About
Our Vision
We couldn’t make as much of an impact on people’s lives without the support from our community. We welcome you to learn more about Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Brain Injuries and how it affects the people we love. Our classes enrich the lives of anyone who participates. Help us bring joy through the art of playing music to more locations and support our cause. This page teaches you about our methods of C.H.I.M.E. and the RESEARCH to support it. We would love if you’re able to contribute to our cause and show your SUPPORT. We invite you to any of our locations to see OUR WORK.
We love OUR STAFF and want you to get to know the people who make up List Academy Of Music. Heidi List Murphy, Graeme Danko and Vanessa Ellermann contribute their passion with our seniors everyday.
We Provide
Cognitive Health Interactive Music Ensemble
C .H. I. M. E.
IN 3 WAYS
TIME 2
CHIME
A musical scale of Melody Chimes is distributed among 12 participants. Each of the 12 players respond by copying/mirroring the music facilitator/conductor. The facilitator conducts a tune from beginning to end by making eye contact with the participant. At the point of eye contact, an arm gesture indicates a mirrored arm movement from the participant. The affect emits a soothing sound of a familiar tune. No rehearsals are needed and no former musical knowledge of any sort is needed from the participant. A symphony of 8-12 familiar melodies are performed flawlessly in a 45 minute session.
Musical Charades
A LAM facilitator plays a song from a specific genre on piano/guitar. The participants try to guess the title of song before the facilitator stands to “act out’ the title; i.e., In the Shade of the Ole Apple Tree.”
Goal of the participants: to keep the facilitator seated as a musician.
Goal of the facilitator: to hear the name of the title from the participants
Objectives: to cover a minimum of 15 songs/maximum of 25 songs in a 45 minute session.
Interactive: Behavorial, Cognitive, Emotional, Musical, Physical, Social
Fireside Favorites
A gathering of old familiar songs from the Wild Wild West. Facilitator plays and sings songs on guitar while sitting around a faux campfire. A Wild Wild West backdrop of Cactus and Canyons will put anyone in the mood for the all -time fun sing-a-longs.
Objectives: to cover a minimum of 15 songs/maximum of 25 songs in a 45 minute session.
Interactive: Behavorial, Cognitive, Emotional, Musical, Physical, Social
Get to Know
Our Staff Members
Meet
Heidi List Murphy
Heidi List Murphy is a pianist, teacher and home health care provider. She is also the executive and founding director of List Academy of Music, a 501(c)(3) organization, which opened its doors in 1993. Since the schools inception, List Academy has guided 8000 Newport County families in reaching their musical educational goals. She holds a BA in Music and Early Childhood Education from Rollins College and studied nonprofit management at Harvard University. Heidi believes early music education serves as a foundation for a lifetime of creative achievement. She is also invested in the notion; everybody’s music memory is never truly lost especially as we age. After Covid, Heidi started work at Home Care Assistance of Rhode Island and the RI Veterans Home where she specialized in music for Alzheimer’s. She saw how her interactive music ensembles brought immediate joy to her clients. She restructured List Academy to only benefit the lives of seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s, Dementia, PTSD and other neurological disorders. Heidi Lives in Newport with her husband and the last of four children.
Meet
Graeme Danko
Graeme Danko grew up in a musical family (distant cousin to Rick Danko of The Band) And began playing piano at age 7. He moved to guitar in his teenage years and has continued to develop his musical abilities since. In his high school years he began supporting people with developmental disabilities and has continued in this field for 25 years up to including his current work as a director with the Services by Design program at Looking Upwards Inc. These two passions came together when he graduated from Capilano University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Music Therapy. Soon after, Graeme became an Accredited Music Therapist (MTA) through the Canadian Association for Music Therapists. He moved to Rhode Island in 2018 and has worked to further his professional career in both Music Therapy and supporting adults with disabilities. His “Jamming with Graeme“ music sessions are known throughout the RI disabilities community and he is excited to continue his music therapy work with List Academy.
Meet
Vanessa Ellermann
Vanessa Ellermann is a pianist, attorney, and teacher. She joined List Academy as Associate Director in 2022. As a teen, Vanessa attended and graduated Interlochen Arts Academy. She graduated St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.
