Shenandoah Conservatory music therapy faculty members (left to right): Hakeem Leonard, Ph.D., MT-BC; Anne Lipe, Ph.D., MT-BC; Daniel Tague, Ph.D., MT-BC; Bronwen Landless, M.M.T., MT-BC; Anthony Meadows, Ph.D., LPC, MT-BC; Leigh Jenks, M.M.T., MT-BC
Shenandoah Conservatory’s music therapy program celebrates a major milestone this year, commemorating 40 years of innovation and academic excellence.
The concept of music as a healing influence is as least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The 20th-century profession of music therapy began formally after World War II, when community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, visited veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering physical and emotional trauma from the wars. The patients’ notable physical and emotional responses to music led doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians at the hospitals. It soon became evident that these musicians needed prior training before engaging with patients, so demand grew for the creation of a formal college curriculum.
In the fall of 1974, music therapy pioneer Marion Sung established the program at Shenandoah Conservatory. She was recruited by Dean Emerita Charlotte Collins ’85, Ed.D., and the program grew steadily under Sung’s innovative leadership.
“As a professor, Miss Sung had the wonderful combination of high expectations and compassion for all of her students,” said aluma Melissa Cupp ’86, ’91. “She [not only]… influenced the profession in its early development, she was a once-in-a-lifetime professor to grace the Shenandoah community.”
The 1990s brought new growth for the Music Therapy department. Michael Rohrbacher, Ph.D., MT-BC, and his wife Susanne Rohrbacher, MT-BC, joined the faculty, bringing a plethora of field experience and clinical knowledge to the classroom. The undergraduate program became known for its field experiences in the sophomore year and for condensing the curriculum into eight semesters, including an internship. Partnerships, within the community and abroad, grew, as did the program’s reputation for excellence.
“I have always been comfortable in my interpersonal skills,” said senior music therapy student Josephine Channell, “but since heading off to an internship, I realized how well-prepared musically Shenandoah’s Conservatory has made me, without sacrificing therapeutic training.”
In 2011, another new faculty member, Abby Dvorak, Ph.D., arrived to help manage the growing number of students selected for the program. In 2012, Mrs. Rohrbacher left her teaching position to focus on clinical practice, and Daniel Tague, Ph.D., MT-BC, joined the team.
The following year, Dr. Rohrbacher announced he would be leaving the university to start a program at Florida Gulf Coast University, and Dr. Dvorak announced she would be taking a position at the University of Kansas. Music therapy alumni, including Anne Lipe ’73, Ph.D.; Leigh Jenks ’02, ’11, M.M.T., MT-BC; and Bronwen Landless ’04, ’13, M.M.T., MT-BC, joined the team to help Dr. Tague navigate a year of intense transition.
This fall, the program welcomed the esteemed Anthony Meadows, Ph.D., LPC, MT-BC, and the experienced Hakeem Leonard, Ph.D., MT-BC, to the faculty.
Now, in its 40th year, the music therapy program continues innovating and preparing professional music therapists, offering not only a bachelor’s program but also a master’s and a two-year certificate program for working professionals.
The program celebrated its 40th anniversary with several events at Homecoming Weekend 2014, where alumnus Tom Sweitzer ’94, ’11 brought “Behind the Label” to campus, a musical and dramatic presentation performed by young adults, with and without disabilities, who are served by Sweitzer’s A Place to Be in Middleburg, Virginia. The program was followed by an alumni mixer the next day in Ruebush Hall. A second event, a dinner, was sponsored at the American Music Therapy Association’s (AMTA) National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, for Shenandoah alumni to reconnect and network.
“We are conservatory-trained musicians when we graduate,” said senior music therapy major Jessica Carlin ’15. “We have therapeutic skills, but we’re also joined by a network of alumni willing to come back and share their knowledge and experience with us. I have seen first-hand the bond [shared by] Shenandoah’s music therapy students, and that bond is a passion for the field, fueled and cultivated by dedicated faculty and alumni.”