The Open Ear journal began in the fall of 1991, as a quarterly publication. Its creation was inspired by the need to have information available to the public about the emerging field. It's purpose was not to function as a professional journal, promoting one organization or method over another, but instead to bring our readers news about music in healing and education from all corners of the globe.

It became an open forum for professionals reporting on research, recordings and new books and for lay persons who shared personal stories about music's role in their recovery. Educators wrote about how methods of sound stimulation and select music support the learning process and help children and adults overcome learning disabilities and attention problems. Indigenous healers from Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe described their use of sound and the transcultural aspects of their "sacred therapies". We learned that music has served humankind in multiple ways during the last five thousand years or more.

New subscribers and organizations joined each year always ordering different back issues concerned with music's affect on the body, mind and emotions. Historical links to new paradigms introduced us to the use of sound in shamanic practices and among traditional healers. Cancer patients and care-givers discovered specially made CDs and tapes and learned how music could help them control pain and alleviate anxiety. Readers in Japan, Hong Kong, India, Belgium, England, Austrailia, Argentina and Mexico networked with American music health providers and brought new ideas to their own communities. Service projects were created to aid people through music in the United States and abroad.

The sole purpose of the Open Ear is to educate. The format invites the public and professionals alike to read about the use of sound and music in health care and education. Since the journals inception the field has grown-on all fronts including; sound therapy and healing, music therapy, music medicine and crosscultural music in healing. As editor I wanted to make sure that selected articles demonstrated the breadth of the field. Each music-centered dicipline offers innovative and effective approaches to serving those in need. It is also true that there are many crossovers between field-divisions. I believe, as many of you do, that it is necessary to aknowledge these crossovers and stimulate creative dialog between diciplines for the evolution of the field as a whole. Your many letters and support thoughout the years demonstrate this shared vision.

Educating the public about the use of music in healing is an essential process in developing the field. Public ideas about music in health care and education are of the utmost importance. In the recent past practitioners in related fields communicated enthusiastically within their own circles; however, their writings rarely reached the lay public. The reporting trends in music education and music in heath care, research developments and training resources are vital in raising public awareness. By the same token, educating parents, students and patients about the beneficial use of music in their lives will awaken them to wider treatment choices.