Music Therapy Commons^™

Queer, Black & Churched: Exploring Black Lgbtq+ Lived Experience And Spirituality Through Free Verse Poetry And Music, Kei Slaughter

Music and Health Case Studies

---

This arts-based qualitative pilot study explored the lived experiences of queer Black adults (ages 29–43) and their relationship to the Black Church. Using critical narrative inquiry, six participants completed semi-structured interviews; three also created free verse poems reflecting on their experiences. I created a musical composition in response to participants' narratives. Analysis of participant interviews and poems revealed five themes: the church as formative; queer-antagonistic rhetoric and spiritual harm; community and belonging; Black queer joy; and music as a spiritual pathway. Notably, all participants described gospel music as having an abiding influence on their spiritual and artistic identities, even when …

---

Safe And Sound, Madeleine Allen

Music and Health Case Studies

---

No abstract provided.

---

Roles, Responsibilities, Considerations, And Beyond: Community Musical Care, Renate 艶子 Rohlfing

Music and Health Research Briefs

---

Community musical care is about creating spaces where people come together, connect, and imagine healthier futures through music. It is about nurturing environments where creativity becomes a tool for well-being and collective strength. The concept is grounded in a fundamental belief: People inherently understand how to use creativity to care for themselves and others. In their daily lives, they use music to deepen relationships, process emotions, and navigate the complexities of being human. A crucial aspect of this work involves sustaining cultural practices and honoring the musical traditions that communities carry forward through generations.

---

Auditory Cognition Lab: A Music Therapy And Speech-Language Pathology Co-Treatment For Military-Connected Populations With Auditory And Cognitive Impairment, Danielle Vetro-Kalseth, Rebecca Vaudreuil, Heather Morrison, Kathleen Howard, Hannah Bronson

Faculty Works

---

Military personnel are particularly at risk for auditory processing difficulties as their training, occupational, and combat experiences increase the likelihood of long-term damage to the auditory system as well as negatively impact physical, psychological, cognitive, and sensory functioning. This article introduces a music therapy and speech-language pathology co-treatment program, Auditory Cognition Lab (ACL), that treats auditory and cognitive deficits in military-connected populations (service members, veterans) with traumatic brain injury (TBI). ACL addresses auditory discrimination, temporal and binaural processing, and trains compensatory strategies related to auditory processing, cognition, and hearing function. ACL has been clinically implemented at multiple military treatment facilities …

---

The Role Of Music In Public Health, Joy Allen Phd, Mt-Bc

All MHI Citations

---

Music is emerging as a critical yet underutilized determinant of public health. Evidence demonstrates that music-based interventions reduce hospital stays, medication use, and staff burnout while improving patient outcomes, caregiver well-being, and population-level health indicators. Despite these proven benefits, the field remains fragmented and underfunded, limiting its capacity to scale. This paper reframes music as a pillar of public health and argues for systems-level investment in infrastructure, workforce development, and cross-sector innovation. Drawing on the work of the Berklee Music and Health Institute, we highlight how translational research, accessible evidence tools, and interdisciplinary training are advancing equity-driven, sustainable approaches to …

---

A Remotely Delivered, Personalized Music Therapy Pilot Intervention For Lonely Older Adults During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nichola R. Haddad M.D., Twisha Bhardwaj B.A., Benjamin S. Zide M.St., Hema Kher M.D., Jessica M. Lipschitz Ph.D., Maria A. Hernandez M.D., Suzanne B. Hanser Ed.D., Nancy Donovan M.D.

Faculty Works

---

Introduction

This study investigated a remotely delivered, therapist-facilitated, personalized music listening intervention for community-dwelling older adults experiencing loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic. We assessed its feasibility and individuals' experiences of social connection and emotional well-being during the intervention.

Methods

Ten cognitively unimpaired older adults who endorsed loneliness completed eight weekly sessions with a board-certified music therapist via Zoom. Participants were guided in developing two online personalized music playlists and were asked to listen to playlists for at least one hour daily. Feasibility metrics were attendance, accessibility, and compliance rates. Post-study interview responses were analyzed using a rapid qualitative methodology. Exploratory …

---

Editorial: Music Therapy In Geriatrics, Volume Ii, Suzanne B. Hanser, Amy Clements-Cortés, Melissa Mercadal-Brotons, Concetta Maria Tomaino

Faculty Works

---

No abstract provided.

---

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Music Therapy Services, Joy Allen, Brian Jantz

Music and Health Research Briefs

---

Music therapy in neonatal intensive care is based on over 25 years of music therapy research and clinical practice as well as cumulative knowledge of premature and newborn infant development and human responsiveness to music.

