Growing up in his native New Zealand, composer and sound designer Garth Whitcombe was heavily influenced by the language, music and healing arts of the New Zealand Maori culture.

Garth attended Auckland University, where he studied English literature and theater arts, and received his diploma in sound engineering from the Queen Elizabeth II School of Audio Engineering in Auckland. His initial audio training was with Doug Rogers, (founder of East West), and legendary British producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars, Smashing Pumpkins.)

In Auckland Garth was employed both as a performer and as an arts administrator/consultant by the Auckland City Council and the New Zealand Arts Council. During this period he was also the musical director and composer for theater director Warwick Broadhead. Composing for theater and dance, Garth developed an awareness of the role of sound and music in the unfolding of the experiential moment. Recording with Space Music pioneer Dave Parsons on music for a video project, Garth began to explore the deeper elements of sound design.

As keyboard player for the Polynesian reggae band, Pacific Highway, Garth toured throughout New Zealand and the Islands. In his career as a performing musician he has opened for such notable acts as Elvis Costello, Sonny Terry and Brownee McGee, Charlie Daniels band, Jon Martin, Dizzy Gillespie and has accompanied Eurythmics flautist Tim Wheater in concert in Sydney, Australia.

In the field of sound engineering and audio production Garth has produced several projects for New Zealand record labels Sun Energy, IKA and Ode Records. His sound engineering experience includes working with Airto Moirera, Christopher Cross, Vince Gill and Gillian Welch.

Over the past two decades Garth has researched the effects of sound and music in the therapeutic setting. Incorporating historic and world tunings, he has composed and produced ten albums of music that are being used in massage and physical therapy, as well as psychology and hospital settings.

Garth’s continued collaborations include The Star Womb Project, a sound/art collaboration inspired by experiments into the origins of the first star, with artist Barbara Yontz of St. Thomas Aquinas College, NYC, and astrophysicist Daniel Wolf Savin of Columbia University, NYC. He was a guest performer and Maori language consultant with Nashville in Harmony’s performance of Christopher Tin’s ‘Calling All Dawns - Kia Hora Te Marino’ at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Currently based in Nashville, TN, Garth is the owner of Therapy Muse, a multimedia production company specializing in the healthcare market. He maintains a busy schedule that includes soundtrack work, album production and lecturing on the health effects of sound and music. He is a founder of the Nashville Myofascial Release Center with his wife, Sandy Whitcombe, LMT, where they are both practicing expert level Myofascial Release therapists and instructors, (John F. Barnes technique.) He is deeply grateful to John F. Barnes and to the many excellent therapists worldwide who use his music on a daily basis and have contributed to the ever-expanding knowledge of the power of music in the therapeutic setting.