Christine Stolterfoth

Research project

Doctoral Research Project "Prevention and health promotion among students and staff at universities: silence as an aesthetic and ecological resource in everyday academic life".

Professional career

• 2001-2008: School music and music pedagogy. Degrees: Artistic State Examination for the teaching post at grammar schools in music, Diploma Music Teacher (Piano), Diploma Music Teacher (Ear Training), Diploma Music Teacher (Music Theory). University of Music Freiburg
• Since 2004: Freelance Piano teacher, pianist and song accompanist, children's choir master
• 2007-2011: Lecturer for Music Theory and Ear Training at the Institute for Musicology and Music Informatics. University of Music Karlsruhe
• Since 2015: Accredited lecturer and examination expert for music theory. Kalaidos University of Music Zurich
• 2007-2020: Lecturer for Music Theory and Ear Training. University of Music Freiburg
• Since 2022: Music Therapist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. University Medical Center Freiburg
• 2018-2022: St. Elisabethen-Krankenhaus gGmbH Lörrach: Music Therapist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
• 2018-2022: Music therapy, degree: Master of Arts. University of Augsburg
• Since 2023: Alternative Practioner for Psychotherapy (awarded on the basis of an expert opinion commissioned by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Public Health, which certifies that the academic achievements are to be regarded as equiva-lent to the specialisation programme "Clinical Psychology" at the LMU Munich)
• Since 2023: Research associate, Lecturer in the degree program Curative Education/Inclusive Education. Catholic University of Applied Sciences Freiburg

Main areas of work and research 

• Prevention and health promotion at universities
• Music therapy and mental health 
• Nature and mental health
• Silence
• Music therapy and meaning in life
• Depth Relaxation Music Therapy

Memberships in professional societies & networks

• German Music Therapy Association (Deutsche Musiktherapeutische Gesellschaft, DmtG)

Publications 

Pfeifer, E., Stolterfoth, C., Spahn, C., Schmidt, H. U., Timmermann, T., & Wittmann, M. (2020). Preventing music performance anxiety (MPA): Music students judge combined Depth Relaxation Music Therapy (DRMT) and silence to be an effective methodology. Music and Medicine, 12(3), 148–156. http://dx.doi.org/10.47513/mmd.v12i3.688  

Decker-Voigt, H.-H. [mit Beiträgen von Pfeifer, E., Rüdenauer-Speck, C. & Stolterfoth, C. (2024). Musiktherapeutische Tiefenentspannung. Leitfaden für die Praxis. München: Ernst Reinhardt.

Pfeifer, E., Aigner, S. E., Stolterfoth, C., Dale, R., Ostermann, T., Probst, T. & Humer, E. (2025). Music therapists’ perspectives on nature-connecting methods and the integration of nature in music therapy: Results of a survey among German and Austrian music therapists. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 92, 102252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2025.102252

Pfeifer, E., Stolterfoth, C., Spahn, C., Schmidt, H. U., Timmermann, T. & Wittmann,M. (2020). Preventing music performance anxiety (MPA): Music students judge combined Depth Relaxation Music Therapy (DRMT) and silence to be an effective methodology. Music and Medicine, 12(3), 148–156. http://dx.doi.org/10.47513/mmd.v12i3.688

Schiffer, K., Pfeifer, E., Stolterfoth, C. & Wittmann, M. (2025b). Silence, darkness, and gravity: A qualitative analysis of individual experiences during Floatation-REST. Spiritual Care, 14(3), 263–277. https://doi.org/10.1515/spircare-2025-0054

Stolterfoth, C. & Pfeifer, E. (2025). Music therapy and silence – Silence in music therapy. A systematic review. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 9