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Anja Tait, BMus, RMT
Regional Liaison for
Australia/New Zealand
Contact: australianewzealand@wfmt.info[/caption]
This is a longer blog entry than previously for two reasons: it’s been a while since I contributed news of music therapy in the region, and … a lot is happening!
Recent EventsSept 19-20, Sydney: The AMTA national conference welcomed the dynamic and scholarly contribution of Associate Professor Sarah Hoskyns, Director of the two-year Master of Music Therapy Program at the New Zealand School of Music. Sarah described the focus of her keynote as the integration of clinical practice with research training. This event highlighted the meeting places and contrasts for the two professional music therapy organizations separated by the Tasman Sea.
Sept 17-18, Sydney: The Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA) professional development seminar - advanced music skills workshops, Sydney, Australia.
Sept 3, Auckland, NZ: Five years after first opening its doors, the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland has just opened a new and larger centre, due to the high demand for its services. New The centre provides music therapy for special needs children of school age and younger. Currently there are three full time and one part time music therapist employed to provide music therapy both at the Centre and in Outreach programmes in the community. All music therapists are fully qualified and registered with the NZSMT. Information sourced fromhttp://www.rmtc.org.nz/
July 2009, Wellington: Associate Professor Clare O'Callaghan, Australian music therapy researcher and clinician, gave a presentation at the New Zealand School of Music (NZSM) titled: “A music therapist’s practice research in palliative care: Creative methods and meaningful findings”. Clare is currently undertaking a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Post Doctoral Fellowship in Palliative Care and in 2010 returns as music therapist to Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Melbourne.
Education and TrainingThe University of Melbourne has announced the Masters of Music Therapy (MMusThrp) by coursework degree, in flexible delivery mode from 2010. The course will be delivered partially online and partially through weekend intensives in Melbourne, and supervised clinical training in the student's home state. This is a long-awaited development in education and training for music therapy in the region. For information interest please contact Associate Professor Denise Grocke, Head of Music Therapy (d.grocke@unimelb.edu.au), or Dr Katrina McFerran(k.mcferran@unimelb.edu.au).
Both Australian and New Zealand professional associations now have an online register of RMTs. In addition, AMTA has a hard copy Directory of Music Therapists produced annually.
Clinical Practice
In Australia and New Zealand clinical practice in music therapy continues to broaden into a range of medical, educational and community contexts. In Australia, the professional body continues to lobby the Australian Government in the areas of disability and the arts, and for recognition as an allied health care provider in the public and private health sectors.
AwardsAustralian Learning and Teaching Council (ATLC) Citation: Dr. Felicity Baker, University of Queensland. The $10,000 citations are awarded to academic and professional staff who have made long-standing contributions to the quality of student learning and improving the overall student experience.
Richard Thompson was announced an honorary life member of AMTA Inc. A tribute to Richard Thompson (dec), RMT, can be read athttp://www.austmta.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009-april-pulse.pdf
PublicationsProfessor Jane Edwards is the inaugural President of the International Association for Music and Medicine. Jane trained at the University of Melbourne in the 1980s and established music therapy training at the University of Queensland in the 1990s. She has been head of the Music Therapy training program at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, Ireland, for the past ten years.
Music and Medicine is a new interdisciplinary journal published by SAGE that will be an integrative forum for clinical practice and research related to music interventions and applications of clinical music strategies in medicine. Music and Medicine’s goal is to bring together information that is currently scattered across many disciplines throughout many publications. See SAGE http://www.uk.sagepub.com/j
Australian Journal of Music Therapy, The Journal of the Australian Music Therapy Association Inc. The Editor of AJMT is currently accepting submissions for the 2010 journal. For policy and submission guidelines: http://www.austmta.org.au/publications/ajmt-our- journal/ajmt-contributer-notes/
The New Zealand Journal of Music Therapy is published annually. For submission guidelines: http://www.musictherapy.org.nz/index.php?q=journal.htm
Pulse, a quarterly newsletter produced by the Australian Music Therapy Association for Registered Music Therapists.
MusT, an open press quarterly newsletter produced by Music Therapy New Zealand, and accessed on their website http://www.musictherapy.org.nz/
Anja Tait
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