About Kelli

Music has been a part of my life from as far back as I can remember! Falling asleep to “The Musical Life of Gustav Mole,” to bursting into tears listening to the French Horn solo in the Star Wars “Force Theme,” and to making it my life’s mission to make my piano teacher cry with my rendition of Claire de Lune! (It happened!)

However, it wasn’t until I was 11 years old when music took on a whole new meaning for me. My grandmother who was very special to me was minimally responsive towards the end of her life. I wanted so much to connect with her so I started playing the piano. She began to respond by vocalizing to the music, and I remember how wonderful that felt to share in that moment with her. What started out as a child’s desire to connect with her grandma became a defining moment in the direction I would eventually take towards Music Therapy.

I attended Whittier College where I majored in music. My favorite classes were Ethnomusicology, Music Theory, Composition, and Conducting! (Basically ALL of them!) At that time, I still did not know Music Therapy existed. After graduating from college, I knew I wanted a career in music, I just did not know what that was going to look like. One day, my mother sent me an email which read, “Check this out, I think this is you.” Attached was a link to the American Music Therapy Association. After exploring their website, in an instant, I knew this was what I wanted to do! I applied and auditioned for several schools and chose to attend the Music Therapy Master’s Program at New York University. New York was my home for four wonderful years where I got to train, work with, and perform with so many wonderful people and in a variety of settings! I eventually moved back home to O’ahu in August of 2019 and started Mele for Life Music Therapy. So here I am ready to go, and very excited to share with you all what Music Therapy can do!