The Institute for Music and Health was founded in 1999 by its directors Dr Peter Muir and Judith Muir. Originally called the Center for Personal Development through Music (CPD Music), it is based on the philosophy and life-work of John Diamond M.D., with whom the Muirs, along with all the staff of the IMH, have had extensive personal training over a period of many years.

Peter Muir Ph.D. Dip.I.M.H.

Peter Muir, co-founder and co-director of the IMH, has been involved in music pedagogy for twenty years. He is former Director of Jazz and Head of Keyboards at Westminster School, London (one of the most prestigious private schools in Britian) and has taught as an adjunct instructor for City University of New York as well as extensively in private practice.
He has worked internationally in the field of community music, running and participating hundreds of programs in Europe, America and Australia.

In addition to his work at the IMH, Dr. Muir is an internationally recognized pianist, composer, scholar, and conductor. As a pianist he specializes in ragtime, blues and early jazz, which he performs in a totally original and compelling style, playing at festivals and concerts in the US, Britain, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong.

As a composer, Peter has written and arranged works for the concert platform, ballet, stage and film. His work has been performed and broadcast in Britain, Europe, America, the Far East and Australia.

As a scholar, Peter recently gained a Ph.D. in musicology from the City University of New York. He is an acknowledged authority on ragtime, blues and early jazz. His book on the emergence of blues before 1920, called Long Lost Blues, will be published by the University of Illinois Press in 2009.

He has musically directed in theater (including Women Beware Women, Royal Court Theater, London; Fables in Slang, off-Broadway, New York) and conducted numerous instrumental and choral groups in Britain and America.

Peter has trained intesively with Dr. John Diamond M.D. since 1990.  His core belief–that the true purpose of music is to be therapeutic–is at the basis of all his musical activities.
 
Judith Muir M. Am.S.A.T. Dip.I.M.H.

Judith offers an exceptional international background in woodwind and piano pedagogy. She has a Masters degree from Manhattan School of Music and is a certified teacher and trainer of The Alexander Technique.

She is also a distinguished clarinetist having given classical and jazz concerts on three continents. Her solo and and ensemble appearances include Carnegie Hall, St. Martin’s in the Fields and the Wigmore Hall in London. She is currently Associate Professor of Alexander Technique at Bard College and is much in demand as a teacher and performer.