Dorita S. Berger

Dr. Dorita Schneck Berger, PhD, MT-BC, LCAT, is a musical Renaissance woman! Born in Mendoza, Argentin, Dr. Berger arrived in New York City at the age of six, and began school immediately, speaking only Spanish! She also immediately continued her piano studies that began in Argentina at her age of 5. Performing and debuting in Carnegie Hall at a very young age, it was clear that music would be Dr. Berger's identity and world view. She attended the High School of Music & Art - "the castle on the hill" - and graduate with honors to go on, at age 17, and receive a full tuition scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University as a Piano Performance major. At Carnegie she had courses as well in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, which went on to shape her future as a performer, teacher, and author. Graduating from Carnegie Mellon with a BFA Degree, Dr. Berger immediately was accepted to the Juilliard School of Music, where she continued piano studies with James Friskin, and later, with Adele Marcus. Her pianistic and musical brilliance was put on the back burner when she married Larry Berger, a dancer she was dating since Carnegie Mellon days and now a Juilliard graduate of dance. With marriage came subsequent child-rearing of two lovely daughters. The Bergers moved often for Larry's dance-teaching career, so they lived in Cleeland, Oh. where Dr. Berger then began to write and review area concerts. And the beat went on.

They left Cleveland, and landed in Beverly Hills, CA where husband taught a year at UCLA before receiving a Professorial Fulbright to teach in Vienna Austria -- so the family lived in Austria for a year, returning to Brooklyn, NY. By now it was time for Dr. Berger to pursue other interests, and she became an Arts Administrator with the Queens Council on the Arts, in the Arts and Education program. From there Dr. Berger obtained an Administrative Fellowship to the National Endowment for The Arts, where she participated as an editor in the document on The Arts in Education. From D.C., and New York, the family again relocated to Tampa, Florida, where Dr. Berger taught piano at Tampa University, and Introduction to Music at Univ. of South Florida. Another Fulbright opportunity presented itself, this time to Jerusalem, Israel, where Dr. Berger lectured on American Music, and performed a bit with her younger violinist daugher.

Upon returning to the U.S. Dr. Berger continued to perform with her violinist daughter (then a Juilliard student) and once again reinvented herself by attending NYU for a graduate degree in Music Therapy. Upon graduating, she immediately obtained a position in a special school in Connecticut, for youngsters on the Autism spectrum (Giant Steps School), beginning a career as a Music Therapist, educator, lecturer, and author. After several years of teaching at the Giant Steps school, Dr. Berger developed her own clinic in Norwalk, "The Music Therapy Clinic", providing extensive Music-based treatment services to hundreds of youngsters of various diagnoses, particularly Autism. She continued to travel and lecture Internationally, in Italy, France, Canada, and North and South America and subsequently obtained a PhD Degree in Physiologic Music Therapy at Roehampton University, Dept. of Psych., London, UK. Dr. Berger recently received a Fulbright grant to spend a month teaching and lecturing in the Ukraine. She continues to lecture on information about which her published books detail, and was recognized by the American Music Therapy Association with an Award Of Merit for contributions to the field of Music Therapy. Dr. Berger has five published books, and a variety of articles and papers in various Journals. Some of her papers can be seen on Academia.edu under her name. Her five current books are available either on Amazon.com, or Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, UK.

Dr. Berger and husband relocated from Connecticut to Durham, NC several years go, where Dr. Berger has been Consultant, and Research Affiliate at UNC-Chapel Hill Medical School Dept. of Psychiatry's Frohlich Neuroscience Lab, undertaking research on Rhythm Entrainment, and also Music Therapy, Mood Disorders, and Depression. In addition, Dr. Berger continues her clinical work conducting special group classes, "Rhythm-Kinetics(c) For Parkinson's and Movement Rehabilitation", in part based on her Dalcroze rhythm. music and movement background, including drumming, singing, and mindfullness activities. (See https://www.wral.com/durham-therapist-tames-parkinson-s-disease-symptoms-with-music/18184368/ ). When not working, lecturing, or writing, she and husband enjoy cultural events, and being with their three grandchildren.