Projects

As a musician and board member with the nonprofit organization Hearts Need Art, Tracy performs in healthcare settings and serves as an advocate for arts in health. The mission of Hearts Need Art is to create moments of joy, self-expression, and connection for those facing life-altering health challenges through arts engagement, advocacy, and innovation. As a pianist, Tracy has provided bedside music, corridor concerts at nurses’ stations, and provided music for infusion clinics and weekly “Gratitude Grams” sent to healthcare workers.

Tracy is a member of the UTSA Brain Health Consortium, which is a collaborative, transdisciplinary team committed to discovering the inner workings of the brain. She is developing projects with consortium members to explore how music learning affects brain development in older adults.

The mission of the Institute for Music Research is to advance knowledge through research in the areas of music psychology, music teaching and learning, and music technology by supporting the work of the UTSA music faculty who are publishing research in these areas. Tracy is developing projects with research colleagues across UTSA related to music listening and music learning.

Tracy has developed an interdisciplinary course, Music in Health, designed to bring together students interested in the intersection of music in health in all facets of life, from music in healthcare settings to music in public health. The course examines practice and research in the field, includes guest speakers from clinicians to healthcare administrators, and allows students from fields as wide-ranging as medical humanities, music, public health, and history to develop interdisciplinary projects exploring the potential for music in health to create positive change in our lives.

Tracy was a panelist in this interactive workshop in February 2022 presented by the University of Chester (UK), examining the role of higher education institutions in fostering research, practice, and advocacy in the field of music and health.

In this live broadcast for Texas Public Radio, Tracy joined neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya and music philosopher Andrew Kania to discuss issues related to music and the brain. Listeners were able to call or write questions for the panelists, which resulted in a lively discussion.

Tracy presented the first lecture in this series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Her presentation combined performance and lecture, presenting research findings about the power of music listening to affect physiological, mental, and emotional wellbeing, interspersed with performances of a wide range of piano music.