02/03/2026
Barbara L Wheeler
Barbara Louise Wheeler passed away unexpectedly in the ICU of Hackensack Meridian Southern Ocean Medical Center on February 2, 2026 at the age of 77. A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at Holy Innocent’s Episcopal Church in Beach Haven, New Jersey. There will be a gathering reception from 1-3 pm followed by the memorial service at 3 pm.
Born in Nebraska on August 12, 1948, Barbara grew up in Nebraska, Wyoming and Idaho. She graduated from Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska in 1970 with a BA in Music Education. She continued her education and earned a Master of Music, Music Therapy, in 1974 from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, as well as a PhD in Educational Psychology in 1984 from Fordham University in New York.
Barbara began her career as a Music Therapist from 1969-1971 at the Hastings Regional Center, Hastings, NE and continued working as a therapist at the Central State Hospital, Milledgeville, GA and the Connecticut Valley Hospital, Middletown, CT from 1972-1975. She writes about these years on her website in the Clinician section: https://barbarawheelermt.com/clinician/
In the spring of 1975 she was recruited to teach music therapy at Montclair State College, now Montclair University, in New Jersey. She has written about this change on her website at https://barbarawheelermt.com/educator/.
“I started teaching at Montclair State College when I was only 26 and with a limited background for teaching. There were many other difficulties—only a few books on music therapy were available at this time; I had very little understanding of why music therapy worked, although some good practical knowledge of what worked (at least in the psychiatric setting). I was overwhelmed with both the content of what I should teach and living in New Jersey. Sometimes I wonder how the students that I had in my first years of teaching learned anything—but some of them went on to become very good music therapists!
“I am happy to say that, over the next years, I pursued many avenues to learn more about music therapy—and of course, applied that to my teaching. As mentioned on the clinical and publications parts of this website, this included clinical work in a variety of settings; training in Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, Paraverbal Therapy, Guided Imagery with Music training (I completed through Level II), and Neurologic Music Therapy training. I also was in my own psychotherapy (for years—for myself, but I also learned a lot that applied to my music therapy work) and was supervised on my music therapy. And I read and attended workshops covering a variety of
topics. In short, I did everything I could to learn about music therapy and be the best educator that I could be. My decision to pursue my PhD was part of this journey.
“I taught at Montclair State for 25 years and had many great experiences there. I saw the school make many changes, including becoming Montclair State University in 1994, and was part of some of these changes. In addition to teaching music therapy, I had the opportunity to learn about administration and was Music Department Chair as well as Acting Dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts. These were all good experiences but also reinforced in me that I really wanted to teach music therapy. In 2000, I decided to move to another university. I “retired” from Montclair State University as a full professor and was given Emeritus status.”
When Barbara left Montclair University, she went to become the Professor and Director of Music Therapy at the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY, where she launched their new music therapy program in 2000. The music therapy program that she developed at UofL grew along with the music therapy community that grew around it (partly based on her efforts).
In 2011 Barbara retired from her formal positions as professor/therapist and pursued opportunities all over the world developing Music Therapy programs and initiatives as well as enjoying more time for family and friends. She moved to Long Beach Island on the Jersey Shore, following her life-long love of the ocean. This is what she has to say about retirement https://barbarawheelermt.com/educator/ !
I did not give up my professional work as I embarked on this new life. In the first few years after I left UofL, I edited two books (Music Therapy Handbook and the third edition of Music Therapy Research, for which I was editor but worked with an invaluable co-editor) and taught as an adjunct at the State University of New York – New Paltz and Molloy College. I taught Foundations of Music Therapy at New Paltz for a couple of years and did some consulting to their program. I had not taught this course in the past, so developing and teaching it provided growth. I taught a research course at Molloy and also supervised thesis students. All of my teaching was in master’s programs. While, of course, I did not get to know the students as well as I had in my full-time positions, I enjoyed the teaching.
My only other experience of “regular” university teaching was at Temple University. I had taught a graduate research course as an adjunct while I was still at UofL. (I flew to Philadelphia a few times in the semester for “intensive” weekends.) In 2023, I was employed by Temple for a year as a Visiting Professor, filling in for a faculty member who was on sabbatical. I taught several courses (again, as intensives, so we met for
a few days a few times in the semester) and supervised students doing their master’s projects.
I have had a number of experiences that are educational but not in regular higher education settings. One has been supervising theses and other projects. Much of my work at Molloy College was with students working on their master’s theses, and the work at Temple that I spoke of included supervision of students’ doing master’s projects. One time that I worked closely with a student at the PhD level was as Supervisor of an Individual Learning Area for the PhD in Leadership and Change program at Antioch University. I helped guide Alpha Woodward through her project exploring what had occurred in her work in Bosnia-Herzegovena. This eventually contributed to Alpha’s dissertation, an auto-ethnographic study of her work in Bosnia-Herzegovena.
On a number of occasions, I have given feedback to students who have prepared theses for their institutions. Sometimes, this is as an external examiner for a thesis or dissertation. I have done this for universities on several continents. It is similar to reviewing an article for a journal. In addition to evaluating the work as to its acceptability and level of achievement, I try to give the student feedback that may help for future writing.
I have had ongoing relationships with several institutions in other countries that have led to me being designated as a faculty member. I was Visiting Professor at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, for a number of years. This has changed and, for the past years, I teach there on an ad hoc basis but maintain close ties with the Academy and its students and faculty.
The list of her publications is overwhelming, and many can be found listed on her website https://barbarawheelermt.com/author-editor/ . Trying to find a list of all her honors is daunting. The Sandpiper, the local newspaper on Long Beach Island, published this article when she was selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Federation of Music Therapy in 2017:https://files.constantcontact.com/edba682a801/647e3e0e-293e-4f0d-91e4-fd377105c2d8.pdf
In retirement Barbara enjoyed being a part of local organizations and activities. She was active with Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, the local Fire Auxiliary, the Soroptimist International, and many others too numerous to mention. Here is the tribute written by St. Peter’s at the Light, where she played the organ:
Remembering our Sweet Organist, Barbara Wheeler!
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