TC265: How Music Can Change a Grieving Heart with Leila Viss

Our good friend Leila Viss, known to many of you as an inspirational piano teacher and speaker, joins us to talk about overcoming grief through music and how music can change a grieving heart. She shares her personal walk through this topic and how music helped her to process and heal. Leila also presents insights about how the body always keeps the score when dealing with trauma. Let us know in the comments if this is your experience, too!

• [9:23] Leila gives an overview about her NCKP talk entitled “Keeping it together when life falls apart”. 
• [11:47] Leila’s grief playlist and her journey back to finding music.
• [14:02] Leila’s NCKP talk.
• [32:58] How music can change a grieving heart and what it can do for someone else.
• [36:11] Finding meaning from the accident.
• [38:06] The feedback Leila received from being open about this painful experience. 
• [40:00] Resources for people who might be facing similar challenges. 

Links Mentioned

• Leila Viss Website 
• Leila Viss Podcast - Key Ideas 
• How to Eat the Frog 
• Book: The Body Keeps the Score (Amazon affiliate link) 

Today's Guest

Leila Viss is a piano teacher, presenter and author based in Denver, Colorado. She has a mix of styles in her teaching blending, written instruction and reading with lots of creativity. In 2012, she began a blog about piano teaching at leilaviss.com. Her fascination with the iPad and apps resulted in a book called The iPad Piano Studio: Keys to Unlocking the Power of Apps. With Bradley Sowash, Leila co-founded 88 Creative Keys. The six-year event featured webinars and workshops on how to encourage improvisation. At the University of Denver, Leila coordinated the piano proprietary program for three years. Leila presents frequently on national and international conferences. She penned a regular column for The Clavier Companion and currently sits on the editorial committee of the American Music Teachers Magazine for MTNA. As a longtime church organist, choir and worship team pianist, Leila enjoys putting in a fresh twist on all hymns and tunes. Her latest project includes her Key Ideas Podcast, digital cause and writing a book about a devastating family event.

Today's Sponsor

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Thank you for tuning in!

Consider implementing the ideas from this podcast by writing several actionable steps for your teaching practice if it’s inspired you.

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