March 24, 2018

Treating trauma with Guided Imagery and Music.

In 2015, I co-authored an article for the journal, Music and Medicine, a link to which can be found here: Treatment of Trauma Utilizing GIM. The editors describe the article: This report is a generous synthesis of GIM and The Bonny Method, reflecting how music and imagery can impact work with trauma, PTSD, and how it […]

July 9, 2014

Art as Non-Performative

Savion Glover was at the Joyce Theater in New York City this summer. I didn’t know anything about his production, “Om,” but had seen him perform before and was willing to be completely surprised. And I was. The curtain opened on a stage filled with pictures of religious figures and tap dancing icons, surrounded by […]

January 13, 2012

I Got Life! – Being fully alive in the aesthetic experience

Nina Simone – Ain’t Got No…I’ve Got Life – YouTube. I haven’t been able to get this song out of head since watching this video over the New Year. It’s originally from the musical, “Hair”, and Nina Simone sang and recorded this song many times in her career, each time switching up the words to […]

December 7, 2011

Clive Robbins and his commitment to beauty

I’m sitting here, processing in music and art, the passing of Clive Robbins. I am more deeply affected by his passing than I might have imagined. He was my teacher for a semester at NYU. He was also a colleague – I stood in and lectured for him at Nordoff-Robbins once, in the same lecture […]

December 1, 2011

Playing with being present

Next time you sit down at a piano or pick up an instrument or open your mouth to sing, try this: Play Listen so deeply to the sounds – focus your entire mind on the sounds. Don’t hold on to maintaining one sound or melody or phrase. If the music should lead you somewhere else, […]

November 4, 2010

Helen Bonny – Inspiration

Helen Bonny died on May 25th, 2010. She was a pioneer in the field of music therapy, leading the way in using western classical music to expand explorations of consciousness, through developing Guided Imagery and Music. She was a wonderful example to us all, whatever our calling – following her bliss, unafraid of criticism, and […]

June 10, 2010

Music: making whole

Last year, whilst in Edinburgh, I had the good fortune to go hear a bunch of fine musicians in the space of about 3 days. (They included Emily Scott, Teitur, Benni Hemm Hemm, Withered Hand, and Alasdair Roberts). Those few days still stand out in my mind – the music connected me to parts of […]

June 8, 2010

And so the world turns

I just had the great fortune to go and hear two incredible bluegrass musicians – Chris Thile and Michael Daves. The energy between them was electric, and their voices, though strikingly different, went together like finely woven threads. I laughed, and whooped, I clapped and even cried. The music moved me in every which way. […]

June 2, 2010

A few words about beauty

Yes – I’m tackling Beauty on my first Blog post. And chances are it will be a recurring theme in these posts. I am a music therapist. My work involves facilitating aesthetic experiences with and for my clients. Beautiful sounds make up a majority of the therapy sessions. Who are my music therapy influences in […]

Tag: music