Introductions

[Julie Palmieri]

Share your professional experience with the group and what your hopes and expectations are for this course.

Be sure to come back and respond to others as well.

[Camryn Gallagher]

Hello everyone, I’m Cammy! I live in Putnam, CT with my fiancé and our lovely (most of the time) cat Kabuki.

I graduated from Anna Maria College in Paxton, MA in 2021 with my bachelors in music therapy, after completing my internship at UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center. After graduation/internship, I remained at UMass as a per-diem music therapist in the pediatric emergency mental health department. I then transitioned to full-time mental health work at an inpatient facility. After about a year, I transitioned to working full-time as a music therapist and service coordinator at the Kennedy Donovan Center Early Intervention program in Southbridge, MA.

I’ve been working in EI for over a year now, and while it definitely has its ups and downs, I have learned over this time that birth-to-three is my ideal client population. That said, I have been looking for ways to enhance my practice and feel more confident in my ability to provide developmentally appropriate, neurodiversity-affirming, and FUN musical experiences for the children and families I work with. I am also looking forward to connecting with other music therapists working in the same population. I have been feeling quite isolated at my organization, which has lead to some intense burnout. I am hoping that engaging with this course and this community will help me remember what it is I love about this job/population. I am really excited to get started!

[Maura Nicholson]

Hi Cammy- I can definitely relate to all of your sentiments about EI. So rewarding and fun, yet can be very isolating and I remember feeling tremendous burnout as well. Hang in there!!!

[Amy Calderon]

Hey Cammy! I also relate to the burnout. I was having a hard time at the previous company I worked for, because I felt overworked.

[Elmira Abasova]

Hi, I’m Elmira! I live in Poltava, Ukraine.

I’ve been interested in music and helping people since adolescence. I completed my bachelor’s in music education and social work. At that time, I chose my favorite populations – children and teenagers.

In 2020, I came to the US to do my master’s equivalency program in music therapy as a Fulbright scholar. I graduated from Arizona State University in April 2023 and completed my internship at Easterseals Midwest, Cape Girardeau, MO.

After graduation, I applied for intensive training provided by the Edmund Muskie program. I completed my training at Roman Music Therapy Services in Wakefield, MA, where I first saw Sprouting Melodies in action. It was the first time I interacted with such young kids, and I fell in love with them. From this training, I expect to get more theoretical knowledge to build a similar community program in my hometown. Also, I wanted to stay connected with people in the field as I miss my music therapy friends.

I’m excited to be here and learn from Meredith and Elizabeth!

[Mark Dunford]

Hi Elmira! Great to hear from you at M3 last week and looking forward to catching up on the forums!

[Mark Dunford]

Hi Elmira! Great to hear from you at M3 last week and looking forward to catching up on the forums!

[Courtney McDonald]

Hi, My name is Courtney and I live in Northeast Pa. I graduated with a dual degree in music education and music therapy from Elizabethtown in 2006. I interned at Matheny Medical and Educational Facility in New Jersey. My career has taken me all over the USA from Nevada and California back to the east coast in Maryland and Pennsylvania. My main focus in both education and therapy has been children. I have taught at public schools, mainly with ages 4-13. In additional to being the music teacher at many of these schools, I also serve as a music therapist to the students with disabilities both self-contained and integrated classrooms. I completed my Masters of Music Therapy from University of the Pacific in 2011.

I am currently teaching K-6th grade music classes at a public school along with two self-contained multi-handicapped classrooms ages 5-12 and two Kindergarten Autistic Support classrooms ages 4 – 7.

I am the only music therapist in a 50 mile radius so connecting with others is hard. I am looking forward to gaining knowledge and professional interactions.

[Mark Dunford]

Hi Courtney, cool to see another NEPA er here! I’m from scranton!

