Who originated the Resounding Joy concept?
Barbara Reuer, PhD, NMT, MT–BC. Between 1994 and 1995, Dr. Reuer was part of a team that received a $100,000 grant from the federal Administration on Aging. The purpose of the award was to develop programs to train older adults in good health to share recreational music-making activities with their peers. While the program accomplished its goals, it failed to sustain an all-volunteer program. A decade later, still seeking to meet the needs of homebound and shut-in populations, Dr. Reuer borrowed the basic tenets of the original project and applied them to Resounding Joy. A model that brings together community-based and faith-based organizations, Resounding Joy has far greater potential to reach into and serve communities. And the RJoy model works not only with adults but with children, both individually and in groups.
