Noelle Pederson has been a resident of Normal Heights for five years and is an active member in the Normal Heights Community Association. She is originally from a tiny town in North Dakota and moved to San Diego in 2007 to complete a six-month internship under the direction of Dr. Reuer (Executive Director and founder of Resounding Joy Inc.) in order to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Dakota.

After the six-month internship, she became a board-certified music therapist and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving beautiful San Diego. Since that time, Noelle has bridged together her love of community and passion for the mission of music therapy by hosting local events, classes, and concerts to bring neighbors together, help raise funds for, and bring awareness about Resounding Joy programs.  She is the Director of Education and Training for the Joy Giver volunteer program and leads the Sound Minds family music program.

Noelle is employed at both Resounding Joy and the “sister company” MusicWorx Inc. This contractual music therapy company provides medical music therapy at hospitals, hospice, and also services to older adult communities. This passionate young professional advocates for music therapy any chance she gets and is open to presenting to any local service groups or even chatting with other Normal Heights folks at a local coffee shop to divulge her love of working as a music therapist in San Diego hospitals, with hospice patients, and at-risk youth.

Quoting Noelle, “We’ve already started some family music programs and concerts here in Normal Heights. I’d love to see an active Junior Joy Giver program and also some community music-making opportunities develop here with the local recreational centers, churches, etc. We always need volunteers and referrals for Joy Receivers—if you have a neighbor who is older and doesn’t get many visitors, wouldn’t it be great to refer them to a volunteer or you to become one yourself? Let’s bring our community together, one song at a time!”