Music Therapy Students from Howard University and SU Explore Community Arts Engagement

Students and faculty from Howard University and Shenandoah Conservatory’s music therapy programs joined together recently for an afternoon of panel discussions, fellowship and conversations about community arts engagement. The program began with an interdisciplinary panel discussion of the ways in which community music therapy, dance therapy, drama therapy and voicework serve the needs of under-resourced communities. Panel members also discussed their own journeys as artists and therapists and the ways the arts speak to them as health resources. This was followed by a facilitated conversation led by HALO Quartet, using barbershop singing as a metaphor for discussing different dimensions of therapeutic relationships and the ways client voices can be heard, amplified and understood. Featured presenters included Jordan Stewart (drama therapist), Tracie Robinson (dance therapist) and Adjunct Associate Professor of Voice (CCM) Alison Crockett, M.M., as well as HALO Quartet members Shana Oshiro ’13, ’21, MT-BC, (Professional Studies Program for Music Therapy Certification Eligibility, Master of Music Therapy) and Niambi Powell.