Marisa de Leon was a child of music growing up, playing piano and then the viola in her high school orchestra. Music, she says, was her “safe space.”

It was during her high school years when de Leon saw a “60 Minutes” report featuring the recovery of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords from a gunshot wound to the head. In early 2011, Giffords of Arizona survived an assassination attempt in her Tucson-area district but suffered severe injuries. Gifford struggled to regain her ability to speak. Part of her way back included intensive musical therapy, including singing to begin regaining the ability to form and speak words again.

A young girl in Mercedes was taking in all of this. In watching the television story, she came to an immediate realization.

“That’s it,” de Leon recalled thinking. “That’s for me. It’s what I’m going to do.”

Pursuing a Path

As the daughter of a healthcare administrator, de Leon’s destiny would be in that field with a different twist. At Texas Woman’s University in Denton, she earned degrees in the health sciences with a specialization in music therapy. De Leon went on to gain a national certification in music therapy. She then utilized that expertise to start her own business in 2017 – the Mercedes-based RGV Music Therapy and Wellness Center.

Today, de Leon and her staff of therapists work with clients from Laredo to Brownsville. They visit patient homes and also offer in-person services at the Mercedes center. De Leon’s commitment to music therapy is evident in the vibrant way she describes the impact it can have in improving the health of her clients.

“Music affects every part of who we are,” she said. “Music is woven into our identity.”

Music Reaches Everyone

The power of music is such that it can help a patient heal even after unspeakable trauma – as was the case with Giffords – or help an autistic child cope and connect. 

Musical therapy can also reach patients suffering from cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s or dementia, and in de Leon’s words, “get them back for a moment” when patients recall songs from their youth. A patient who is having trouble recalling the names and faces of loved ones can suddenly recall a distant memory when a song is played and they start singing the correct lyrics, word for word.

“We know music is connected to memory,” de Leon said of the patients. “It’s incredibly meaningful to watch how music takes them somewhere and they’re able to connect again with their memories.”

De Leon describes some of the key elements of music therapy this way:

• Receptive: The memories and emotions of actively listening to favorite songs.
• Composing: Taking the feelings associated with music and then being creative in that art form.
• Improvising: Expressing ideas and thoughts and being inventive to make something new.
• Playing an instrument: The bodily aspects of using fingers, hands and feet to regain physical movements. 

The flexibility of music is expansive. It can be cognitive, neurological, behavioral and spiritual, de Leon said. 

“Music is processed through the brain,” she said. “It affects so many aspects and it can be such an accessible tool in providing therapy. Music is very welcoming and can reach anyone.”

Cultural Connection

It can also be cultural.

De Leon offers instruction and therapies that connect to the cultures and values of the Rio Grande Valley. A three-credit course offering through RGV Music Therapy is “Mexican American Values & Therapeutic Alliance in Music Therapy.”

The course as designed by de Leon helps music therapists to “understand how cultural values and social expectations” in South Texas can be used in clinical settings to help patients. It’s an important insight to know in a region where corridos and cumbias are revered in many families. It’s also a place where music from cultural icons has a lasting power.

“A day won’t go by without playing Selena’s songs,” de Leon, referencing the late artist known as the queen of Tejano music.   

It’s all a great fit personally and professionally for de Leon, who never had a doubt where she would base her practice.

“I was always coming back to the Valley,” she said. “It’s really important for me to be in Mercedes. This is my community and it’s really special to do it from here.”