Ep 97 Jasmine Edwards
Music Therapy Conversations
In episode 97, Davina Vencatasamy talks to her friend and distinguished colleague Jasmine Edwards. Jasmine Edwards, MA, LCAT, MT-BC (she/her) is a doctoral candidate and fellow within Steinhardt Music Education with a focus in music therapy at New York University. Jasmine holds a BM and MA in music therapy from Florida State University and NYU, respectively. Her clinical experiences include private practice, outpatient, school-based, community, and medical pediatric settings, and she is trained in NICU-MT, First Sounds: RBL, and Austin Vocal Psychotherapy. Jasmine has a vested interest in...
info_outline
Ep 96 Tamsin Elliott
Music Therapy Conversations
Tamsin is a multi-instrumentalist and composer with roots in the traditional dance tunes of the British Isles. Her debut solo album (2022) established her as a rising star on the folk scene, with The Guardian praising her "beautiful, filmic compositions for accordion, harp, whistle and voice”. In this work Tamsin explores themes of limbo, pain, healing and acceptance, reflecting on the microcosm of her personal experience of chronic illness alongside wider themes of societal disconnection and environmental grief. Her forthcoming record The Meeting Tree celebrates...
info_outline
Ep 95 Dr Chamari Wedamulla
Music Therapy Conversations
In this episode, Davina Vencatasamy talks to Dr Chamari Wedamulla. Chamari is an independent researcher specialising in music education, with expertise in integrating music therapy approaches to enhance student mental health and well-being. Previously affiliated with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham City University, Chamari contributed to the Fair & Inclusive Music Midlands (FIMM) project commissioned by Arts Council England, exploring the perceptions of the Midlands music education landscape and current learning barriers faced by young people, while coordinating...
info_outline
Ep 94 Jonathan Tang
Music Therapy Conversations
Luke speaks to Jonathan 'Jaytee' Tang about his PhD research, which makes links between music therapy, music psychology and cultural psychology. They discuss the concepts of independent vs interdependent self-construal, and the relevance of this to musical interactions. This has some fascinating implications for music therapy practice. Jonathan (Jaytee) Tang has over nine years of international clinical experience as a music therapist, having worked in medical, special education, and mental health settings. His work with individuals and families from diverse cultural backgrounds fueled his...
info_outline
Ep 93 Colin Lee
Music Therapy Conversations
Colin Lee talks to Martin Lawes about his musicology-oriented approach as a Nordoff-Robbins trained music therapist, and about the newly published Oxford Handbook of Queer and Trans Music Therapy which he edited. The podcast begins and ends with music. To start with, a composition by a music therapist commissioned to begin the handbook. To conclude, an improvisation from a music therapy session where Colin explains his musical decision-making as a therapist. Colin Andrew Lee studied piano at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie and subsequently earned his...
info_outline
Ep 92 Tilly Mütter at BAMT 2024
Music Therapy Conversations
Tilly Mütter has repeated her roving reporter trick from EMTC 2022. This time she talks to various conference attendees at the BAMT conference in Leicester in May 2024, providing a variety of interesting perspectives on the weekend. the theme of the conference was 'About All of Us, For All of Us, By All of Us', with the primary aims of highlighting and promoting the development of Music Therapy. There are some familiar voices here (to Music Therapy Conversations listeners) along with some new ones. In order of appearance, Tilly spoke to: Naviella Dowds, Anthony Voelcker, Kelly Fraser, Duncan...
info_outline
Ep 91 Crystal Luk-Worrall
Music Therapy Conversations
In episode 91, Davina speaks to Crystal Luk-Worrall about EMDR and music therapy. Crystal Luk-Worrall is a music therapist and EMDR therapist working with the adoption community in London through her private practice Clap and Toot, as well as working with bereaved families through her work at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices. She enjoys exploring multi-modality practice and systemic practice. Crystal also supports fellow freelance therapists and newly qualified therapists through her role as BAMT’s freelance network coordinator.
