Dr. Pasiali received a BA Honors in Music Performance, from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. Subsequently, she worked as a public school music teacher and a freelance flute performer in Cyprus. She completed her equivalency/Master's degree in Music Therapy at the University of Kansas. Upon graduation, she worked as a music therapist in private practice (Ohio, US) and at the Music School Settlement (Cleveland, Ohio). She completed her PhD in Music Education with a cognate in Music Therapy at Michigan State. Currently, she is Associate & Livingstone Professor of music therapy and Chair of the Academic Honors Program at Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina. Her research interests include early intervention, family-based music therapy, prevention, wellness and mental health, resilience, and socioemotional health. Dr. Pasiali is a regular presenter at conferences and has published in various journals. Main lecturing areas include improvisation, applied clinical techniques, and psychology of music. She is an invited reviewer for music therapy journals including Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Journal of Music Therapy, The Arts in Psychotherapy and Frontiers in Psychology. She served as an associate editor for the open access peer-reviewed journal Therapy, and Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy and on the editorial board for the Journal of Music Therapy. Currently she serves on the editorial board for Music Therapy Perspectives and Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy.

At the very end of our conversation we alluded to Pinker's views on the non-adaptive role of music which he describes as 'auditory cheesecake'. Here are some links to follow this up, for anyone interested:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90569391/how-did-music-evolve-harvard-study-reveals-a-surprising-theory-no-its-not-a-sexual-mating-call

Also, here is a discussion by Levitin (evolutionary origins of music) about/against Pinker (who argues that music is a by product or an 'auditory cheesecake')

https://youtu.be/bf_tJK-we2w Part 1

https://youtu.be/iDJH9ITlF9E Part 2

https://youtu.be/UgGRR-6jHmI Part 3

And Pinker still argues about auditory cheesecake: 12:40 Pinker discussion. http://trbq.org/trbq-podcast-6-steven-pinker-on-music/

Here also are some references and links to Varvara's work:

Pasiali, V. & Clark, C. (2018). Evaluation of a music therapy social skills development program for youth with limited resources. Journal of Music Therapy, 55(3), 280-308. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/thy007

Pasiali, V., Schoolmeesters, L., & Engen, R. (2018). Mapping resilience: Analyses of measures and suggested uses in music therapy. Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy, 10(1), 1-25. https://approaches.gr/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2-Approaches-10-1-2018-a20160920_pasiali.pdf

Pasiali, V. (2014). Music therapy and attachment relationships across the lifespan. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 23(3), 202-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/08098131.2013.829863

Pasiali, V. (2012a). Supporting parent-child interactions: Music therapy as an intervention for promoting mutually responsive orientation. Journal of Music Therapy, 49(3), 303-334. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/49.3.303

Pasiali, V. (2012b). Resilience, music therapy, and human adaptation: Nurturing young children and families. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 21(1), 36-56. https://doi.org 10.1080/08098131.2011.571276