[Lydia Westle]

Hi everyone! My name is Lydia and I live in Philadelphia, PA. I went to Temple University for both my undergrad and graduate degrees in music therapy (voice concentration) and have been practicing as a MT-BC for just about 13 years. For the initial 6 years of my career, I worked with adults in an inpatient psychiatric setting and have been working at a pediatric children’s hospital for just about 7 years, which I absolutely love. Although I work on many different units of the hospital, I primarily work on a Cardiac Unit / Cardiac ICU, a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and a Surgery Trauma unit, with a focus and passion for pediatric palliative care / end-of-life work. In addition to working with patients / families individually in their rooms, I also facilitate several infant-caregiver (and sometimes infant / toddler/caregiver) music therapy groups throughout the hospital.</p>
<p>I am always looking to grow / enhance my skillset and was so excited when I learned about this course, as one of my friends had taken it and loved it! In particular, I am hoping to gain new ideas and repertoire to support bonding, work towards development milestones and to enhance quality of life through meaningful music interactions between patients / caregivers, especially during my groups. I feel very grateful to have this opportunity and am looking forward to this course! I am also excited to meet and network with other music therapists! :)</p>
<p>Looking forwards towards the next ten weeks!<br />
Lydia

[Olivia Todd]

Hi Lydia! I will be beginning in a children’s hospital setting soon and I am so excited about it! I look forward to seeing your contributions to the forums and how the Sprouting Melodies course will apply to your work.

[Lydia Westle]

Hi Olivia! That’s so exciting! Where will you be working? It’s always great to meet other MTs who work in this setting!

[Amy Calderon]

Hi Lydia! i also majored in vocal performance for my Bachelors! I just started working in the children’s hospital that I interned at and I am excited to be back! I am also very interested in end of life work.

[Lydia Westle]

Hi Amy! It’s so nice to meet you! That’s awesome! I had initially started as a voice performance major for one semester (at Towson), then switched over to music therapy at Temple for the remaining of my undergrad / grad, but have many MT friends who did their initial degree in voice performance too! That’s so great that you are back where you interned! I was just reading over your post and we cover many of the same units. It’s always so wonderful to meet people who do such similar work! 🙂

[MacKenzie Lyons]

Hi Everyone! My name is MacKenzie Lyons and I am from Concord, NH. I graduated from Nazareth University in Rochester, NY earlier this year with my undergraduate degree in music therapy with a minor in psychology. I am currently completing my music therapy internship at Roman Music Therapy Services in Wakefield, MA. Throughout my undergraduate program and my internship, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients and settings. I have loved my experiences so far working with early childhood groups and I hope to continue similar work in my future career.

I have been a part of the Sprouting Melodies Program at Roman Music Therapy Services since I started my internship back in July and I can’t wait to continue to learn more about it! By taking this course I hope to learn how to involve parents in musical experiences as well as promote a sense of community and belonging for parents and their children.

[Daniel DeLucia]

Hello everyone! my name is Daniel DeLucia. I am currently a music therapist at Roman Music Therapy Services in Massachusetts and currently live in Reading, MA. I have previously studied at Molloy College on Long Island NY to obtain my MT-BC. During my graduate studies, I’ve worked with a variety of populations ranging from children and teens experiencing bereavement to older adults in a neurorehabilitation setting, to individuals across the lifespan with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I’m a big fan of music therapy research as well as clinical improvisation, music therapy theory and how that connects to practice. Currently, I am working as a music therapist in a school district in MA and will soon be working as a music therapist within the NICU setting. I’m excited to meet and share with you all the experience of going through this training!

In addition, I’m also a big fan of cats. I don’t have any 🙁 but I will hopefully soon!

[Olivia Todd]

Hi everyone! My name is Olivia Todd, I am currently a music therapist at Roman Music Therapy Services in Wakefield, MA and just moved to Boston. I received my undergraduate degree in 2022 from Nazareth College and completed my internship at the Augusta VA Medical Center in Georgia in June 2023. Throughout my undergrad and internship I had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients and settings. I will be primarily working in schools and medical settings for my work at RMTS, including a NICU and burn unit.

I hope to learn more about developmentally appropriate responses to music, as well as parental involvement in music making and bonding. I am excited to learn and share with you all!

[Maura Nicholson]

Hello!
My name is Maura Nicholson and I live in Edgecomb, Maine which is in the mid-coast area. I live with my husband and our almost 1 yr old daughter.

I received an undergraduate degree in Musical Theater from Pace University in 2012 and my graduate degree in Music Therapy from Lesley University in 2016. I worked in Early Intervention out of West Newbury, MA for five years after graduating and then relocated to Maine during the pandemic and have been working as a Director of Sales for weddings and events for a seasonal resort. I took the Sprouting Melodies training in 2020 and I am excited to take it again as I would love to transition back to music therapy-and especially groups! There are no music therapists in my area and the need for music groups is so great!! I look forward to learning from others, getting reinspired and motivated to make this a key part of my life once again.

