About Aunt Susie

Susan Patricia Golden, Aunt Susie

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of
everyday life.”

—Berthold
Auerback

“Life without music can
only be seen in black and white. It takes music to add the color.”

Artie Shaw,
Clarinetist and band leader

From The Gifts of Music.
Copyright © 1994 by
Music Educators National Conference. Used with permission.

Susan Patricia Golden, known as Aunt Susie, describes herself as a “Reconstruction” Musician^*. Until 1989 she believed rumors that she was tone-deaf and would sing only in the shower — when home alone.

Since rediscovering her voice in workshops with Susan Osborn in April 1989 and David Darling in August 1989, Susan has been singing in a fabulous choir and making music on a regular basis. She knows from her experience that Maya Angelou’s words ring true: “Singing puts starch in your spine!” The same is true for music-making.

Besides her private consulting practice, and as a result of her own newfound pleasure, joy and life-giving experiences making music, Aunt Susie:

leads workshops for musically challenged adults
turns trouble makers into Treble-Makers
creates memorable birthday parties for children
teaches school groups and scout troops to enjoy
their own music
encourages families to make music together
inspires children to embrace their own music,
art, dance, drama, reading and writing as life-long gifts.

Aunt Susie holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology and is a licensed therapist in Maryland from 1984 until 2008. Her work as a therapist convinced her that creative expression, especially through music, releases much of the daily stress of life and opens the door to healing old wounds and to good mental, physical and spiritual health and well-being. Music enhances the human experience and feeds the soul.

Aunt Susie lives in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. She has 19 nieces and nephews and 38 great nieces and great nephews. She also writes, swims and does volunteer work with various groups in the area.

^*Reconstruction Musician – a term Aunt Susie coined to describe taking people back to the way they were when they made their grand entrance into this world–creative, musical and artistic beings.

Aunt Susie believes what Fred Rogers, Television producer and host
of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, says, “To grow into ‘builders and
enlighteners’ children (and adults) need to find healthy ways to
express who they are and what they’re feeling.

“Through music, we can deal with our thoughts and feelings: those
interior things that really matter to us.

“How we feel about ourselves, about others, and about the world
determines how we use what we learn in school. What’s of ultimate
importance is not what facts the children are learning, but rather,
how they will use those facts. Will they use them to BUILD or to
TEAR DOWN — to enlighten or to enslave?

“Music education must be far more than a ‘gift’ to just some children
in some schools — it must be the rich opportunity to grow for all
children in all schools!”