I use music to help people heal, play, and reconnect with themselves through music therapy, community music events, and guided meditations.
Choose the door that feels right. Each leads somewhere different — all rooted in the healing power of music.
Immersive sound journeys, 1:1 therapeutic music sessions, and group healing experiences — for those who feel the call to go deeper.
Explore Healing →Monthly evenings of free musical improvisation in Lisbon. Bring your instrument. All levels welcome — no experience needed, just a willingness to show up.
Friday Music Parties →Trauma-informed piano teaching that meets you exactly where you are. For adults who want to begin, return to, or reimagine their relationship with the piano.
Therapeutic Piano →"I believe music has the capacity to take us somewhere words alone can't always reach."
Read my story →I'm Holly — a music therapist, sound healer, and musician based in Lisbon, Portugal. I've been playing piano for 25 years and working therapeutically with music for 15.
Much of my adult life has been spent learning to move past self-suppression — figuring out what I actually feel, what I need, and how to let myself express it. That journey is the foundation of everything I do.
I hold a Master's in Music Therapy and work with people in-person in Lisbon and online around the world.
My full biography →I create music-based experiences, from community gatherings to guided meditations, that help people get unstuck, express themselves, and feel more connected.
My Story
Music has always been how I make sense of the world.
As a child, I was deeply sensitive, often lost in imagination and inner worlds. From the moment I could ask, I wanted to play piano, and when I began, I fell completely in love. Music gave me a way to express everything I was feeling, in a way words never quite could.
Alongside this, I began meditating at the age of 15. What started as a simple practice became a lifelong exploration of my inner world: all the emotions, patterns, and the deeper layers of my psyche that lay beneath the surface.
I followed my musical path to studying classical piano at university on a scholarship, performing in recitals and competitions, and being recognised for my ability to communicate emotion through music.
But over time, I found myself caught in perfection of playing the exact “right” notes, meeting expectations. I started losing touch with the freedom and aliveness that drew me to music in the first place.
But behind the credentials is something more personal. Much of my adult life has been spent learning to move past self-suppression — figuring out what I actually feel, what I need, and how to let myself express it. That journey is what brought me to this work. I know the terrain because I've walked it myself.
That began to change when I discovered music therapy.
I trained professionally and completed my Master’s in Music Therapy in 2020, learning how music, especially improvisation, can become a powerful tool for expression, connection, and healing, even for those with no musical background.
For the past 15 years, I’ve worked with children, adults, and groups across the UK and Portugal, helping people access parts of themselves that are often hard to reach through words alone.
In 2020, after becoming ill with long covid, I entered a period of deep stillness.
With very little energy for the outside world, I began exploring music in a different way, creating playlists that would guide me through different emotional landscapes, and allowing myself to fully drop into the experience.
I wasn’t just listening with my ears anymore, I was feeling music in my body, noticing subtle sensations, imagery, and emotional shifts that opened up a deeper connection to myself.
It felt like accessing a part of myself I hadn’t known how to reach before.
I continued exploring this way of working alongside meditation and inner reflection, allowing more space for honesty, feeling, and expression in my life. I then began documenting my meditations as scripts for me to use to help others, too.
Not long after, during a session with a friend, I followed an instinct to use my voice intuitively, letting sound emerge without structure or planning.
Something clicked.
I saw how voice, sound, and presence could support someone to relax more deeply, feel more, and access something beyond words.
This became the foundation of the work I offer today.
I’m based in Lisbon, Portugal, and work with people both in person and online.
I offer sound guided meditation sessions, creative music and improvisation sessions, community music gatherings, and piano teaching rooted in expression and play.
Piano from age four. Classical training, grade exams, the conservatoire pathway. I loved it — and also felt the weight of needing to perform perfectly. Music was my world, but also sometimes a place of pressure.
An undergraduate music degree led me towards music therapy — the idea that music could be used deliberately to help people heal felt like a revelation. I began working with children and adults, and saw firsthand the transformative power of sound.
Completed my Master's degree — deepening both my clinical skills and my understanding of the psychological and physiological dimensions of music. A period of intense personal inner work alongside the academic training.
Based in Lisbon, Portugal — working with people 1:1 and in groups, running monthly community music events, and continuing to write and release my own music. Joyful, grounded, and deeply committed to this work.
A Master's in Music Therapy means the work is grounded in evidence-based therapeutic principles — not just intuition. I know how to hold safe space for deep emotional material.
I've done — and continue to do — the inner work myself. My own journey through self-suppression and creative recovery is the foundation of everything I offer.
This work doesn't have to be heavy. Some of the most transformative moments I've facilitated have been filled with laughter, surprise, and sheer delight in the music we make together.
"Holly is a music therapist, wonderfully skilled and very pastorally minded. The biggest endorsement came from my daughter, who cried when we told her Holly was moving."
"She connects sensitively, intuitively, and inspirationally to help people express their Soul-felt feelings."
"Holly's voice is a portal to another realm."
"Working with Holly felt safe in a way I hadn't expected. She held the space beautifully and the music she created felt entirely personal to me."
Whether you're drawn to sound healing, music play, or learning the piano — there's a place for you here.
Original compositions, recordings, and sheet music — made from a place of genuine feeling, meant to be listened to deeply.
Stream all my music on Spotify — original piano compositions, vocal pieces, and sound healing recordings. Follow me to be notified when new music drops.
Listen on Spotify →Videos, live recordings, and longer-form listening experiences on YouTube — including improvisations, sound healing sessions, and behind-the-scenes musical moments.
Watch on YouTube →A description of what this release is about — the feeling you were going for, the process of creating it, what you hope people take from it when they listen.
Download and play my original compositions at home. Each piece comes with full notation and personal performance notes.
A short description of this piece — its feel, difficulty level, and what inspired it. Something personal and specific to this composition.
Buy sheet music →A short description of this piece — its feel, difficulty level, and what inspired it. Something personal and specific to this composition.
Buy sheet music →A short description of this piece — its feel, difficulty level, and what inspired it. Something personal and specific to this composition.
Buy sheet music →All purchases directly support my work as an independent musician and music therapist. Thank you.
View all sheet music →I write music the same way I work therapeutically — from a place of genuine feeling, without forcing it. Most of my compositions begin as improvisations: moments of musical honesty at the piano that slowly become something more formed.
My sound is rooted in classical piano, but reaches towards something freer and more emotionally raw. I'm drawn to the space between composed and improvised — music that feels alive because it carries a pulse of human feeling inside it.
When people listen to my music, my hope is simply that they feel a little less alone.