[Kate Jihye Choi]

Hi everyone! My name is Kate, and I live in Boston with my husband and 5 yr old daughter. I received a bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy from Berklee College of Music last year and obtained MT-BC right after graduation. And I’ve been working in Early Intervention at East Boston for about a year after finishing my internship with elderly adults with dementia.

When I started to work with early childhood, unfortunately, I couldn’t get any training or resources about music therapy for early childhood. I have been seeking resources and training ever since I started working here. Then, I met Roman Music Therapy at the Massachusetts Early Intervention Conference. Meeting other EI music therapists and sharing their thoughts and knowledge was a great opportunity. I’m planning to design a music group at my site. I hope I can use music in a variety of ways for the children and the parents to build a community here in East Boston.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

Welcome, everyone. What a wealth of experience, education, and knowledge in this group! I’m excited for the community we will build together.

You will virtually get to know Meredith and me well over the next few weeks, but here is just a little of what I’ve been up to. Over the past few months, I’ve been deeply involved with a fantastic team of music therapy researchers to observe, analyze, and attempt to more clearly define the unique musicianship of music therapists. We are in the final stages of writing up the results and I look forward to sharing our findings more widely.

Are any of you attending the virtual AMTA Symposium in October? I’ll be presenting a CMTE on music-centered music therapy assessment, and I’m really excited about that project as well.

In case you missed it, I am now retired from clinical work which is one reason why I now have the time and energy for these projects 🙂

I’ll see you in the forum across the weeks, and look forward to hearing your thoughts. You are in wonderful hands with our course moderators Julie and Erika – they are terrific!

[Amy Calderon]

Thank you so much for all of your work! i hope to learn a lot in this course!

[Amy Calderon]

Hello Everyone! My name is Amy! I am excited to be doing this training.

I earned my Bachelors in Music – Vocal Performace and also in Anthropology at University of California, San Diego in 2012. I then did an Equivalency in Music Therapy at California State University, Northridge in 2017. I completed my internship at CHOC – Children’s Hospital Orange County. I was board certified in December 2017.

I started in early internetion for a year and then moved on to a company where I worked for over 4 years with neurodiverse children. I currently work at CHOC in the Mental Health Inpatient Center, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, Medical Unit, Surgical Unit, and Neuroscience Unit. I contract with Get in Tune Music Therapy doing Substance Abuse music therapry groups. I run the Spanish OC Tremble Clefs, which is a choir for Spanish Speaking individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

I also have my own company which is still in it’s beginning stages. It is called Love & Harmony Music Therapy. I do Music Therapy Assisted Childbirth, Birth Music Consultaton, and Baby in Tune music classes. I am also a HealthRhythms Faciltator and hope to offer this to the community. I am hoping to expand to 2-5 year olds within my company and offer more music classes. I absolutely love working with this population! I used to be Music Togethetr Teacher while I was in my music therapy program.

[Erika (TeamRH)]

Hello everyone, my name is Erika Svolos.

I have been the online moderator for the Sprouting Melodies training for past 10.5 years. I live in New Jersey with my spouse, my 10 yo child, and our cats Moose and Sir Didymos.

It is a joy to be a part of this fantastic program and to join in your Sprouting Melodies journey.

I received my Bachelor of Music in music therapy from Marywood University and my Master of Arts in music therapy from Montclair State University. I’ve been a clinical music therapist for the past 25 years. Over that time, I’ve worked in a variety of settings including psychiatric facilities, private and public schools, private clinics and private practice.

I’ve recently shifted my work to a focus on neurodiversity and neuro-affirming care.

I completed the April 2013 Sprouting Melodies online training, and it was a wonderful addition to my practice. I began offering Sprouting Melodies classes in February of 2014 and I’ve truly enjoyed working with my SM families.

I will be assisting with any questions and/or technical difficulties.
You will be receiving an email with information about the online forum technology and my contact information.

If you do not receive the email, please contact me at erika.svolosmtbc@gmail.com.

I am looking forward to getting to know each of you over the next ten weeks!

