The backstory
Mary Altom, a board certified music therapist, opened Sound Starts Music in 2011 in her home. .
Samantha Lowry-Harmon, Sound Starts Music Therapy clinical director and music therapist said Altom started giving private music therapy after multiple requests from parents of children she served while working for a different music therapy company in public schools.
Altom quickly outgrew her home practice. She opened a brick-and-mortar location in Frisco starting with one room, and due to growth, relocated a few more times until opening its current location in Frisco in 2020. A second location was opened in Grapevine in 2019 and a third location in Prosper in 2023.
What’s happening
Individual music therapy sessions, adapted music lessons and Little Jammers—a group music experience for young children—are offered at the centers. The company also offers music therapy at schools, neurological care, geriatric and correctional facilities.
Community Clinical Director Tyler Smith said individual music therapy sessions and adapted music lessons are the top two most-requested services.
“Music therapy is evidence-based practices to help individuals with a need,” music therapy intern Lacey Lewis said. “It can be cognitive, academic, motor skills, social skills. [We are] using music to help work on goals that aren’t necessarily music related.”
Adapted lessons have a musical goal. Smith said these lessons are taught at a pace where students feel successful when traditional music lessons are unsuccessful. Piano and guitar lessons are the most popular choices but ukulele, drums, voice, trumpet and more have been taught.
“We have experience working with neurodiverse brains and managing behavior needs,” Harmon said. “We’re fine going down rabbit holes like talking about specifics of a song or artist.”
Who it’s for
Sound Starts has students of all ages including stroke and traumatic brain injury patients at Baylor Scott & White.
“We serve clients who don’t have a diagnosis but they are really motivated by music,” Harmon said. “They might be working on social skills or something at school.”
Notable quote
Harmon said she had a client who was autistic and had obsessive-compulsive disorder who struggled with thunderstorms.
“We song-wrote together and used an instrument called a thunder tube. We made a recording of it and worked on it a little every week for three months,” Harmon said. “When the next thunderstorm came along, there was no problem. They acknowledged there was a thunderstorm happening, listened to their song then went about their business.”
- 8360 Warren Parkway, Frisco
- 2311 Mustang Drive, Ste. 100, Grapevine
- 140 S. Preston Road, Ste. 10, Prosper
- www.soundstartsmusic.com
