Ground yourself in the intentions, principles, and values behind the course
Meet your teacher, Dr Mendel Kaelen, and explore the research, experience and musical practice that inform this approach
Experience the learning style firsthand and decide whether this way of working with music is right for you
Foundations of
Therapeutic Music
An experiential journey into the transformative power of music
Self-Paced | Practical
- Step into the course
Explore our introductory module and decide whether this way of working with music is right for you. No payment is required to complete it.
Gain an integrated perspective
Drawing on neuroscience, developmental psychology, music cognition and therapeutic practice, this course offers a unique model understanding how music shapes experience, regulation, and meaning.
Apply music with more discernment
You’ll learn how to apply these frameworks in therapeutic, creative, and everyday contexts, developing discernment around how and when music supports regulation, connection, and transformation.
Connect with music more deeply
Beyond concepts and techniques, this course supports a deeper, more conscious connection to music itself. Discover a living relationship that meets inner states, supports regulation, and responds to context, timing, and need.
Meet Your Instructor
Dr Mendel Kaelen, founder of Wavepaths, is internationally recognised for pioneering research on the therapeutic power of music. In this course, he shares the essence of more than 15 years of research and practice.
He completed his PhD in neuroscience at Imperial College London in 2017, specialising in the role of music in psychedelic therapy. He has co-authored more than 50 academic papers and is widely regarded as a thought leader in this field.
His platform, Wavepaths, has supported over 50,000 clinical sessions. He also has had an active and diverse music practice for several decades, has guided hundreds of group and individual sessions, and curated therapeutic playlists that have reached more than 100,000 listeners worldwide.
Who is this for?
Therapists & Guides
Psychotherapists
Psychiatrists
PAT / KAP
Counsellors
Facilitators
Coaches
Students & Researchers
Music Students
Medical Students
Psychology Students
Anthropologists
Cultural Researchers
Body-Mind Practitioners
Breathwork Facilitators
Somatic Practitioners
Yoga Teachers
Bodyworkers
Movement Guides
Musicians & Listeners
Composers
Producers
Instrumentalists
DJs
Playlist Curators
Curious Listeners
Course Pricing
€
350
- 20+ Hrs of Theory Lectures
- 10+ Hrs of Guided Practice
- 9 Learning Modules
- Music Recommendations
- Downloadable Resources
- Completion Certificate
- Payment Plans Available
Explore first module for free
Explore our introductory module and decide whether this way of working with music is right for you. No payment is required to complete it.
Course Content
Origins of Music
An exploration of where music comes from and why music exists. We start the course with a remembrance of the ancient and universal roots of music, and of what makes music so significant to us.
We’ll explore music as a foundational aspect of human consciousness and as a transformative technology, a non-verbal language, and a core mediator of intersubjective experience.
Key questions we’ll address:
Have we lost our musical nature, and what would it mean to remember it?
Why does music exist at all?
What is music, beyond entertainment?
You’ll come away with:
A new frame for music as human inheritance and social technology
A clearer sense of how your relationship with music has evolved over time
The Musical Self
Although there are myriad perspectives on the nature of the self, we can identify important key characteristics. We outline how a self develops, emerges and matures – and how exactly this self has musical foundations.
Key questions we’ll address:
What is the musical self?
How does it develop across a lifetime?
What has shaped my musical preferences and patterns?
You’ll come away with
A clearer picture of your own musical personality and an understanding of how to recognise this in others
- A richer vocabulary for describing your relationship to music
How Does Music Work?
Music and brains are both characterised by oscillations – by frequencies. In this module we trace the pathways from sound to meaning, from music to experience, and lay out ways via which musical experiences can shape and transform the self.
Key questions we’ll address:
How does sound become music?
How does music become experience?
What makes an experience supportive, healing, or disruptive?
You’ll come away with
A practical model of how musical meaning is constructed
A deeper sensitivity to the mechanics of musical impact
Ways of Listening
There are many ways of relating to music. Here we will define and experiment with different modes of listening, each highlighting a distinct dimension of music´s value to the flourishing of the individual, to the human community and to the therapeutic potential of music.
Key questions we’ll address:
In what ways can we listen?
How do listening styles shape perception, emotion, and meaning?
What changes when we listen for nuance and detail?
