Music Therapy Commons^™

Redefining Connection And Meaning-Making Through Virtual Artistic Community Amidst Persistent Adversity: A Community Engagement Project, Gwendolyn Healy

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the meaning of community drastically shifted across the world. Many groups and individuals were forced to alter their professional, academic, and personal lives in order to persevere through this collective, global health crisis. During a time in history where so much changed in a short period of time, community and peer supports became more important than ever. Specifically for students involved in arts or expressive arts programs, the process of collective art making serves as a means of communication, connection, and emotional and mental processing. Without these connections and critical supports, feelings of disconnect, disinterest, loss …

The Effectiveness Of Music Therapy With Children Who Have Experienced Trauma Using The Neurosequential Model Of Therapeutics (Nmt): A Literature Review, Brianna Lambert-Jenkins

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper initiates filling the gap in the literature by utilizing NMT, which addresses trauma through understanding and assessing how it has impacted a child neurodevelopmentally with music therapy. Children in intensive residential care are referred to treatment with a unique range of challenges resulting from their traumatic experiences. Of these challenges, included are a wide range of traumatic experiences such as physical/emotional abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, homelessness, witnessing violence or domestic abuse, adjustment issues, attachment issues, or trauma while in utero. The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) is a newer framework for working with developmental trauma. Current research around …

Music Therapy Program Development In A Hospital Setting: A Critical Review Of Literature, Alexandria Rodriguez

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This capstone is a critical review of literature regarding development of music therapy programs in general hospital settings within the United States. This document will assist in defining important aspects of program success and serve to help better advocate for music therapy programs, creative arts therapies, and well-being programs functioning within a traditional general hospital setting. This capstone thesis presents key elements of successful music therapy program development, as proposed by in-field music therapist interview, studies utilizing music therapy in general hospital settings to serve both patients, hospital staff, and community outreach, suggestions for arts in health curricular development, and …

The Use Of Violin Family Instruments In Music Therapy With Individuals Experiencing Acute Psychiatric Presentations: A Literature Review, Brianna Rzeznik

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review seeks to better understand the unique ways in which the four contemporary violin family instruments - violin, viola, cello, and double bass - can be used in music therapy with individuals experiencing mania, psychosis, and dissociation. In this paper, I explore the ways in which these four instruments have been used throughout Western music history and the different roles assigned to them by composers, as well as the ways in which they are used in music therapy today. I then explore the acute psychiatric presentations of mania, psychosis, and dissociation, and the treatments and goals that tend …

A Group Music Therapy Method To Promote Mentalization Skills In Clients With Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Lisa Riggs Hobbs

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Abstract

This paper investigates the development of a group music therapy method by adapting elements of mentalization-based treatment (MBT) to help clients with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). A prominent characteristic of NPD is a deficiency in empathy. The fostering of empathy and emotional awareness forms the basis of MBT. Music therapy offers a means to explore these skills on a nonverbal level. This work is even more impactful in a group setting. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of literature specific to music therapy and NPD. Furthermore, despite the availability of writings separately concerning NPD, MBT, group therapy, and music therapy, …

The Non-Verbal Expressions And Experiences Of An Autistic Adolescent In Improvisational, Relationship-Based Music Therapy, Naoko Funahashi

Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the non-verbal expression and experience of an autistic adolescent with language delay in improvisational, relationship-based music therapy. The purpose of the study was to gain a fuller understanding of the adolescent’s experience in music therapy and to discover the roles of music therapy in the larger context of the adolescent’s life. The adolescent’s mother and a professional from his treatment team at his school were each invited to participate in an individual interview consisting of review of a music therapy session video and semi-structured discussion. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews yielded themes related to the following: …

A Thematic Analysis Of The Clinician's Experience Of Individual Music Therapy In Skilled Nursing Facilities With Older Adults, Jaycie Perretta

Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative research study explored the music therapist’s experience of conducting individual music therapy sessions with older adult clients residing in skilled nursing facilities. Three music therapists partook in semi-structured interviews discussing their individual experiences conducting individual music therapy sessions with older adult clients in skilled nursing facilities. Participant interview transcripts were the primary data source and thematic analysis was used to elicit themes in the data. Five themes emerged: (a) theoretical framework, (b) client preferred music used in individual music therapy sessions (c) flexibility in individual sessions, (d) structured sessions for group work, and (e) advocacy for music therapy …

The Experience Of Music Therapists Working With The Parents Of Premature Infants In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Nicu), Harria Kim

