Ep 102 Tim Honig
Music Therapy Conversations
In this episode, Martin Lawes talks with Tim Honig, PhD, MT-BC This podcast conversation about Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) includes discussion about how the cultural context may affect practice, about the music’s role as co-therapist, and about the use of different types of music. The ongoing development of GIM worldwide is also considered where Music and Imagery (MI) methods are becoming increasingly important in Europe. Tim Honig, PhD, MT-BC is a board-certified music therapist and a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery. He is Assistant Professor and Director of...
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Ep 101 Tina Warnock
Music Therapy Conversations
Episode 101 is Luke's interview with Tina Warnock. This took place online in April 2025. Their conversation had a strong focus on vocal psychotherapy, including Tina's personal process of discovering this powerful therapeutic practice, and her current roles in developing training and research in this area. Tina Warnock is originally from Hertfordshire in England and has been based in Brighton, East Sussex since her undergraduate studies in Social Psychology in the late 1980s. She grew up playing the piano and in her late teens began singing and songwriting. The personal growth she experienced...
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Ep 100 Luke Annesley and Davina Vencatasamy
Music Therapy Conversations
The 100th episode is here! Luke and Davina look back on the podcast - how it started out, where it has come to, what they have learned so far. They also go on conversational detours, considering their own perspectives on this profession, including current discussions about diversity, inclusion and race, along with the nature of music in music therapy, and how individual, as well as multi-faceted, this work is. What were the original intentions for the podcast? Who helped get it started? What's Luke's favourite episode? All will be revealed! Thanks are also given to all those people who have...
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Ep 99 Michele Forinash
Music Therapy Conversations
Davina talks to Michele Forinash DA, MT-BC, LMHC about her experiences working with AIDS patients in hospice in the 1980s, topics around white supremacy and colonialism in music therapy, Michele's experiences as a queer music therapist, and the decolonisation of research and practice. This is a rich and inspiring interview with a music therapist with deep insights from a long and varied career to date. Michele is Professor & Director of the PhD program in the Expressive Therapies Department at Lesley University, Cambridge, MA. Michele, a white, cis, Queer woman, has been involved in...
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Ep 98 Tessa Watson
Music Therapy Conversations
Tessa Watson is a music therapist and trainer. She is Associate Professor and Programme Leader for the MA Music Therapy at University of Roehampton and works in that setting with colleagues across the Arts and Play Therapies and other HCPC registered professions. She has extensive clinical experience in mental health and learning disability work and her current music therapy work is with the children and families who use Alexander Devine Hospice. Tessa has an interest in co-production and is one of the founders of HENCoP (The Health Education Network for Co-Production). Tessa has published and...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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_outlineThis episode is Luke's conversation with Giorgos Tsiris, with a focus on spirituality and music therapy.
Born and raised in Athens, Greece, Giorgos moved to London in 2007 for his music therapy training. For the past 14 years, he has worked as a music therapist in diverse palliative care contexts for adults with incurable illnesses, their families and their local communities. He has developed collaborative community and intergenerational projects disrupting societal assumptions about death and dying, and his work has received national awards and informed similar arts initiatives internationally. Alongside his practice, Giorgos has a multifaceted research portfolio with extensive experience in issues pertaining to service evaluation and professionalisation in music therapy and within the wider field of arts and health, and in 2014 he co-authored two books on service evaluation and research ethics respectively. His doctorate focused on spirituality and its place in music therapy. Through an ethnographic lens, his research has brought to the fore the ‘doing’ of spirituality, its messiness and its performance within everyday music therapy contexts. Giorgos is the founding editor of Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy, and in 2022 he co-chaired the 12th European Music Therapy Conference. He currently serves as Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy at Queen Margaret University and the Arts Lead at St Columba’s Hospice Care, Edinburgh, Scotland.
References:
Bucar, L. (2022). Stealing my religion: Not just any cultural appropriation. Harvard University Press.
MacKian, S. (2012). Everyday spirituality: Social and spatial worlds of enchantment. Palgrave Macmillan.
Tsiris, G. (2017). Music therapy and spirituality: An international survey of music therapists’ perceptions. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 26(4), 293-319.
Tsiris, G. (2018). Performing spirituality in music therapy: Towards action, context and the everyday (Doctoral dissertation, Goldsmiths, University of London). https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/23037/
Tsiris, G. (2021). Tracing spirituality in everyday music therapy contexts: Methodological reflections. In K. Hendricks & J. Boyce-Tillman & (Eds.), Authentic connection: Music, spirituality and wellbeing (Chapter 10). Peter Lang.
Tsiris, G., & Ansdell, G. (2019). Exploring the spiritual in music. Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy, 11(1), 3-8. https://approaches.gr/tsiris-e20191124/