You’ll come away with
More range and choice in how you listen
A clearer sense of what listening mode supports which intention
Dimensions of Music
We will investigate what variables of music give it its unique psychological and experiential character. Like ingredients in a meal, we will recognise how combinations of musical ingredients can give rise to the unique, emergent experiences that makes music so unique.
Key questions we’ll address:
What gives a piece of music its character, beyond genre and personal preference?
How do different types of complexity change the listening experience?
How do progression types shape what unfolds over time?
You’ll come away with:
A clear way to hear and describe key musical dimensions
A stronger feel for how anchoring, complexity, and progression shape safety, depth, and intensity.
- Greater discernment when intentionally choosing music for particular contexts
Therapeutic Music
Explore music as an active therapeutic agent within therapeutic processes. By expanding your own musical perceptions, we’ll map out different functions music can serve and learn how they can support the balancing, restoring and growing of the self in unique ways.
Key questions we’ll address:
What are music’s therapeutic functions?
When does music help, and when does it get in the way?
How do we choose music based on purpose, not preference alone?
You’ll come away with
A functional map of what music can do in different contexts
More discernment around matching music to intention
Attunement
Understand what gives music its unique psychological and experiential character. You’ll learn what personalisation really means, explore how people respond differently to the same music, and how to make choices that are more attuned.
Key questions
What does personalisation mean in practice?
Why does one piece land as soothing for one person and unsettling for another?
How do we sense what is needed and adapt accordingly?
You’ll come away with
A clearer understanding of subjective response
Stronger timing and sensitivity when selecting and shaping music
Creating Playlists
From the very start of this course you’ll actively engage with music and translate learnings into your lived reality. You’ll learn new hands-on approaches to the design of musical experiences. Ranging from curating, organisation, arcs, pacing, sequencing, themes, attunement, personalisation, and more.
Key questions we’ll address:
How do we create therapeutic playlists?
How do we build a musical arc over time?
How do we choose music with both intuition and structure?
You’ll come away with
A repeatable process for building playlists with integrity
Stronger confidence in pacing, flow, and sequencing
Creating Climates
We’ll explore how musical experiences can be shaped significantly by everything other than the music itself. We will be examining the wider container, and learn how context, language, room and social variables all interact to impact the subjective atmosphere, and the depth listeners can reach within the music, and within themselves.
Key questions
How do we create therapeutic climates?
What is musical language, and how does it shape experience?
How do setting, context, and relational tone change how music lands?
You’ll come away with
A more complete sense of music as environment, not just content
Tools for shaping atmosphere with intention and care
What you'll gain
Expansive
Musicality
New ways of perceiving and relating to the many dimensions of music.
This isn’t about mastering an instrument or knowing music theory. It’s about deepening your musical awareness - your ability to listen, respond, and create meaningful musical experiences.
Situational
Flexibility
Responding fluidly to the unique dynamics of each moment.
This course won’t give you rigid formulas. Instead, you’ll learn how to make choices in context, adapting and responding musically with confidence, whether you’re working with others in therapeutic contexts or exploring music on your own.
Integrative
Understanding
Holding diverse perspectives of music simultaneously and inclusively.
This is not only about seeing value in different perspectives, but recognising how they interweave - seeing music as a meeting point of emotion, neuroscience, culture, spirituality, and human development.
Course Format
Self Paced
30+ Hours of Exploration
Move through the course in your own rhythm. Lessons are broken into short, focused segments so you can study in small sittings or deepen into longer sessions.
Online Portal
Hosted by Kajabi
Your learning lives inside a private portal designed for flexible engagement. You’ll find each module’s videos, readings, exercises and prompts in a clear modular structure, with options to revisit earlier lessons and track your progress as you go.
Learning Modules
9 Unique Modules
Nine sequenced modules explore key dimensions of music and listening, forming a coherent framework for how music shapes perception, experience, and relationship. Each module integrates theory, guided listening, reflection, and practical application, supporting a gradual deepening of musical discernment over time.
Video Lectures
60-120 Minutes Per Module
Engaging lectures divided into concise segments including theory, musical examples, and demonstrations. Taught by Dr. Mendel Kaelen, these videos bring complex concepts to life in an easy-to-follow way.
