Celebrating 35 Years of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Music Therapy: Part Two

On Saturday, January 19, 2019, we hosted a reception in celebration of our 35-year history as a music therapy educational program. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and many of those planning to attend were unable to travel to SMWC due to the snow and ice, including one of our alum award recipients. Despite the weather, the reception commenced at 7:30 p.m. with refreshments (cake!) provided by Sodexo in the foyer of the Conservatory of Music. After an introduction by Dr. Janet Clark, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, as well as a welcome by SMWC Director of Music Therapy and Chair of the Music and Theatre Department, Dr. Tracy Richardson, the reception began. Sharon Boyle, Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Music Therapy, spoke alongside Richardson to recognize five outstanding SMWC alumni, one from each music therapy program, as well as a surprise award recipient revealed during the reception.

SMWC Music Therapy Faculty - Reception January 2019

 The SMWC Music Therapy programs are honored to recognize these five recipients for their dedication and commitment to the music therapy profession as it has grown and changed following their time at SMWC. These alumni make us proud as they continue our tradition of excellence, service, and scholarship in the professional world.

Amanda Steiner, MS, MT-BC Bachelor of Science in Music Therapy Alum Award: Amanda (Cook) Steiner, MS, MT-BC, 2006 graduate. Upon obtaining her MT-BC, Steiner began to work in Fishers, IN, with adults and children with developmental disabilities and Autism at Opportunities for Positive Growth (OPG) for 10 years. During her time there, she started a national roster internship site and supervised many music therapy interns while she was there, including some from SMWC. In 2013, Steiner obtained her master's degree in Applied Behavior Analysis with an emphasis in Autism from Ball State University. She continues to guest-lecture and has taught as adjunct faculty for both the SMWC MTE-D and undergraduate programs since 2016. Currently, Steiner is working at Rhythm Garden Music (RGM), owned by SMWC alum Morgan (May) Sparks, providing music therapy to individuals in the Wabash Valley. She also continues to supervise practicum students during the academic year as well as during intensive summer practicums. In addition, Steiner's proposal for a national roster internship site at RGM was recently approved by the American Music Therapy Association. This will be the first national roster music therapy internship site in Terre Haute, IN. Presently, Steiner resides in Terre Haute, IN, with her husband, Ryan, and daughter, Kala. Jay Thompson, CMT Music Therapy Equivalency - Campus (MTE-C) Alum Award: Jay Thompson, CMT, who was the first male to complete the music therapy equivalency at SMWC in 1996. At the age of 43, Thompson decided to enroll at The Woods in 1994 after encouragement from a close friend to explore music therapy. Thompson had previously been working as a successful sales manager for a large corporation but was seeking more meaning in his career path. After completing the program, he began working with boys on the Autism spectrum, and later started to work full-time at the well-known mental health center, Saint Vincent Stress Center in Indianapolis. There, he offered music therapy to a variety of populations, including individuals with substance abuse disorders and addictions. Thompson's passion for music and music therapy have helped others develop the skills they need to navigate their lives. His mission is to be a conduit for the healing power of music, always letting the music do the work. Thompson continues to support the SMWC Music Therapy programs through his generous spirit and engagement with many events.

Karen Sholander, MT-BC

Music Therapy Equivalency - Distance (MTE-D) Alum Award: Karen Sholander, MT-BC, completed the MTE-D program in 2014 as a member of the very first MTE-D cohort. With her passion for helping others to find joy and connection, she discovered that music therapy was the perfect second career. Leading up to her career as a music therapist, Sholander had worked as an elementary school music teacher, piano teacher, studio owner, performing pianist, accompanist, and she is a working mother. After completing a music education degree (BME) from Baylor University and her equivalency from SMWC, she completed the certification at Hospice and Palliative Care Music Therapy through the Center for Music Therapy in End of Life Care. Now, she is working with hospice patients and their families through the full-time salaried music therapist position she created in early 2015 through the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas (VNA). Additionally, she guides music therapy interns in the profession, is an active member of both the national and regional associations for music therapy (AMTA, SWAMTA), and she enjoys helping music therapists in her area network with one another. Sholander also presents about music therapy with various community and educational organizations and is dedicated to helping others achieve positive change and connections through music. Sholander attended the SMWC reception and received her award via Skype video!

Master of Arts in Music Therapy (MAMT) Alum Awards: The final two recipients were Annette Whitehead-Pleaux, MA, MT-BC, and Larisa McHugh, MA, MT-BC, who both completed the graduate program in 2003. 

