicine
LAM provides a range of music genres (including Rock, Jazz, Folk, Country, and Patriotic musicians and ensembles) to promote healing, improve quality of life, and bring joy to Seniors with or without Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological disorders.
CHIME In: A New Rhythm for Elder Care
As part of its evolution, List Murphy has created a for-profit arm for LAM, she affectionately nicknamed C.H.I.M.E. The acronym stands for Cognitive Health Interactive Music Ensemble.
“CHIME is a service we provide in elder care facilities. We perform 10-12 patriotic anthems in memory care units, with the musicians being the residents themselves. No rehearsal. No prior experience. Just pure musical memory in action,” List Murphy explained.
List Academy also offers an educational course, “Smiles on Seniors” (S.O.S.), for ongoing music education and therapy. She is planning to expand this service to veterans’ homes across America. The organization has been performing regularly at the Rhode Island Veterans Home for the last five years and currently partners with seven elder care facilities on Aquidneck Island.
List Murphy plans to kick off a “Put Smiles on Seniors” event series for adult music students at Innovate Newport, 513 Broadway, beginning Saturday, September 6th.
🐣🎨 Pssst! Calling all military spouses and music lovers! Heidi is offering paid training opportunities for CHIME performances. Visit www.listacademyofmusic.org for more info. 🎨🐣
C.H.I.M.E. In, LLC Hits a New Note
This fall, C.H.I.M.E. In, LLC will debut in the New England Medical Innovative Center’s Med Tech program, signaling a growing recognition of music’s role in cognitive care.
The LAM Jam: It’s a Family Affair
If anyone knows Heidi (and most of Newport does!), they know she is super fun and full of vim and vigor. A mother of seven—four children from a previous marriage and three stepchildren—Heidi lives a life that’s as musical as it is joyful.
Her husband, Michael O’Sullivan, is the Assistant Harbormaster for Newport and has a near-photographic memory for lyrics. Together, they playfully perform as “Heidi and the Haabah Mastah,” hosting a weekly jam session for amateur musicians in their home, dubbed the LAM Jam.
“LAM Jam is a safe place for amateur musicians aged 55 and up,” she explains. “We get together weekly and have great fun and share a lot of laughs,” she explains. “We perform in the public where free music is needed to build community engagement —like St. John’s Church Lawn Summer Series, or ThamesGiving’s streetside pop-ups.”
For more information, to donate, volunteer, or to learn how to C.H.I.M.E. for Seniors, visit www.listacademyofmusic.org.
Michele Gallagher is a dedicated supporter of local businesses, and the founder of City-by-the-Sea Communications.