Vanessa always wanted to help people so she went on to pursue law. She earned a law degree from the University of San Diego. As a young lawyer, she worked in civil litigation firms but eventually found her niche representing disabled veterans seeking compensation from the VA. She has been practicing veterans law since 2009. Vanessa has always viewed her law degree as a great tool for helping people.
Vanessa returned to music in an unusual way. During the Covid19 pandemic, her vision changed and she began seeing wavy lines and blind spots. Her doctors observed inflammation in her optic nerves, but never found a cause. Upon hearing the news that she could be going blind, Vanessa realized this was an opportunity to get back to music. If she were to go blind a piano can act as braill. She could not imagine never playing again. Fortunately, her optic nerves and vision miraculously returned to normal, with no diagnosis or treatment. Never the less, Vanessa refocused her attention to what brings her joy and found ways to bring music back into her life. Her work at List Academy marries her desire to help people with her love of music. She lives in Middletown RI with her husband and three sons.
Meet
Lauren Ceres
Lauren Ceres is a singer, pianist, songwriter, and music educator from Middletown, RI. She earned her BA in Music from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Her senior thesis, “Taking Jazz Singers Seriously: Gender, Race, and Vocal Improvisation,” has been recognized in global academic discourse.
Lauren teaches piano and voice at Newport Music and is committed to making high-quality music accessible to all. She currently works in partnership with the Newport Festivals Foundation to provide free lessons to students in the community.
Now serving as the Executive Assistant of List Academy of Music, Lauren is excited to continue using music as a transformative force in people’s lives. She is especially passionate about the role of music in improving well-being and fostering a sense of belonging. She believes that through music, people can experience deeper connections—with themselves, with others, and with the world around them.
Expanding minds through
Research
32 Resons To Support CHIME
Article on Dementia & Alzheimer’s Disease
Mind Music Article
Check us out
News and Featured Articles
Walk To End Alzheimer’s at Fort Adams
Accomplishments
Let Our Work
Speak For Itself
Our Current Status
We are currently occupying 6 facilities in Rhode Island with efforts to attend many more.
Elder Care Facilities We Teach in RI
Instructors
Our Goals For C.H.I.M.E.
We intend to grow our program and we need your help.
More Veterans Homes In Northeast
Veterans Homes in the United States To Go
Who We Work With
Additional COntributions
Would you like to help in other ways?
Donations contribute to our operational costs but we have lots of other options. Click here to see how. We are always looking for volunteers, content creation, testimonials, equipment and venues to promote our work. Discover more to see how.
Volunteer
Accompany facilitator to eldercare dwelling and take photos and video
and share content for our social media page.
Equipment
Donate equipment; musical instruments including drums, egg shakers, percussive
instruments.
Testimonials
Write a testimonial regarding our work.
Host
Hold a benefit at your home or place of work to increase awareness in our cause.
Live Life in Song
By Heidi List Murphy
Almost from birth, I have been considered “an entertainer.” My parents would suggest I practice piano while my mother cooked dinner, I never objected. I loved entertaining their friends at family gatherings. The holidays were extra special with Christmas carols around the piano. After my parents passed, Covid happened, and it was time to re-evaluate life. Always having music close to my heart, I knew it was time to help seniors enjoy a better quality of life. I accepted a job at Home Care Assistance of RI. The company placed me with a local family, one member suffered from the Alzheimer’s disease. My client was a music enthusiast and her husband, at age 87, sang and performed regularly in town. I enjoyed sitting at their piano playing song after song, hour after hour with both of my clients singing all the words to the songs as if it was any regular day. The feeling brought back the times I sat and played for my parents who sang all the words to the songs. I could tell I was making this family happy. I thought if I could help my clients, I could help many healthy seniors as well as those who suffered from Alzheimers and other neurological disorders.
I founded List Academy of Music to create a safe space for people 55 and over to come share their passion for music. We started with a small community and have grown into a thriving platform for healthy seniors and those suffering from Alzheimer’s or other neurological diseases. Music is medicine and can be experienced by all whether you play an instrument or not.