Annette Whitehead-Pleaux, MA, MT-BC

Annette Whitehead-Pleaux, MA, MT-BC has focused on clinical practice, education, research, and service for many years. She worked for 15 years with pediatric burn survivors at a major pediatric hospital in Boston. Now, she is the Senior Clinical Supervisor at Roman Music Therapy Services, managing a staff of 12 music therapists and providing clinical supervision. Whitehead-Pleaux serves as adjunct faculty at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Berklee College of Music, Colorado State University, and Lesley University. Additionally, she works as an active researcher, focusing on pain, anxiety, electronic music technology, and cultural responsiveness in music therapy. She has ten publications, has written 12 chapters, and was awarded the Arthur Flaggler Fultz Research Grant Award for a research study that built upon her thesis, as well as being co-editor of the book Cultural Intersections in Music Therapy: Music, Health, and the Person. Finally, Whitehead-Pleaux has been an advocate for music therapy through service to the profession throughout her entire career, holding several positions regionally and nationally in the American Music Therapy Association, including Speaker of the Assembly of Delegates, Scope of Practice Work Group, Advisory Team for the Research Priority, Chair of the Education and Training Advisory Board. In addition, she is a founding member of Team Rainbow.

Larisa McHugh, MA, MT-BC

Larisa McHugh, MA, MT-BC, received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Dayton and became board certified in 1997. Having received her Master of Arts from the MAMT program at SMWC in 2003, she is currently completing a PhD program in Psychology, with a specialization in Consciousness, Spirituality, and Integrative Health from Saybrook University in California. Larisa is an advanced trainee in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music through Appalachian State University. In addition, she has been the Program Coordinator for the MTE-D program (in addition to teaching) since its inception in 2012. Also, McHugh has presented at the state, regional, and international level. Internationally, she has presented at the World Congress of Music Therapy in Austria and South Korea. Her areas of focus have included music therapy internship and supervision, music therapy for persons with Alzheimer’s Disease, interdisciplinary collaboration, and more. She has years of clinical experience working with older adults and co-authored a pilot study on the effect of pre-meal vocal re-creative MT on nutritional intake of residents with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias that was published in MTP in 2012. McHugh has demonstrated extensive service to the music therapy profession. She received the 2016 GLR Service Award and also the Florence Tyson Grant to study Music Psychotherapy in 2012. She has served on the American Music Therapy Association Assembly of Delegates, in President/Past-President/President-Elect positions for the Great Lakes Region of the American Music Therapy Association, as well as numerous state, regional, and national committees. She is also a yoga instructor and has two adorable dogs who keep her company as she spends endless hours at her computer.

At the conclusion of the reception and awards ceremony, Sharon Boyle, Program Coordinator of the Undergraduate Music Therapy Program, introduced a special documentary on SMWC Music Therapy that was the culmination of a senior project for undergraduate music therapy student, Allison Payonk (who is presently in her internship in Ohio).

Allison Payonk

Payonk wrote about this special project:

Last year, while considering what to do for my senior project, I knew that I wanted to combine my interest in creating and designing things with my passion for sharing what makes The Woods so special. I think it's hard to understand or explain what we experience as students, faculty, and alums from this school and music therapy program, and I wanted to see if I could encapsulate it somehow, so other people might see why this place is so incredibly special to so many of us. When Sharon recommended this project, to update and reimagine the video created 5 years ago documenting the history of music therapy at The Woods, I was all in, mostly I think because I didn't yet realize the responsibility and enormity of the project I had signed up for.

Creating this video was certainly daunting at first. How can one do justice to all the incredible people who put in so much work to create this program we've all become a part of, and the growth that is experienced by everyone who was been a part of it? As I went to create it though, I found a common theme emerged naturally: connection. 35 years ago this program was started by people I've never met and don't know, but through the legacy of The Woods and this program, and everyone who's worked to keep it alive, I, as well as all of you, are connected to them, to each other, and the work we are privileged to do in music therapy. While I created this video I felt more than ever connected to this program and all of you who make it up, and in a way, even though I created it for the SMWC music therapy program, it became a part of my journey too. My hope for this video though, is not just that I've told my experience and story in it, but that you hear your story in it too, and are reminded of the 35 amazing years that this program has had and will continue to for many more. I want to thank greatly all of the people who helped me put this together, and of course all of you, who make up the story this video tells.

The video was shown to all in attendance and the viewing involved laughter, smiles, and tears. The special nature of this place, and these incredible music therapy programs, are difficult to articulate, but the alumni, students, staff, and faculty truly emulate its beauty of connection every day.

To view the documentary video, click this link and feel free to share!


Blog Post Co-Authors: Autumn Wilson, Music Therapy Student Assistant and music therapy major; Sharon R. Boyle, MM, MT-BC, Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Music Therapy Program.

Blog Post Editor: Sharon R. Boyle, MM, MT-BC, Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Music Therapy Program.

Photo Credits: Sharon R. Boyle, Larisa McHugh, Amanda Steiner, Jay Thompson, and Karen Sholander.

To learn more about the Music and Music Therapy programs at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, check out our website here.

