Music Therapy Clinician: Supporting reflective clinical practice Volume 1 | Page 36

success, but we’ve seen success as
we define it, um, either as someone
coming to participate and feeling
accepted as a performer or even as
an audience member. I’m not sure
who else I would think of as
another clinical population, but
definitely
individuals
with
intellectual disabilities, sensory
deficits,
Autism
Spectrum
Disorders, physical disabilities were
able to participate.

Roia:

Do you have any
thoughts, before we move on to
Christine,
about
how…how
someone would go about starting
this kind of a thing in their general
space, or in their kind of facility, or
through their facility?

Angela:

I think it’s all about
networking and talking to people
about having an idea. The best
events and the best collaborations
start with just…”I have this idea”
[laughter]…bringing it to fruition.
But, for us, there’s a local church
that we collaborate with, and we’re
able to use their space, because our
space was too small for something
like this. Um, talking to the local
colleges or universities, volunteers,
friends…We have some friends who
would back you in what you’re
doing…if it’s a facility that would be
appropriate,
um,
community
leaders, social media…Just see if
you can gather…gather steam for
your idea.

Roia: I would like to interrupt

before we pass this on to Christine
and say, thank God for my friends,
because they were amazing
supporters and really, really helped
make sure this happened every
month and helped us get everything re-organized and cleaned up
and back to tip-top shape before
everyone came back to work on
Monday. And, oh my God, without
them, this would just never have
happened! And having people who
believe in this vision was just so
instrumental in it happening. Okay,
I will stop yammering! Take it,

34 | P a g e

Christine! What are your thoughts
about how it could be expanded
or…and it sounded like you actually
started talking about that a little
earlier, in terms of your experience
of being part of the choir director
collective or panel?

Christine: Right. So, I really

sort of, um, had an idea about this
kind of choir when I was in college
studying music therapy, and really
just sort of had to wait for an
opportunity to present itself to, kind
of, pull that out of my…my…you
know, I guess, my idea bank.
[Laughter] And my college choir
director and I had stayed in touch,
and I had gone to her for some, sort
of, conducting technique advice.
And when I explained to her what I
was doing, you know, she was very
excited to hear about it, and I did
send her a video of the group. And
she began to invite me to speak to
her students, her current, you
know, students that were back at
the university - this was Mansfield
University in northern central
Pennsylvania - and then, to
introduce me, she invited me to talk
to the American Choral Director
Association conference, Summer
conference, which was mostly
educators, high school, like, junior
high and high school and collegiate
choir directors. So, I began to get
some exposure there, and that’s
really where I sort of started taking
on some consulting role with
different people who were looking
to
include
singers
with
neurodevelopmental disorders and
intellectual disabilities and even
students who had, um, ADHD and
learning disabilities who were
really, you know, could be
disruptive in a middle school choral
rehearsal. So they would pick