---

The Impact Thinking Framework: A Process For Adbancing Research-To-Ractice Initiatives In Neuroaesthetics, Susan Magsamen, Tasha L. Golden, Catriona A. Towriss, Joy Allen

Faculty Works

---

Neuroaesthetics research explores brain, body and behavioral responses to engagement with the arts and other aesthetic sensory experiences. Evidence indicates that such experiences can help address various psychological, neurological and physiological disorders, and that they can support mental and physical well-being and learning in the general population. The interdisciplinary nature of this work contributes to its impact and promise; however, it also creates challenges as various disciplines approach and define research and practice in varied ways. Recent field-wide reports have noted that a consensus translational framework is needed to support further neuroaesthetics research that can deliver meaningful knowledge and interventions. …

---

Longitudinal Changes In Auditory And Reward Systems Following Receptive Music-Based Intervention In Older Adults, Milena Aiello Quinci, Alexander Belden, Valerie Goutama, Dayang Gong, Suzanne Hanser, Nancy J. Donovan, Maiya Geddes, Psyche Loui

Faculty Works

---

Listening to pleasurable music is known to engage the brain’s reward system. This has motivated many cognitive-behavioral interventions for healthy aging, but little is known about the effects of music-based intervention (MBI) on activity and connectivity of the brain’s auditory and reward systems. Here we show preliminary evidence that brain network connectivity can change after receptive MBI in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Using a combination of whole-brain regression, seed-based connectivity analysis, and representational similarity analysis (RSA), we examined fMRI responses during music listening in older adults before and after an 8-week personalized MBI. Participants rated self-selected and researcher-selected musical excerpts …

---

Resting-State Connectivity Of Auditory And Reward Systems In Alzheimer’S Disease And Mild Cognitive Impairment, Diana Wang, Alexander Belden, Suzanne B. Hanser, Maiya R. Geddes, Psyche Loui

Faculty Works

---

No abstract provided.

---

Editorial: Music Therapy In Geriatrics, Suzanne B. Hanser, Amy Clements-Cortés, Melissa Mercadal-Brotons, Concetta Maria Tomaino

Faculty Works

---

No abstract provided.

---

Music Therapy Strategies For Wellness, Suzanne B. Hanser

Crossroads of Music and Wellness

---

A revolution in healthcare, known as integrative health, is supporting the use of nontraditional treatments that take into account the needs and capacities of the whole person. Music therapy is supported by a growing body of evidence in favor of improved psychosocial, physical, neurological, emotional, and spiritual outcomes, in addition to quality of life, and its interventions serve individuals at home, in hospital, and wherever they might need a coping strategy.People encountering everyday stress, others with life-threatening or painful conditions, and anyone else open to self-discovery can benefit.

---

The Effects Of Participation In A Grief Choir On Perceived Grief, Coping, Energy, Social Support, And Health Among Bereaved Adults: A Mixed Methods Randomized Control Study, Lauren Dimaio

Crossroads of Music and Wellness

---

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of participation in a grief choir vs. verbal grief group on bereaved persons’ perceived grief, coping, energy, social support and health and to examine the experiences of those participating in both groups. In this mixed-methods study, the results from qualitative phenomenological focus groups were used to explain and interpret the findings of the Randomized Control Trial (RCT). Findings demonstrated that the grief choir may have been as effective as the verbal grief group when impacting the participants’ experience of grief.

---

Music & Neuroscience As A Digital Therapeutic For Walking, Brian Harris

Crossroads of Music and Technology

---

With the advancement of both neuroscience and clinical research demonstrating the ability of music to enhance functional outcomes, there is an ever-growing need to identify opportunities to deliver and solutions to facilitate these improved outcomes to patients. This need is amplified in the face of a growing and aging population that faces rising healthcare costs and a fractured healthcare delivery system. Digital therapeutics will play an important role in bringing these interventions to the people who need and deserve to have them.

---

Achieving Cohesiveness In Healthcare With Music, Motion, Technology, And Accountability: Novel Approaches For Music Therapy In The Digital Health Era, Imen Maaroufi

Crossroads of Music and Technology

---

This paper addresses the importance of music in therapy and education, focusing on the population segments of children with special needs and Parkinson’s patients. It also highlights the importance of rhythm in motion with the absence of music. It also address ways to measure and compare methods, as well as their impact and how technology can help us with that.

---

Music Therapy For Infants With Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Jasmine Edwards, Susan Bakouros

Crossroads of Music and Medicine

---

Over a quarter of a million infants each year are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). There is a trend for treatment of NAS to move away from pharmaceutical to non-pharmaceutical interventions to manage symptoms. This paper describes the treatment model called Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby: First Sounds (RBL).

---

Musician As Physician: Interwoven Artistry For Complex, Cancer Pain Management, Douglas E. Brandoff

Crossroads of Music and Medicine

---

The author, who is both a classical musician and a physician, reflects on how to interweave the skills he has from experience in both realms to become a more "complete" palliative care physician when working with patients.

---

Crossroads Of Music And Medicine, Annie Heiderscheit

Crossroads of Music and Medicine

---

The author proposes reuniting the disciplines of music and medicine in the service of alleviating the impact of pain, addiction, and trauma on human life. Music listening can reduce symptomology, reduce the use of medicine, and reduce costs. In the author's work conducting the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) with adults in treatment for a chronic addiction, she found that after a series of GIM sessions, patients began talking about letting go, moving on, and finding empowerment and transformation.

---

Music-Based Therapeutic Interventions For People With Dementia: A Mini-Review, Annemieke Vink, Suzanne Hanser

Faculty Works

---

The growing population of people with dementia worldwide calls attention to the burdens associated with age-related decline that affects physiology, psychological and cognitive status, and social/emotional wellbeing. The current standards in geriatric care recommend non-pharmacological approaches to these challenges, including safe approaches to managing pain and stress, enhancing symptom relief, and fostering independent lifestyles with the highest quality of life possible. The purpose of this article is to provide definitions of music-based interventions, music therapy applications and clinician qualifications, as well as an umbrella mini-review of meta-analyses regarding music-based interventions for individuals with dementia. Our findings indicate that most descriptions …

---