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Celebrating 35 Years of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Music Therapy: Part One

SMWC students discussing songwriting

The SMWC Music Therapy program has been celebrating 35 years’ worth of students, hard work, growth, and change, as the history of our music therapy program continues to lead us into the future. Now that it has been 35 years since this program has been established, we decided to host a special event by pairing up with the Association for Indiana Music Therapy (AIMT) to bring in some wonderful guest speakers to kick off the 2018-19 academic year.

On September 14^th, 2018, Dr. Tracy Richardson, MT-BC, presented a songwriting session titled Empowering Your Clinical Songwriting. The other guest speaker this year was Nir Sadovnik, MT-BC, LCAT, who came all the way from New York to present Clinical Applications of Rap in Music Therapy on Friday morning and Keeping in Time with the Groove on Saturday, September 15th.

Dr. Tracy Richardson, Nir Sadovnik,
and Sharon Boyle

SMWC Director of Music Therapy and Chair of the Music and Theatre Department, Richardson practices music therapy on a contractual basis with a local hospital oncology unit. She has been writing songs for 30+ years and has released 2 CDs of original work. She is engaged extensively in the network of Nashville, TN songwriters. She also started a songwriting circle in Terre Haute, IN, and is passionate about supporting others in developing their own songwriting. 

Guest presenter Nir Sadovnik, MT-BC, LCAT, is a music therapy supervisor on an inpatient adult psychiatric unit at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn, New York. He is a faculty member in the graduate music therapy program at NYU, where he teaches piano improvisation, ‘Key Concepts in Music Therapy,’ and supervises students in the program.”

Participants received background on the clinical applications
of rap before displaying their own beats.

During Sadovnik's first presentation, he explained the genre of Rap, its history, and the potential that it has for being used in a clinical setting. Incorporating improvisation, recording technology, and creating Rap beats was central to the presentation. There was exploration of various clinical goals such as increasing self-expression, self-awareness, insights, improving relatedness, and self-esteem.

For Richardson's presentation, she focused on presenting techniques for clinical songwriting and how to use it most effectively in practice. With a  focus on developing confidence and improving skills, participants learned common chord progressions, accompaniment patterns, and worked in small groups to focus on the writing process, writing strategic songs, and using spot songs in music therapy sessions. The sessions included professional music therapists from the Indiana community and students from other music therapy students.

Afterward, new relationships were formed while also visiting with old friends and alumni who were present during an evening jam session.

Saturday's participants experimenting with grooves

On September 15^th, after coffee and a light continental breakfast, Sadovnik again presented a 5-hour CMTE presentation to music therapy students and music therapists from the surrounding area with a primary focus on creating groove. He included the origins of groove and facilitated groove-based improvisations in styles such as Salsa, Reggae, Funk, and Hip-hop. 
“What does ‘groove’ mean?” and “How has the vernacular term ‘groove’ evolved?” were some of the questions addressed in the beginning lecture and discussion. Participants were able to better understand and respond to the question of: "What is it about a groove and how we use the word groove that we associate with those complex rhythms that drives a musical experience and makes us want to dance?" 

After an afternoon lunch break, the participants reconvened to create music. While focusing on cultural, aesthetic, and technological considerations for the most impact, everyone in attendance jumped right in to try out instruments and get in the groove. With fascinating case vignettes and audio samples, some impromptu singing, and the breakdown of some basic grooves that all can use, everyone had a wonderful experience while exploring the meaning of groove and how it can be utilized in a therapeutic setting.

SMWC music therapy students, alums, and faculty who attended 

Blog Post Author: Autumn Wilson, Music Therapy Student Assistant and music therapy major

Blog Post Editor:  Sharon R. Boyle, MM, MT-BC, Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Music Therapy Program. I

Photo Credits: Sharon R. Boyle

To learn more about the Music and Music Therapy programs at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, check out our website here. 

SMWC 2018-19 Academic Year Brings New Students

Each fall, we like to introduce a few of the incoming music and music therapy students who have joined the SMWC community. Some were recently interviewed to learn more about them and their decision to come to the Woods.

Autumn Wilson

Autumn Wilson is a freshman music therapy student who plays both viola and percussion. 

What drew you to pursuing a degree in music therapy at Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods? I knew that I didn't want to go any further than five to six hours away from my hometown, so that greatly limited my choices of schools once I decided I wanted to pursue music therapy. I had never heard of SMWC until I found out someone I knew was joining the program here, so I later decided to check it out when I began looking for music therapy programs. I love the atmosphere and the people. Besides having a beautiful campus, I was drawn here because of the genuine, friendly, and helpful people I met.

When did you start learning viola? I began playing the viola in fourth grade as part of our local youth symphony which has since been dissolved and implemented into the school system. It was called Plymouth Community Youth Orchestra, but I'm glad that the program grew so much that it was incorporated into the school system.

