Ep 108 Sami Alanne
Music Therapy Conversations
Dr Sami Alanne, DMus, music therapist, training psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, is an Adjunct/Associate Professor of music therapy and a researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki. His studies include traumas, refugeeism, mental health, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy relating to music, culture, philosophy, and society. He is the author of the books (Barcelona Publishers) and (Palgrave Macmillan). Dr Alanne graduated as a music therapist at the Sibelius Academy in 1999 and the Master of Philosophy in music therapy at the University of Jyväskylä in 2001. He has worked in music...
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Ep 107 Anita Connell at the AMTA Conference Part 2
Music Therapy Conversations
This is the second instalment of Anita Connell's recorded interviews from the Australian Music Therapy Conference, following on from episode 104. Dr Grace Thompson is a registered music therapist and Associate Professor in Music Therapy at the University of Melbourne. Grace has lived experience of disability, and has worked with disabled children, young people and their families for over 20 years within the early childhood and special education sectors. As part of her PhD research, Grace developed and evaluated a collaborative approach to music therapy practice with families guided by...
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Ep 106 Tamar Hadar
Music Therapy Conversations
Tamar Hadar, PhD, is co-head of the Music Therapy Program at the School of Creative Arts Therapies, University of Haifa, where she leads the program together with Dr. Maayan Salomon-Gimmon. She completed her M.A. and PhD in Music Therapy at Bar-Ilan University. Her doctoral research - supervised by Prof. Dorit Amir - compared clinical improvisation and jazz improvisation. Tamar’s first postdoctoral fellowship was at NYU under the mentorship of Prof. Kenneth Aigen, where her work centered on analyzing Nordoff and Robbins’s clinical improvisations and developing a theory of time around...
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Ep 105 Hugh Anderson
Music Therapy Conversations
Episode 105 is another interview from Crystal Luk-Worrall. In this episode, Crystal talks to music therapist Hugh Anderson. Hugh is a freelance Music Therapist and currently runs his own private practice, Thame Music Therapy, in South Oxfordshire. He trained at The Guildhall from 2014-2016 and has had a wide range of experiences working in mainstream and specialist schools and nurseries, as well as in different charity and community settings. The latter included eight years at the charity Resources for Autism in north London, where he was Head of Therapies from 2020-2023. Before training as a...
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Ep 104 Anita Connell at the Australian Music Therapy Conference 2025 - Part 1
Music Therapy Conversations
In this episode, first Luke talks to Anita, then we hear Anita's interviews with Professors Denise Grocke and Alison Short. Sandwiched between these two longer interviews there are some shorter conversations with Pip Reid, Lucy Bolger, Wendy Magee, Helen Cameron, Catherine Threlfall and Emma O’Brien. This all took place at the in October 2025, in Melbourne. Emeritus Professor Denise Grocke PhD, RMT, RGIMT, FAMI, L. Mus. Emeritus Professor Denise Grocke completed her music therapy qualifications at Michigan State University, USA, and holds a Masters degree in Music Therapy, and a PhD in...
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Ep 103 Carine Ries
Music Therapy Conversations
In episode 103, Crystal Luk-Worrall interviews Carine Ries. Crystal is a new addition to the Music Therapy Conversations team of interviewers - more interviews from her coming soon! (You can also listen to Davina's interview with Crystal, if you haven't already, as this is .) Carine completed her undergraduate degree in Music & Psychology at the University of Leeds before moving to London to complete her MA in Music Therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2010. Carine has since also qualified as a Music and Imagery therapist and GIM fellow. Carine completed her 200hrs...
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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...
info_outlineDr Sami Alanne, DMus, music therapist, training psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, is an Adjunct/Associate Professor of music therapy and a researcher at the University of the Arts Helsinki. His studies include traumas, refugeeism, mental health, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy relating to music, culture, philosophy, and society. He is the author of the books The Theory and Practice of Psychodynamic Music Psychotherapy (Barcelona Publishers) and Music, Music Therapy and Refugees: Aspects of Trauma (Palgrave Macmillan).
Dr Alanne graduated as a music therapist at the Sibelius Academy in 1999 and the Master of Philosophy in music therapy at the University of Jyväskylä in 2001. He has worked in music therapy and mental health fields for over 30 years. As a music therapist and a psychotherapist, he has worked with children, adolescents, their families, and adult clients providing individual and group therapy at his private practice and health care company Apollo Terapiapalvelut (Apollo Therapy Services) in Helsinki. Besides his clinical work, during his career Alanne has been actively teaching, supervising, doing research, project work, and media appearances relating to music therapy, psychotherapy, health care, social welfare, and mental health services.
In 2010, Alanne was awarded the title of Doctor of Music at the Sibelius Academy. His published dissertation was Music Psychotherapy with Refugee Survivors of Torture. In 2011, Alanne graduated as a psychodynamic music psychotherapist at the University of Oulu, and in 2013, as a trainer psychotherapist in music psychotherapy at the University of Oulu, Faculty of Medicine. After his special advanced level training of music psychotherapy at the University of Oulu in Finland, Alanne published another monograph Musiikkipsykoterapia (2014) in Finnish that was a study of psychodynamic music therapy theory, methods, and research.
Since then, Dr Alanne continued his research and teaching of music therapy and psychotherapy: He has published several peer-reviewed scientific articles and books and presented them at multiple international conferences. During 2017–2019, he was a member of specialist group and project PALOMA (Developing National Mental Health Policies for Refugees at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland. In 2021, Alanne was awarded with a Title of Docent in music therapy (Adjunct/Associate Professor) indicating high level research and teaching competence at the University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki), and Uniarts Helsinki`s Sibelius Academy, and CERADA (The Center for Educational Research and Academic Development in the Arts). After that he has also worked as a visiting researcher at the Uniarts Helsinki`s Research Institute. In 2022, Dr Alanne graduated as a psychoanalyst and a trainer psychotherapist at the Therapeia Institute and the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine.
References
Alanne, S. (2010). Music Psychotherapy with Refugee Survivors of Torture. Interpretations of Three Clinical Case Studies. Sibelius Academy, Music Education Department, Studia Musica 44.
Alanne, S. (2014). Musiikkipsykoterapia. Teoria ja käytäntö. [Music Psychotherapy. Theory and Practice.] Acta Universitatis Ouluensis D Medica 1248.
Alanne, S. (2023). The Theory and Practice of Psychodynamic Music Psychotherapy. Dallas, TX: Barcelona Publishers.
Alanne, S. (2025). Music, Music Therapy, and Refugees: Aspects of Trauma. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.