Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Effect Of Pre-­Meal, Vocal Re-Creative Music Therapy On Nutritional Intake Of Residents With Alzheimer’S Disease And Related Dementias: A Pilot Study, Larisa Mchugh, Susan Gardstrom, James Hiller, Megan Brewer, Wiebke S. Diestelkamp

Music Faculty Publications

Singing has long been credited with a wide variety of physical, mental, and social health benefits (Hunter, 1999). Recent scientific inquiry points to the efficacy of singing toward enhanced cardiovascular and pulmonary performance (Bonilha, Onofre, Vieira, Prado, & Martinex, 2009), verbal communication (Wan, Ruber, Hohmann, & Schlaug, 2010), and immune functioning and attendant affective states (Kreutz, Bongard, Rohrmann, Hodapp, & Grebe, 2004; Kuhn, 2002; Unwin, Kenny, & Davis, 2002).

Among older adults, singing has been linked with improved mood, better quality of life, greater happiness, stress reduction, and emotional well-being (Clift et al., 2010).

In our own work, we have …

Music Therapy Within The Context Of Psychotherapeutic Models, Mary Scovel, Susan Gardstrom

Music Faculty Publications

Music therapy clinical practice occurs at various levels. Wheeler (1983) has classified the treatment of adults with mental disorders into three types: music therapy as an activity therapy; insight music therapy with re-educative goals; and insight music therapy with reconstructive goals.

Activity-based therapy is aimed at helping the client reach observable, measurable goals through various forms of music experiences. In contrast, the two remaining levels focus on facilitation of change through personal insight gained via musical experiences and verbalization about those experiences. Insight-based music therapy processes are ordinarily more intense and prolonged, in that deep emotions are evoked, and in …

Undergraduate Music Therapy Students’ Experiences As Clients In Short-Term Group Music Therapy, Nancy A. Jackson, Susan Gardstrom

Music Faculty Publications

This report highlights a collaborative, phenomenological study undertaken by two faculty researchers from different undergraduate music therapy training programs in the Midwest. A total of nine junior and senior music therapy students from both programs (five from one, four from the other) were involved in short-term group music therapy, participating in three two-hour sessions during the course of an academic semester. Sessions were facilitated by the researchers, both of whom were board-certified music therapists.

To ensure ethical treatment, each researcher led sessions with the students from the other university, with whom they had no dual relationships. Student participants were involved …