info_outline
Ep 90 Helen Wallace-Bell
Music Therapy Conversations
In this podcast, Martin Lawes talks to Helen Wallace-Bell about SMI and RMI which are part of the contemporary spectrum of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) and Music and Imagery (MI) methods Helen explains what these approaches are and how the recorded music used is chosen collaboratively to help the client develop their inner resources or work on issues. Helen is involved in MI training which also gets discussed. In addition, Helen talks about her work with clients who have PTSD and about online groupwork with carers. She discusses various music used in this work...
info_outline
Ep 89 Emi Booth
Music Therapy Conversations
Emi talks with Davina about their recent debut at the BAMT Conference in May 2024 where they spoke about their experiences of being a deaf music therapist. Here are Emi's words of introduction: My name’s Emi and my pronouns are they/them. I’m a deaf music therapist who currently works in older people’s mental health in the NHS. I graduated from the University of Derby in 2022 with my master’s in music therapy, where I became passionate about making music therapy more accessible to deaf people. Ever since, I’ve been working on publishing my independent scholarship on how my experience...
info_outline
Ep 88 BAMT Conference 2024 Roundtable Discussion
Music Therapy Conversations
This is the recording of the live discussion from the BAMT conference at the Curve Theatre Leicester on 18 May 2024. The conference panel was Luke Annesley, Rachel Darnley-Smith, Tilly Mutter and Davina Vencatasamy. Surprise special guests were Wendy Magee and Joy Gravestock, who happened to be in the audience, and excerpts were included from previous episodes from Wendy and Joy, along with Denise Wong and Mercedes Pavlicevic. The episode includes discussion about the genesis of the podcast, the processes of interviewing and being interviewed, and closer examination of excerpts from episodes...
info_outline“We’re doing music therapy because of people’s humanity, not because of what people lack”
Luke spoke to Hakeem Leonard at the EMTC conference, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, in June 2022.
Hakeem Leonard is an Associate Professor of Music Therapy and the Assistant Provost for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia (United States). In his music therapy role, he has taught a range of courses, but most enjoys his social justice in music/arts and psychology of music courses, where the nexus of his current research focus lies in developing a desire-based, lifespan developmental framework to shape education, training, and personhood in and beyond music therapy. His published scholarship includes rehabilitation work as well as work rooted in anti-racist and culturally sustaining perspectives. Those include the article “The Problematic Conflation of Justice and Equality: The Case for Equity in Music Therapy” and his most recent co-authored chapter in the new Colonialism and Music Therapy text.
He has a passion for walking alongside students in their developmental growth process as culturally reflexive, confident, whole persons, with excellent music therapy knowledge and skills. He likes to stay grounded through various practices of listening and to experience joy through rest, creating things, and vibing with experiences and people. He is invested in conversations of anti-colonial and anti-oppressive practice from a place of intuition, desire, sustenance, love, wholeness, and relationship.
He is active on Instagram (@musicallman) where he shares about life, music therapy, and inclusion.
References
Devlin, K. (2018). How do I see you, and what does that mean for us? An autoethnographic study. Music Therapy Perspectives, 36(2), 234-242.
Dissanayake, E. (1993). Homo aestheticus: Where art comes from and why. University of Washington Press.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1903). The souls of black folk. Chicago: McClurg.
Fisher, C. & Leonard, H. (2022). Unsettling the classroom and the session: Anticolonial framing for Hip hop music therapy education and clinical work. In CAMTI Collective, Colonialism and music therapy (p. 305-334). Barcelona Publishers.
Kenny, C. (2014, March). The field of play: An ecology of being in music therapy. In Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 14(1).
The Colonialism, & Music Therapy Interlocutor’s (CAMTI) Collective. (2022). Colonialism and Music Therapy. Barcelona Publishers.
Trondalen, G. (2016). Relational music therapy: An intersubjective perspective. Barcelona Publishers.
Persons Referenced
Clifford K. Madsen
Jayne Standley
Tom Sweitzer