Music Therapy

5 Problems Music Can Create

August 15, 2014

I am a strong believer in the incredible and varied effect music can have on us. I believe in its ability to shape our brains and our selves. It’s for this reason that I started both my children in piano lessons just shy of their fifth birthdays. Music is the vocational passion of my life […]

0 comments Read more…

Music IN Therapy vs. Music AS Therapy: A Change in Perspective?

July 25, 2014

A fellow music therapist published an insightful piece this week about his journey from a music snob to a music therapist. Based on comments and article shares, his post seemed to resonate with other music therapists. It did for me, too, but not in the music snob way . . . See, I’ve been trying […]

3 comments Read more…

5 Ways to Handle Misrepresentation of Music Therapy

June 11, 2014

One of the most common complaints I hear from fellow music therapists relates to misrepresentation—that is, when a person, company, or media piece advertises “music therapy” when none exists (well, there may be music involved, but not music therapy as provided by a qualified professional trained with the rigorous competency standards of board certified music […]

1 comment Read more…

Musings on the State of Music Therapy Research: Strengths, Challenges, and Future Directions

March 18, 2014

Earlier this month I invited Dr. Michael Anestis, a clinical psychologist and researcher, to share his perspectives on music therapy research. By his own admission, his area of focus is mental health research—which omits the medical, rehabilitation, developmental, wellness, and preventive areas of focus in music therapy research—but I felt he had fair and valid […]

2 comments Read more…

[Guest Post] The Importance of Testing Treatments for Mental Illness Before we Sell Them

March 13, 2014

I read an interesting exchange on a Facebook feed recently between this author, clinical psychologist and researcher Dr. Michael Anestis, and some of my music therapy friends and colleagues about the perceived state of music therapy research. The exchange, though unresolved, was enticing enough that I reached out to Michael and invited him to share […]

1 comment Read more…

Comments on “Using” vs “Working In” Music

March 6, 2014

I’ve been percolating on the ideas presented by Dr. John Carpente in a blog post he wrote this week in which he explores the concept of music being “used” in therapy as opposed to music being “worked in” in therapy. It’s not a new conversation—I usually read about the music AS versus music IN therapy […]

10 comments Read more…

[PsychToday] Music Therapy for our Soldiers

February 27, 2014

My first non-familial encounter with veterans was as a soon-to-be sophomore in college, two days shy of moving to Iowa City as a transfer student and new music therapy major. I had just learned about music therapy and had spent the past month turning my life upside-down to transfer to the University of Iowa to […]

0 comments Read more…

[Guest Post] Emerging Research: Music Therapy and Disorders of Consciousness

February 17, 2014

I first met Julian O’Kelly at the Society for Music Perception and Cognition conference in Toronto last August. Julian is a man of many talents—music therapist, clinician, researcher, PhD student, speaker, and professional pianist. It was through circustance that we ended up co-presenting with our respective PhD mentors at the SMPC conference, but it turned […]

2 comments Read more…

[#MTAdvocacy Press Release] Setting the Record Straight: What Music Therapy Is and Is Not

January 30, 2014

Last fall, I received an email Jennifer Peters, a Communications Intern for the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). Jennifer was working on a press release about music therapy and asked if I’d be willing to help distribute the release. She sent it to me this week and well…it fits quite nicely with this month’s Social […]

2 comments Read more…

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →