MT Shines at World Congress of Music Therapy

Ten Shenandoah University Music Therapy students helped close out the 15th World Congress of Music Therapy in Japan with a song.

The students were there, with Director of Undergraduate Music Therapy Studies and Assistant Professor of Music Therapy Daniel Tague, Ph.D., MT-BC, on a Global Experiential Learning (GEL) trip to Tokyo, Tsukuba and Kyoto, Japan.

While the group was always slated to attend the conference, performing the closing song was another matter. “We were actually only invited to perform one week before the event by Dr. Petra Kern,” Dr. Tague said. “Dr. Kern’s students from the University of Louisville had been asked to perform, but desired to have some additional help. We were happy to provide assistance, so our students collaborated with them to create a performance from the existing song. Several countries were selected to perform songs from their countries. Our students, along with the students from Kentucky, represented the USA. The students adapted songs used in therapy sessions and used that song for the performance.” Tague noted that Kyle Boardman ’19 played piano and Kelsey Smith ’20 played percussion in support of the the group singing. “The song was well-received and the students enjoyed networking and collaborating with other students from around the world,” he said. Kern posted the performance on Twitter:

@MusicTherapyUL students performed goodbye-song with @ShenandoahU students at #wcmt2017 closing ceremony. @WFMTinfo @AMTAInc pic.twitter.com/9Lbl1x1xJT

— Petra Kern (@drpetrakern) July 9, 2017

Music therapy professionals meet every three years at the World Congress of Music Therapy, which is hosted by a World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) organizational member in conjunction with a local host, according to the WFMT website. While at the conference, three Shenandoah students presented their original songs published last year in Imagine Magazine, an online magazine for practitioners in the early childhood setting. Tague also presented the session, “Evaluating Music Therapy Practice Statuses and Trends Worldwide.”

And, Shenandoah faculty members, as well as a student, are highly involved with WFMT leadership. Tauge has been elected to another three-year term as chair of the Clinical Practice Commission. In addition, adjunct faculty member Bronwen Landless ’04, ’13 M.M.T., MT-BC, was appointed to serve a three-year term as regional liaison for North America. Master of Music Therapy student Allison Echard ’14, ’18, MT-BC, was selected to be the WFMT’s North American student representative. She will serve on an international committee which includes seven student representatives from around the world. While Echard, who works with Adjunct Associate Professor of Music Therapy Thomas Sweitzer ’94, ’10  M.A., MT-BC, and several other Shenandoah music therapy alumni at the Middleburg, Virginia organization Sweitzer directs, A Place to Be, didn’t make it to Japan, she’s already planning to attend the next World Congress of Music Therapy, being held in 2020 in South Africa.

She’s already had an active summer, having just returned in July from a music therapy trip in Jamaica, where she said she was “training and supervising music therapy students from around the U.S. in an infirmary and special education school. That organization is called the Jamaica Field Service Project; I went as an undergraduate student and have supervised two trips as a board-certified music therapist since.”

Photo Credit: Shenandoah University Music Therapy Program Facebook page