How has your view of music changed since you’ve been studying here at Saint-Mary-of-the Woods? Although I've been playing music for a long time in both band and orchestra, I've really learned how multi-faceted music is because there are many aspects. My view on music hasn't really changed; it has expanded and I'm grateful. My journey has just begun, and I look forward to learning and growing more as a student, musician, and as an individual.

Robert Euhl, first year MT student

Robert Euhl, a percussionist, is a second degree student in his first semester of the undergraduate music therapy program. 

Many colleges are beginning to offer a bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy. What lead you to choose Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods? With being a husband, father of three children, and having roots in Bloomington, IN, commuting was (and is) my only option. While looking through the nearest-by colleges offering music therapy, I first looked at the cost. There appears to be great effort made here at SMWC to find financial aid for students and that is something for which I'm very grateful. I also felt drawn to SMWC which is something I didn't feel with the other schools. There is an inner voice I believe we all have that when we listen, points us in the direction we should go. I am guilty of not listening to my inner voice sometimes (which is one reason I'm only now, in my 40's, pursuing music therapy) but this time I listened and scheduled a campus visit. While on the campus for the first time and seeing the organic garden, the conservatory, the rich history of the campus and how the value of sustainability (the garden, no unnecessary lights were on in the buildings, etc.) lined up with mine, my mind was basically made up. The program is not easy though and I occasionally let myself become stressed out and whine about it a little, but then I remember why I'm here and why I'm here to stay to the end...to serve others to my fullest ability.

What inspired you to pursue this degree? This will be my second degree. My first degree is an Associate of Arts in General Studies from Indiana University. It was one of the many ways I delayed studying music therapy. But, because some of the credits from IU transferred to the music therapy program here at SMWC, it will take less time to complete my degree here. I was inspired to pursue music therapy back in 1993 while I was employed as a CNA in a nursing home working with Alzheimer's residents. Being a musician, I would often play the piano or a guitar for the residents during dinner or at random in the day room. There were certain songs I would play that almost always created a festive atmosphere involving dancing, singing, hand clapping and laughing. For a short time while the live music was happening, the residents were brought out of their institutional situation and transported to their little music festival in the day room. There's nothing like live music! One day my nurse supervisor said to me between songs on the piano, "you know, there's a professional field called music therapy you might want to consider." 
   
A light shined in me as a beacon of purpose at those words and the illumination has never faded. I tried to ignore it through the years because of various unfounded fears and discouragement from others. But eventually, after countless jobs that had little meaning for me and experiencing the unhappiness that comes with them, I followed the beacon toward my true service. Furthermore, I will never again ignore my calling and I would encourage others to not ignore theirs either. Doing so does not serve well.

Bridgett Sider is a freshman music major studying voice and her mother also attended the Woods.

What have you learned about yourself as you have started studying music at Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods College?

Bridgett Sider, music major

So far, I've found that I love studying music far more than I thought I did in high school. Here at the Woods, I have an incredible opportunity to study in a gorgeous building with amazing teachers and I'm beyond excited to continue my education here.

When did you begin studying voice, and why did you become interested in theatre? I started studying voice when I was very young, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I actually got a teacher and got into choirs and things. Musical theatre was always part of my life since I was very young, but I never got the chance to be involved with it until high school. I was drawn to theatre because I just had this love of being on the stage, and joining the Bristol Renaissance Faire only helped that love grow. That was my first experience on an interactive stage, and I think it has greatly fueled my drive to become more involved in theatre.

What would you tell someone who was considering studying music at Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods College? The community here is amazing. The amount of support you get the moment you walk into the Conservatory is incredible, and I only have good things to say. 

Katelyn ("Katy") Pell, MT major

Katy Pell is a first year music therapy major who is also a member of the SMWC Madrigals and is a Musician of Promise Scholarship winner.

What is a favorite aspect about being a Pomeroy/”Woodsie”? My favorite part about being a "Woodsie" is being able to be a part of all of the traditions and learn about the history of the school! 

Why did you decide to study music therapy at Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods College instead of another college or university? When I first visited during a college visit, I immediately felt connected to the campus. I loved the close-knit community that SMWC has, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it! 

What types of music do you like to play, and what type(s) do you hope to become more familiar with throughout your studies? I enjoy playing all types of music, but I would love to learn more about hip-hip and how to play it.

New music and music therapy students (Not pictured: Bridgett Sider)

It is always exciting every year to welcome new students into the Department of Music and Theatre! We wish all new students in all our programs (MAMT, MTED) well as the academic year progresses.

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Blog Post Editor/Author: Sharon R. Boyle, MM, MT-BC is Associate Professor of Music Therapy and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Music Therapy Program. Interviews were conducted by Caroline Steinrock Music Therapy Student Assistant. Photo Credits: Caroline Steinrock 

To learn more about the Music and Music Therapy programs at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, check out our website here.