In this episode Mark interviews Jennifer Buchanan, President and founder of JB Music Therapy about the role music has played in her life, as well as the life-altering moment that inspired the creation of her company which uses music to help others.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, including who the winners are of Michael Arterberry's book from Episode 147, as well as a word from this episode's sponsor, Findaway Voices.

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In his personal update, Mark shares:

• Info about a couple of episodes he shared for patrons of the show (a reflections on other podcasts where he shares a clip from and talks about Episode 190 of The Writer's Well with Rachael Herron and J. Thorn (both have been guests on previous episodes of this podcast)
• An update on the progress made from his recent booklaunch, with the push on the free "first book" in series and the slowly growing sales of the next two books in his Canadian Werewolf series.
• How Amazon screwed up the great track record for the downloads of the price-matched free first in series title
• Having had success in getting more than 7000 words written in the past week (after a previous extended dry spell of writing) - this writing is for Lover's Moon, another title in the Canadian Werewolf series.
• An update on the Obsessions Kickstarter that has reached 153% of its funding goal and is almost halfway to the first stretch goal.

During their conversation, Mark and Jennifer discuss:

• Jennifer's introduction to music and which instrument she prefers as the most beautiful instrument
• The experience of hearing the same song via different singers and the uniqueness of the emotional resonance in the listener
• The underlying biological impact music can have on us
• The human to human connection that music can bring
• Understanding that there is some music out there that is specific to you, and might not resonate the same way with others
• The backstory of Jennifer's music therapy business and how it ties back in to a life-altering moment with her grandfather
• How, when she was a child, Jennifer was the kind of kid who loved doing special projects
• The age range of Jennifer's clients and the kinds of therapies that are popular with clients
• An annual music festival a friend of Jennifer's runs called Farmstock, and how it had to change significantly due to the Covid-19 pandemic
• Jennifer's advice about the creation of a life playlist
• Wellness Incorporated, Jennifer's most recent book and how it became a bridge between being a music therapist and having to be an entrepreneur
• Getting an MBA a couple of decades after starting her business
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on the way music can bring people together and find strong bonds of commonality. He also reflects on the concept of a biographical playlist, and suggests writers might consider the theme music that might play when a character walks into a scene as an interesting exercise for writers.

Links of Interest:

• Jennifer Buchanan's Website
• Jennifer's Social Media
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
• JB Music Therapy
• JB Music Social Media:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
• Episode 150 -Anatomy of a Book Launch
• Episode 149 - Killing it on Kickstarter with Russell Nohelty
• Episode 147 - Master Encourager Michael Arterberry
• Mark's Feed The Obsession Kickstarter
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Series
  • This Time Around (Book 0)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York (Book 1)
  • Stowe Away (Book 1.5)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles (Book 2)
• Findaway Voices
• Books2Read
• Draft2Digital
• Wide for the Win Submission Form
• Patreon for Stark Reflections

Jennifer Buchanan is an award-winning author and clinician.

Described as inspirational, engaging, and thought-provoking, Jennifer's keynotes provide practical strategies, grounded in global research and case studies, that help foster improved well-being within ourselves, our workplaces, and throughout our community.

Jennifer's company JB Music Therapy has been instrumental in the implementation of hundreds of music therapy programs throughout Canada for almost 30 years and has been thrice nominated for the Community Impact Award by the Chamber of Commerce. Jennifer is the recipient of the two most prestigious Canadian music therapy lifetime service awards: the Franni Award and the Norma Sharpe Award.

She has served as the President for the Canadian Association of Music Therapists for 5 years and has been an invited keynote speaker at national and international conventions speaking on music therapy and health entrepreneurship to a wide variety of education, healthcare, government, small business, and corporate audiences.

As an author of two award-winning books – 'Tune In' and 'Wellness Incorporated' she has appeared as a guest on numerous news and current affairs programs including Fox News Health, NBC, CBS, CBC Radio, CBC Television, CTV, Global TV, and has been featured in publications such as The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Chatelaine Magazine and Canadian Living (read articles and view videos here)

In addition to her Music Therapy education Jennifer has her Executive MBA specializing in social entrepreneurship from the University of Fredricton.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0