[Billie Junget]

Hi Erika, it’s great to work with you during the course! I’m looking forward to getting to know you. Thank you for the support as well!

[Mark Dunford]

Hello everyone! I’m Mark Dunford. I live in Boston and I graduated with a Bachelor’s in music therapy from Berklee in Boston, MA in 2022. I’ve been a programmatic specialist at Roman music therapy services in Wakefield, MA for almost a year now. I completed my internship at Kennedy Day School in Brighton, MA in 2022. I’m primarily a guitarist and dabble on drums, bass, and piano. I’m currently working in many settings within the community but most of my experience is in group work in schools. I don’t have much experience in early childhood development so I’m excited to increase my confidence and skills in this area.

Looking forward to learning from all of you!

[Jessica Solimini]

Hi Mark! Looking forward to getting to know you and your experiences better during the course.

[Anonymous]

Hello Mark! I’m excited to get to know you better, as well! It seems like we both have the most experience with school groups, so I’m looking forward to hearing more about your experiences and maybe hearing/workshopping some ideas of ways to incorporate a more developmental framework into the school setting.

[Jessica Solimini]

Hello! I’m Jessica Solimini and I’m the office manager for Roman Music Therapy Services. I have a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration with a special certification in online programming delivery so I should be very comfortable with this course delivery method! 🙂 I live in Stoneham, MA with my husband and our 3 kids.
Since Music Therapy is an entirely new field for me, I am very excited to read the texts and learn from my colleagues. There may be some weeks where I am unable to provide insight on the forums given that I am not in practice as you all are, but I will do my best to keep up!

[Anonymous]

Hi Jes! I’m looking forward to getting to know you better and hearing your perspective on the content we’re learning about!

[Billie Junget]

Hi Jes, I’m looking forward to spending time with you in this course! I’m excited to see your take aways from the course from a non-MT lens, and how much you’ll learn about MT in the process!

[Reagan Rademacher]

Hi! I’m excited to hear about your takeaways from this course! Definitely don’t discount yourself because you aren’t in the field 😀 You’ll be able to provide a different perspective, and one that can be valuable for all to hear!

[Anonymous]

Hello all! My name is Tori Richard (they/them) and I’m a music therapy intern at Roman Music Therapy Services! I’m completing my Bachelor’s Degree in music therapy at Appalachian State University and I’ve had practicum experiences with several school groups/clients, adults in a day program, and older adults. I’m a Massachusetts native, born and raised, so I’m happy to return home for this internship! I’m hoping to learn more about Elizabeth Schwartz’s developmental model and I’m excited to learn some of the songs!

[Jessica Solimini]

Hi Tori,
Congrats on finishing up your degree! That’s exciting! I’m looking forward to getting to know you.

[Billie Junget]

Hi everyone! I’m Billie Junget and I am a Lead Music Therapist and Programmatic Services Coordinator at Roman Music Therapy Services. I’ve been at RMTS for a little over 5 years and took the Sprouting Melodies course while I was here during my internship in 2019. I got my degree in music therapy from Charleston Southern University in South Carolina and am happy to be back home in Mass! I’m excited to take this course again since I’ve recently got back into leading Sprouting Melodies on Fridays at RMTS! I’m looking forward to leading classes with a refreshed tool box 🙂

[Amy Calderon]

Hi just unsubscribing from replies. It seems like the wrong forum is linked to the new class and new people are posting under September 2023 class. Just a heads up.

[Lincoln Bowen]

Hi all! I’m Link Bowen, and I’ve been working as a music therapist for Roman Music Therapy Services for a few months. I currently live in Marlborough, MA but am looking to move further east (yay apartment hunting)! I graduated with my bachelor’s in music therapy from Anna Maria College in 2023 after completing my internship at Perkins School for the Blind. Currently at RMTS, I work with group homes, high school programs, recreational facilities, and pre-k kids, who are entirely new for me. I had never been able to work with anyone younger than 14, so I’m looking forward to further developing this toolkit!

[Reagan Rademacher]

Hi everyone! My name is Reagan Rademacher, and I’m a recent hire of Roman Music Therapy Services! I graduated with my BM in Music Therapy from Colorado State University in December, and completed my internship at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. I’m hoping to learn more about the application of music on a developmentally appropriate level, and deepening my understandings of child development!

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