The Music Therapy Show

This week I'll be broadcasting from the Joint Conference of the Southwestern and Midwestern Regions of the American Music Therapy Association.

Ronna Kaplan, Director of the Department of Music Therapy since 2004, has been a music therapist at The Music Settlement since 1988, serving clients ranging from premature infants to adults through the age of 103 years with varied disabilities and levels of functioning.  She has conducted research on the effect of music on premature infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Cleveland Clinic and on music therapy program goals and outcomes for clients with autism spectrum diagnoses at The Music Settlement.  Her special interests are young children and individuals with diagnoses on the autism spectrum, language delays and/or problems in the area of social skills, as well as teen parents or those with mental illness. She has supervised many music therapy interns at The Music Settlement and was instrumental in developing the department’s Outcomes-Based Measurement tool and program.  She served as Interim Co-Executive Director of The Music Settlement and as Acting Director of the Performing Arts Department/Music School for several months in 2007. Ronna also taught Music Therapy Practicum and Adapted Percussion classes part-time at Baldwin-Wallace College for 14 years.

Kim Bell is a music therapist at Children's Hospital in New Orleans, LA and an Information Specialist for the American Music Therapy Association. She is trained in NICU Music Therapy, Infant Massage, and Neurologic Music Therapy.

Natasha Thomas is a graduate of the University of North Dakota (MS, Special Education, BM Music Therapy, BA Honors Program) & Board Certified Music Therapist, serving individuals statewide through North Dakota Vision Services/School for the Blind (NDVS/SB) and ND School for the Deaf, in addition to private clients she sees in the home and in settings like LISTEN Day Services and the LISTEN Drop-In Center. Natasha is also a member of the American Music Therapy Association and regularly attends their annual conferences. She enjoys educating her community on Music Therapy, supervising UND practica students, and teaching/performing Middle Eastern Dance in her spare time (when she has it!) Her twitter handle is @MusicMovesND. You can email her at [email protected]

Kate Taylor has practiced as a board certified music therapist (MT-BC) since 1999 and holds a Master of Arts in Music Therapy. Kate has been trained as a birth assistant or “doula” since 2007. Kate runs an agency called Music Therapy 4 Me and she is the founder of Creative Childbirth Concepts.  Through her private practice, Kate offers professional labor support and music therapy for childbirth.  Her advanced clinical training includes level I Guided Imagery and Music (GIM), improvisation, hospice music therapy and water birthing. 

Kate draws upon her knowledge of the birth process and her experience co-treating with creative arts therapists to develop innovative curriculum for expectant parents. Her work includes the use of music therapy in pre-natal and post-partum care as well as music therapy during childbirth.  Kate is uniquely qualified to guide couples through childbirth and has implemented music therapy at nearly a dozen hospital and home births.  Ms. Taylor has presented her work at music therapy conferences and international conferences on parenting. 

Kate is interested in connecting with other birth professionals and developing new research in music therapy assisted childbirth.  Please reach out to her to share your experiences and ideas. 

Contact Kate Taylor at [email protected] or visit www.musictherapy4me.com for more information about her music therapy and doula services.

Follow her facebook page Creative Childbirth Concepts 

https://www.facebook.com/CreativeChildbirthConcepts

Meganne Masko serves as Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks where she teaches undergraduate courses in music therapy and psychology of music. Ms. Masko holds a Bachelor of Music from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She completed her Master of Arts degree and music therapy equivalency work at The University of Iowa in Iowa City, and is currently a PhD candidate in music education at The University of Iowa. Her clinical speciality is hospice and palliative care, but she also consults with music educators working with students with special needs in general music classes and music ensembles. Ms. Masko's research interests include the use of music therapy in hospice care, the effects of music therapy on the epigenome, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. In addition to her academic and clinical work, Ms. Masko is the faculty advisor for the Autism Speaks U student organization at the University of North Dakota and an elected member of her local school board.

Barbara Reuer, PhD, MT-BC, is known internationally for her expertise in music-centered wellness and music therapy.  A graduate from the University of Iowa, she is Founder and Director of MusicWorx, a consulting agency based in San Diego, CA, and has more than 35 years of clinical experience in schools, convalescent facilities, retirement homes, hospices, medical and psychiatric hospitals, corrections facilities, substance abuse and eating disorders programs, health spas, as well as teaching at community colleges and universities.  More recently, she has established Resounding Joy, Inc., a non-profit organization to provide supportive and healing music environment for adults and children who are homebound or have special needs.

Major areas of Dr. Reuer’s current professional involvement are in the area of music therapy program and job development in San Diego County including an international music therapy internship program.  In addition to her clinical work, she provides workshops and seminars (wellness, community building, stress management and pain management) nationally and internationally for health care professionals, educators and corporate clients.  Public notice of her work extends from recognition in publications to the Lifetime network show, New Attitudes, and the UCSDTV Health Matters:  Music and the Mind.  

Dr. Reuer is a 2008 Southern California Cancer Pain Initiative Awardee for excellence in pain management.  She has served as President of the National Association for Music Therapy and is recipient of the American Music Therapy Association’s national Professional Practice Award in 2000 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. In 2006, she was awarded by her peers the Betty Isern Howery Award, at the Western Regional AMTA conference, the highest award for professional contribution in the field of music therapy in the region.

We are wrapping up Social Media Advocacy Month on January 25 by talking with Michael Ricucci and Michelle Murphy Akaras of Terra Rising Records. They are creating a documentary on the power of music in education and therapy, making the case for keeping music education in schools and for music therapy as an essential medical treatment.

On January 18, I'll talk with Brian Abrams and Karen Goodman about the music therapy program at Montclair. The Music Therapy training program at Montclair State University is one of the oldest (1969) and foremost training programs in this country. It features closely supervised clinical work each semester, which takes place at both highly reputable local facilities as well as schools, nursing homes and hospitals in New York City. In addition, the program offers a Music Therapy Training Group, Introduction to Guided Imagery and Music, an on-campus music therapy clinic, and specialized courses in piano accompaniment and clinical improvisation. Guest clinicians from the U.S. and other countries frequently make presentations and give workshops. In the past, the following guest clinicians offered workshops and lectures to our students: Clive Robbins, Clare O'Callaghan (Australia), and Elaine Streeter (Great Britain).

The MSU Music Therapy program is the only program in the state of New Jersey for educating music therapists and one of the most competitively priced undergraduate and graduate program in the tri-state metropolitan New York City area. All students who have completed this program have found positions.

This week as part of a series on Social Media Advocacy Month for music therapy, I'll be talking with Victoria Storm from Oak Park Music Therapy about why she loves music therapy.

Oak Park Music Therapy is based in a client-centered model; clients are served through a process of assessment, treatment/educational planning, intervention, and evaluation. Services are provided by a Board Certified Music Therapist to a variety of clientele.  Home-based individual sessions, contractual arrangements with local facilities, and community based creativity workshops are the core of our offerings.

Victoria Storm, MM, MT-BC uses the transformative power of music to assist people to gain new insights through the metaphors inherent in non-verbal and symbolic self expression.  Using the elements of music (rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, tempo, and dynamics) along with lyrics and story, Victoria customizes every session specifically for the needs of each client she sees.

Her clinical background includes 20 years of bringing music to persons in need through her work in a community music school, special education classrooms, physical and mental health hospitals, and elder care facilities.  Her Master and Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Therapy are from Western Michigan University.

Victoria is a singer/songwriter, forever dedicated to the healing power of music.