Theses & Dissertations

This study explored the lived experience of music therapists working with parents of premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While there are many studies regarding the effects of music therapy on parents and premature infants in the NICU, few in-depth qualitative studies focus on the experiences and perspectives of music therapists working in the NICU. The present study aims to explore music therapists’ experiences of working with the parents of premature infants in the NICU and their perspectives on how music therapy can meet the needs of these parents. Data were collected through audio-video recording and transcription …

Music Therapist Experiences Of Meaningful Moments In Short-Term Medical Settings: A Thematic Analysis, Haojie Lyu

Theses & Dissertations

Meaningful moments in music therapy sessions may only occur in small moments, imperceptible or fleeting, but can have a tremendous impact on the overall treatment process, especially in short-term medical settings. The literature on the topic of "meaningful moments" in music therapy is sparse, with even less mention of "meaningful moments" in single sessions or short-term clinical settings. In this study, I explored the personal experiences of music therapists to gain a better understanding and awareness of meaningful moments in short-term medical settings. I used semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore the research question, “What are music therapists' experiences …

The Connections In Relationships Among Autistic And Neurotypical Adolescents Participating In A Virtual, Inclusive, Performative Music Therapy Group, Laura Silvestain

Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the connections in relationships among autistic and neurotypical adolescents in a virtual, inclusive, performative music therapy group. The researcher utilized a one-group pretest-posttest design. There is a lack of research involving inclusive music therapy groups with adolescents. As such, this research was needed in order to provide opportunities for adolescents to connect in an inclusive music therapy group, aligning with the neurodiversity movement in uplifting autistic voices rather than focusing on improving perceived deficits of autism. Four participants engaged in four inclusive, performative music therapy sessions through active music-making and sharing music preferences. They each completed a …

The Experiences Of An Individual With Parkinson's Engaging In A Relationship-Based, Improvisational Music Therapy Group, Daniel Delucia

Theses & Dissertations

This study explored the experiences of an individual with Parkinson’s engaging in a relationshipbased, improvisational music therapy group. The researcher utilized the methodology of naturalistic inquiry. An archived video recording of a group music therapy session held through a videoconferencing platform was observed. Music experiences and verbal dialogue were transcribed and put into notation software, and subsequently analyzed through inductive analysis. Two main themes were found: (a) Musical Interrelatedness and (b) Relationship Between Music and Words, with two subthemes under the former; Diane’s Musical Relationship with the Therapist and Diane’s Musical Relationship with the Group; and three under the latter; …

The Role Of Affinity Group Membership For Marginalized Music Therapy Students And Professionals, Fakoya A. Jack-Vilmar

Theses & Dissertations

Little research has been done exploring the significance of affinity group membership in the profession of music therapy. In this study, 48 music therapy students and professionals who identified as a part of an affinity group connected to their marginalized identities were surveyed, answering open- and closed-ended questions related to their experiences of a sense of belongingness, acculturative stress, and burnout in professional environments. Quantitative data were analyzed using cross-tabulation descriptive statistics through Google Forms and qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The quantitative data highlighted how affinity group membership plays a significant role in the sense of belongingness …

Integrative Music Therapy: A Healing Intervention For Children With Disabilities, Francesca N. Do

Theses and Graduate Projects

Children with developmental delays have barriers to accessing early interventions to help develop their childhood milestones. An accessible intervention considered a universal language to all cultures is integrative music therapy. Music therapy paired with in-home care can create a healing environment for children to learn developmental skills, initiate play, and express their emotions with the nurse’s guidance. An integrative music therapy educational program was developed using Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring as a theoretical framework for the pediatric nurses working in a rural Midwest home health care company. The goal of the educational program is to promote awareness of …

The Relationship Between Misophonia Sensitivity And Musicality, Mae Ling Catayong, Sarah Uganiza, William Smithers, Aileen Corral, Sivan Barashy, Solena Mednicoff, Destiny Gonzales

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Misophonia is a condition characterized by negative emotional reactions to certain everyday sounds. Musicality involves Active Musical Engagement (AE), Self-reported Perceptual Abilities (PA), Musical Training (MT), Self-reported Singing Abilities (SA), Sophisticated Emotional Engagement with Music (EM), and General musical sophistication (GM). Numerous active musicians have self-reported having misophonia, while anecdotal reports have shown that music can help treat misophonia symptoms.