Practical Exercises
30-90 Minutes Per Module
Each module includes guided listening exercises, reflective prompts, or practice assignments to apply what you learn immediately. You’ll train your ear, notice how music shapes perception and emotion, and experiment with musical choices in a way that builds real discernment over time.
Community Forum
You can share thoughts and respond to the various experiential practices right inside each individual lesson. Gain insights from other students and share your own as the course progresses
Bibliography & Glossary
Each module includes concise, carefully chosen reference lists and definitions of key terms used. These readings can deepen the ideas and give deeper context around the theory lectures.
Downloadable Resources
Useful tools you can return to again and again, including checklists, worksheets, and practical templates that support musical selection, sequencing, and reflection. Designed to help you apply the course in real situations without overcomplicating your process.
Explore FAQs
All recorded lectures, written materials, practice guidance, and community spaces are hosted via a private online learning portal.
We recommend to dedicating minimum of 1-1.5h per week, and an ideal of 2–4 hours per week, combining theoretical exploration, experiential listening, and reflective practice. The pace is designed to integrate well alongside professional and personal commitments.
You need a device to access the content and a pair of high fidelity headphones or speakers. We also recommend an eye mask to support fully immersive listening. Any additional tools and recommendations will be introduced during the course, with guidance on how to use them most effectively.
You will retain access to all recorded content and resources for at least 12 months online, allowing you to revisit and deepen your learning over time.
All sessions and materials are in English.
You will receive a Certificate of Completion. CE accreditation is currently in progress, and participants will be notified as soon as it becomes available.
The course is suitable for anyone in a profession that offers care or a therapeutic service, and is interested in introducing or deepening the use of music in this practice. Therefore, psychotherapists, psychedelic therapists, hospice care, body-mind practitioners such as breathworkers, teachers, coaches and guides are all welcome to join and form a collaborative, diverse learning collective.
No. This course is open to curious listeners with no formal background in music or therapeutic training. You do not need to read music, play an instrument, or work clinically to benefit.
The course is designed to meet you where you are. It builds understanding through guided listening, experiential exercises, and clear conceptual frameworks that support learning through experience rather than technical expertise. Many participants join simply to deepen their relationship with music and explore how it shapes perception, emotion, and connection in everyday life.
Absolutely. This course in fact encourages you to bring your own musical landscape into the learning process. You’ll be guided to explore, expand and work with music that resonates with your own musical personality.
Yes. This course is highly relevant for those engaging with plant medicines, whether in a professional, facilitative, or personal context.
Music often plays a powerful role in non-ordinary states of consciousness, shaping emotional tone, attention, memory, and meaning-making. This course offers a grounded framework for understanding how and why music has these effects, and how to work with it more intentionally and responsibly.
Rather than offering protocols or playlists for specific medicines, the course focuses on developing listening sensitivity, musical discernment, and situational awareness. This supports safer, more attuned choices around music, whether you are holding space for others or reflecting on your own experiences.
The course does not require prior experience with plant medicines, nor does it promote their use. It provides tools and perspectives that many participants find valuable for preparation, integration, and broader understanding of music’s role in altered and expanded states.
Yes, plenty! You’ll experience a wide variety of musical examples across genres, styles and cultures, while simultaneously acquiring new modes of listening.
Very much so. Ethical integrity, safety, and cultural sensitivity are woven throughout the course. You’ll learn how to work with music responsibly, especially within the context of vulnerable or expanded states of consciousness.
This training uniquely bridges scientific research, psychotherapy theory, and experiential music practices. It integrates a number of disciplines into a coherent framework for the therapeutic application of music. In fact, the majority of these innovative approaches are introduced for the first time publicly within this course.
Absolutely. Many enter this course with a pre-established musicality, a set of intuitive skills, or credentials in music therapy. What they will gain are new ways of understanding, enriching and using these in practice.
This course offers a starting point and catalyst for a renewed relationship with music and listening. Whether in therapy, creative work, or everyday life, you are likely to become more attuned, more intentional, and more aware of how sound and music shape experience, meaning, and connection.
This course is well suited to those who sense that music plays an important role in their work or life, but want clearer understanding and guidance. It supports a shift from uncertainty to confidence, helping you relate to music with greater intention, sensitivity, and care at a time when music is increasingly used across therapeutic, educational, and wellbeing contexts.
