Kenneth Aigen is a music therapist whose clinical specialties include work with children and adolescents with emotional and developmental delays, and adults in mental health. His research uses musicological analyses to reveal connections between the elements of music and common cognitive, emotional, and physical goals in music therapy. He lectures internationally and has authored numerous publications on Nordoff-Robbins music therapy, pop music in music therapy, and qualitative research methodology. Two of his books, Paths of Development in Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and Music-Centered Music Therapy, have been translated into Japanese and Korean. Aigen is a past–president of the American Association for Music Therapy, a recipient of the Research and Publications Award from the American Music Therapy Association, and he was the scientific committee chairman for the Ninth World Congress of Music Therapy. His most recent book is The Study of Music Therapy: Core Issues and Concepts published by Routledge in December 2013. Aigen received his doctorate from New York University in 1991 and for 15 years he was the research director and then co-director of the NordoffRobbins Center for Music Therapy at NYU. From 2006 until returning to Steinhardt in 2013, Aigen was an associate professor in music therapy at Temple University where he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Music for this episode is “The Sidewalks of New York” by Matt LeGroulx.

Dr. Debbie Carroll is music therapy professor at the Université du Québec à Montreal where she has been educating and supervising students since 1985. She received her postgraduate diploma in music therapy from the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and worked as a music therapist in Germany (Heidelberg and Mannheim) and Canada (Montreal). An accomplished pianist and clinician with extensive experience in special education and child/adolescent psychiatry, Debbie’s research interests include children’s intuitive musical understandings and the role of an adaptation of Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) in developing the expressive language of children with Down syndrome. She has also developed a guide for teaching clinical improvisation techniques. Debbie presents her work nationally and internationally. Recently, she was awarded a lifetime membership from the Canadian Association for Music Therapy in recognition for her outstanding commitment to the organization and to the field of music therapy. Her text, co-authored with Claire Lefebvre, is called “Clinical Improvisation Techniques in Music Therapy-A Guide for Students, Clinicians, and Educators (Charles C Thomas, publishers). This podcast is also for students of the CSU MU 545 course on improvisation and composition in music therapy practice, so we have cross-posted it here even though it is a little afield from the usual direct research focus.

Music for this podcast is “Improvisation for kalimba” by Serhio Efremis, off the album “Vocalises.”