Ravinia 2026 Issue 2

How Tuning In to Our Emotions Through Music Can Leave Us More Connected with Ourselves, and Each Other BY KATE HOGAN BERGER IT WAS DURING A PERFORMANCE in 2018 when pianist Renate Rohlfing first noticed the shift. “As I was playing, I felt like I wasn’t connecting to the mu- sic,” she recalls. “And I felt really far from the audience as well.” An award-winning Juilliard graduate who has graced stages around the world (including here at Ravinia), Rohlfing had al- ready spent years building a formidable career. Though she knew she was “lucky” to have her incredible career, she craved those one-on-one interactions, something deeper within the music. “I started reading a lot about the work that the Kennedy Center was doing back then with music and memory, and Alzheimer’s in particu- lar, and I was fascinated,” she shares. “At the same time, a lot of my musi- cian and artist friends were having mental health challenges, having crises as performers.” Her interests led her to pursue a master’s degree in music psychothera- py from New York University the next fall, digging into the ben- efits of music on mental health—for musicians themselves, too. “Sometimes we musicians think of music as work, but actu- ally it’s so beneficial to our own souls, even when we’re playing. Things like songwriting, even creating playlists, can give a lift,” Rohlfing says. Now an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, and a clinical music therapist working with everyone from young children to adults with dementia, Rohlfing strives to figure out how people already incorporate music in their lives, she explains. Then she can help them use it even more. “Many people don’t think of themselves as musicians, but they experience music so much, whether it’s listening to it today or learning something when they were very young. It’s about unlocking that connection, which can lead people to feel more connected to themselves and, in turn, better connected to others,” she continues. “Maybe it’s learning why a particular song was important to someone, then finding out how that might benefit them in their relationships, or in getting through other emotional challenges. Music can ground them, or inspire them, and that’s what’s so special about listening to it.” That awareness, Rohlfing says, can help some individuals find control over their emotions using music as a tool. “I work a lot with adolescents, which is a transitional stage anyway, but they may be going through grief, suffering a loss, feeling that with changing schools,” she says. “So if they have this touch- point with music, they can see how it’s a resource for them in working through it.” That isn’t to say people shouldn’t let themselves feel those more difficult feelings, Rohlfing adds. But feeling them with music can make the experience more manageable. “The spectrum of emotion is what makes us so human,” she says. “And that’s why music is so important. I think sometimes we might distance ourselves from things like grief or sadness, but those are so powerful in our lives, and can actually inspire us to be more deeply connected to other people.” Pianist and clinical music therapist Renate Rohlfing RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 20 – AUGUST 2 , 2026 18 COURTESYRENATEROHLFING(SELF)