Misophonia Sensitivity Is Related To Enhanced Responsiveness To Misophonia, Asmr And Musical Frisson, Alexis Rice, Kiara O'Keefe, Kacey Chang, Sivan Barashy, Solena Mednicoff, Destiny Gonzales

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Misophonia: a condition in which specific everyday sounds (e.g., chewing, breathing) trigger an atypical, negative emotional response.

ASMR: a sensory phenomenon triggered by stimuli that induce a state of relaxation, positive feelings, and tinging sensations that spread from the head to the rest of the body.

Musical frisson: typically characterized by positive affect and strong physiological reactions, such as shivering, goosebumps, and teary-eyes in response to highly pleasurable music.

You Never Walk Alone: How Bts Supports Army Mental Health And Well-Being, Melissa Le

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

BTS is a seven-membered South Korean boyband with a fandom named "ARMY." Music is generally associated with increased mental health, but not all types of music genres have been studied yet. With the current rise of Korean popular music (K-pop), it is important to understand what makes this genre popular and why fans claim it has improved their mental health. As BTS is currently the most popular K-pop group globally, they provide a unique look at how their music can help fans with depression and anxiety.

The “Sing Me A Story” Project: A Study Of Songwriting And Its Impact On The Disabled, Camden M. Diver

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

The “Sing Me a Story” project is an initiative with the purpose to explore the therapeutic effect of songwriting on young adults with disabilities. With sessions taking place over the course of several weeks, the project is inspired by my own experience and incorporates research on the ever-growing field of music therapy. Participants are invited to join me for co-writing sessions where they will help write a song that expresses their original ideas and emotions. As we get to know one another and the songs are written, the goal is for participants to experience greater confidence in conveying and communicating …

Music And Mental Health: Increasing Awareness And Promoting Wellness, Catherine Sarah Black

Senior Theses

“Music for Mental Health: Increasing Awareness and Promoting Wellness” examines how music might raise mental health awareness and act as a coping resource. Specifically, it 1) argues for the connection between music and mental health, 2) presents a case study of select BTS songs that have been useful in promoting mental health, and 3) describes the efforts of Classical Healing Keys, a non-profit organization designed by the author as a proposal to promote mental health through classical music.

Music Is The Intervention: The Intersections Of Music As A Therapeutic Activity In At-Risk Youth, Gladys H. Gonzalez Landaverde

Senior Honors Theses

Across the United States, public schools face many discrepancies in the quality and caliber of education that a student can expect to receive. While schools try to address the vast needs of students, many children and adolescents are unfortunately faced with choosing between prioritizing their education and the circumstances faced outside of the school day. The discrepancies in schooling range from the quality in the commonly accepted core curriculum like English and mathematics to the opportunities offered outside of traditional academia like music. Unfortunately, at-risk students are unlikely to have access to music education in the same ease as their …

Music Therapy In Us Corrections: Philosophy, Practice, And Protocols Of Music Therapists Working With Incarcerated People In The Us, Lorna E. Segall, Olivia S. Yinger

Music Faculty Publications

Although the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and music therapy has existed in U.S. correctional facilities for almost a century, little is known about music therapists who provide services to people who are incarcerated. Exploration in this area is important as it could help inform clinical practice, music therapy curriculum, and potentially influence policy in the treatment of inmates. This study explores the philosophy, practices, and protocols of music therapists working in the U.S. corrections system. Board-certified music therapists ( N = 542) completed an online survey in which they indicated their reasons for working …

The Effect Of Listening To Relaxing Music Versus Mood Sequence Formulatm Music On Anxiety, Stress, And Resilience In Healthcare Workers And Hospital Staff: A Pilot Study, Anna P. Ortiz

All Zyzzogeton Presentations

The study aims include testing:

• Effect of music listening interventions to decrease anxiety and stress in healthcare workers compared to attention control.
• Effect of music listening interventions to improve resilience in healthcare workers compared to attention control.
• Compare the efficacy of music listening interventions with relaxing music (60-80 beats per minute) to music infused with the Mood Sequence FormulaTM (Stress Break) on stress, anxiety, and resilience in healthcare workers.
• Use of online intranet platform for delivery of study interventions and participant engagement

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 …

Burmese Buddhist Monks, The Seventh Precept, And Cognitive Dissonance, Heather Maclachlan

Department of Music Faculty Publications

Burmese Theravada Buddhist monks have varying degrees of involvement with music; this study of 22 monks from across Burma/Myanmar reveals that most of them often listen to recorded music. At the same time the monks acknowledge that Buddhism’s Seventh Precept is (or ought to be) a guide for their behavior, agreeing that to be “attached” to music is to violate their monastic rule. They therefore experience cognitive dissonance, and they respond to this dissonance in predictable ways - that is, in ways documented by researchers working with Western populations. They differ, however, in their phenomenological experiences of attachment.

The Lived Supervision Experiences Of Disabled Music Therapists, Emma Martin

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Within and outside of the music therapy field, there has been a recent push for more conversations and literature on social justice. However, disability has been largely left out of this dialogue. Disabled individuals have unique worldviews, and their voices as individuals and practitioners should be an integral part of social justice within music therapy. This study examined disabled music therapists' supervision experiences. All music therapists receive supervision during their education and clinical training, and many go on to supervise. Supervision therefore presents an opportunity to advance the profession by striving to understand disabled music therapists’ perspectives. The purpose of …

Patient And Therapist Perceptions Of Respiratory Functioning Due To Spinal Cord Injury: Implications For Music Therapists, A'Marie Dotson

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Decreased respiratory functioning is a common symptom of spinal cord injury (SCI) and can impact individuals’ personal, professional, and social lives. In spite of this, researchers have not explored the use of music in the lives of individuals with SCIs or music’s role in their healthcare professionals’ treatment plans to improve respiratory functioning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand how decreased respiratory functioning affects individuals with SCIs and healthcare professionals through a multiple case study design. Participants were two individuals with SCIs and three healthcare professionals (physical therapist, recreational therapist, and music therapist) who worked with …

Leveraging Cultural Assets Of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Individuals In Music Therapy: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study, Emma Grace King

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how music therapists can engage in cultural humility and leverage cultural assets of those who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD). The primary research question involved in this study was: “In what ways can music therapists leverage cultural assets of CLD individuals in practice?” Sub-questions were: “What awareness, knowledge, and skills do music therapists need to grow in culturally sensitive practice?” “How can music therapists whose first language is English effectively serve linguistically diverse individuals?” “What steps might music therapists take to effectively serve culturally diverse individuals?” and “How might cultural and …

More Than De Colores: Expanding Students' Scope Of Spanish Language Songs For Learning And Use Within Music Therapy, Amanda Norman

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Culture is a critical component of a music therapist’s knowledge and mindset. However, undergraduate music therapy students are lacking adequate materials to learn music from a variety of cultural backgrounds. This project seeks to inform current and future music therapists of the variety of music that can be found within a single culture, focusing on music of Latin American, Hispanic, and Latino heritage. This project consists of a songbook of Spanish language songs that will be offered as a resource to current and future music therapy students at Eastern Michigan University.

Youth Musicians’ Executive Functioning And Its Impact On Emotional And Behavioral Health, Michael A. Tate

Dissertations and Theses

A growing body of neuroscience literature shows that music promotes brain development, as learning a music instrument involves multiple brain regions and neurocognitive systems. In partnership with a non-profit organization with a mission to strengthen New York City communities through music education programs, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of music training on children’s executive functioning (EF), as well as emotional and behavioral outcomes. We hypothesized that (i) children’s EF would develop more rapidly with exposure to the program; (ii) the intensity of practice would be associated with rate of growth of children’s EF, emotion regulation and behavior; (iii) …

Music Interventions In The Treatment Of Adolescent Trauma: A Systematic Review, Diana C. Hereld

Theses and Dissertations

As multidisciplinary research continues to uncover the promise of non-invasive interventions such as music in mental health treatment, clinicians, researchers, and music scholars alike have increasingly come together through the field of music psychology. As such, it is unsurprising that some of the most significant findings have come from cross-disciplinary studies in music and medicine. The juxtaposition of music and mental health creates a unique and substantial need for integration of literature across multiple disparate settings, including clinical psychology, education, neuroscience, music therapy, behavioral medicine, and psychiatry. Through methodological application of a textual narrative evidence synthesis, this review examines multiple …

Self-Care Practices And Burnout Experiences Of Music Therapists In A Metropolitan City, Sylvester Sroka

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined a phenomenological inquiry into the lived experiences of music therapists in a metropolitan city in the United States. During the study, five music therapists were interviewed about their self-care practices and experiences with burnout. Data included a recorded Zoom transcription of the 30–45-minute open-ended interview. The data was analyzed through Moustakas’ (1994) cluster of themes approach. Four themes emerged from the data analyses of the interviews: living/working in a metropolitan city, self-care practices, advice for entry level music therapists, and knowledge of and experience with burnout symptoms. Respondents associated living and working in a metropolitan city with …