Music Therapy New Zealand

22/09/2025

Music Therapy New Zealand is hiring

Have you worked in the non-profit charity sector and have at least five years' experience in a senior administration or executive role, understand governance and working with external stakeholders and members, feel at ease taking minutes, responding and taking the initiative with members' enquiries,

05/09/2025

Program launch! AMTA is pleased to share the program for AMTA2025: Orchestrating impact and innovation, our national conference and professional development seminar. We're proud of the diverse offering, with themes that extend across innovation and technology, clinical care, lived experience, culture and practice, research and more.

🔗 https://tinyurl.com/yhezhckn

Watch this space for program highlights and more detail.

The national conference will be held in Melbourne from 16 to 19 October and includes:
- our inaugural pre-conference welcome event, to which all members of the public are invited
- two days of learning, reflection and professional connection
- an all-day professional development seminar
- a pre-conference advanced competency workshop for registered music therapists only.

📷 Text: "AMTA2025 conference. Orchestrating impact and innovation." Logo: AMTA 50 years. Colourful tiles and icons representing connectino, conversation, music and ideas.

02/09/2025

A new issue alert for Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy

📢 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀, 𝗩𝗼𝗹. 𝟭𝟳 𝗡𝗼. 2 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱)

Welcome to our new issue: https://journals.qmu.ac.uk/approaches/issue/view/39

This year, we will publish 4 issues in total. This will help us to transition to a rolling publication model in 2026!

Editorial
Responsive practice and responsive publishing
Andeline Dos Santos

Articles
The effects of personally preferred music on mood and behaviour in individuals with dementia: An exploratory pilot study
Stephanie Cairo, Kyurim (Kyu) Kang, Patricia Izbicki, Molly Isinghood, Tabassum Majid, Alexander Pantelyat

Exploring clinicians’ experiences of engaging in collaborative music therapy and speech and language therapy for children with an acquired brain injury
James Burns, Rebecca Susan O’ Connor

The development and design of the Musical Functional Assessment Profile (MFAP) in autism
Nuria Marsimian

Investigating trial feasibility of music care in hospice and palliative care
Arbaaz Patel, Caleb Kim, SarahRose Black, Bev Foster, Chelsea Mackinnon

Perceptions of GIM therapists transitioning from in-person GIM sessions to online platforms during Covid-19 restriction
Denise Grocke, Katrina McFerran

Exploring the potential benefits of an online music-based meditation programme for family carers of people with dementia
Lisa Kelly, Katie Togher, Rosie Connolly, Betty Killeen, Ita Richardson, Hilary Moss

“That’s what makes me authentic, because what we do makes sense” – Music professionals’ experiences of authenticity: A phenomenological, hermeneutical interview study
Julie Ørnholt Bøtker, Turid Nørlund Christensen, Stine Lindahl Jacobsen

“Music therapy is the very definition of white privilege”: Music therapists’ perspectives on race and class in UK music therapy
Tamsin Mains, Victoria Clarke, Luke Annesley

Commentaries
A commentary on “‘Music therapy is the very definition of white privilege’: Music therapists’ perspectives on race and class in UK music therapy” (Mains et al.)
Jasmine Edwards

A commentary on “‘That’s what makes me authentic, because what we do makes sense’ – Music professionals’ experiences of authenticity: A phenomenological, hermeneutical interview study” (Bøtker, Christensen & Jacobsen)
June Boyce Tillman

Reviews
Here I’m alive: The spirit of music in psychoanalysis
Katy Bell

Theory and practice of psychodynamic music psychotherapy
Marianne Rizkallah FRSA

Developing issues in world music therapy education and training: A plurality of views
Tim Honig

Collaborative insights: Interdisciplinary perspectives on musical care throughout the life course
Rachel Darnley-Smith

Conference Reports
The 3rd European Association of Music and Imagery (EAMI) conference: ‘The power of music – embodiment, trauma healing, spirituality’
Petra Jerling

The 8th SIMM-posium (Social Impact of Music Making)
Catherine Threlfall

Trauma, music and music therapy
Sara Knapik-Szweda, Agnieszka Sepioło, Anna Konopacka

29/08/2025

The government has published updates to the national arts strategy, Amplify: A Creative and Cultural Strategy for New Zealand, following public consultation. Music Therapy New Zealand is encouraged to note the addition of accessibility needs through technological innovation, as well as support for the creative spaces sector, supporting participation in creative activities for disabled people. As an organisation we will continue to advocate for equitable access to music therapy for all who might benefit.

https://www.mch.govt.nz/our-work/arts-sector/amplify-creative-and-cultural-strategy-new-zealand

27/08/2025

Christchurch folk - community members, allied health professionals, supporters and anyone interested in learning more about the power of music therapy - you are warmly invited to join the Music Therapy Community for our annual hui - nau mai haere mai! Tickets available from $10 unwaged/$20 waged.

Music Therapy New Zealand warmly invites you to our annual hui:
Sunday 14 September
at the BrainTree Wellness Centre
70 Langdons Road, Papanui
9.30 am to 3.30pm

The programme for the day includes:
Guest speaker: Dr Graham Sattler CEO, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
Music Therapy panel discussion
Musicking together

Registration options:
all-day ticket includes refreshments and lunch from $50
afternoon only attendance from 1pm (not catered) from $10
Earlybird tickets available to 31 August

Afternoon sessions:
Dr Graham Sattler - 1pm Our guest speaker is Dr Graham Sattler, CEO of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Adjunct Senior Fellow in the School of Creative and Digital Arts at the University of Canterbury (Aotearoa New Zealand). Graham says, “I have a particular interest in the differentiation between, and collaborative power/potential of, music activity and (clinical) music therapy. My PhD (and subsequent academic activity and practice) focus on the sociocultural impact of group music activity, particularly in marginalised cohorts.” You can read more about him here Dr Graham Sattler - bio

Music Therapist panel discussion - 2pm Reflecting on professional boundaries and collaborations in music therapy and community music with Katie Pureti, Hazel Barrett, Sophie Sabri, Liz Wallace, May Clulee 吳美珠 and facilitated by Kimberley Wade. In this session Music Therapists will share their experiences of collaboration and partnering with the communities they work with in a variety of contexts.

Musicking Together - 3pm Music Therapists, Community Musicians, Allied Health workers, students, musicians, non-musicians tatou katoa

For more information and tickets, go to the Humantix site here:
https://events.humanitix.com/mthnzhui2025

Please email me at info@musictherapy.org.nz with any questions that you may have. We'd love for you to join us.

Ngā mihi
Sarah Cole
Executive Officer

Working Together: Music Therapy New Zealand Te Rōpū Puoro Whakaora o Aotearoa hui 2025 All welcome, nau mai haere mai.

25/08/2025

20/08/2025

Music - good for our hearts and minds!

We all know that music can help us feel better, but did you know that music has the power to change the chemistry of your brain? When we listen to music, the levels of the stress hormone cortisol decrease, while levels of dopamine increase.

As well as listening to music, you can also try some musical activities! Songwriting, playing in a group, and being mindful of musical vibrations are all great ways to look after your mental health.

14/08/2025

MThNZ members - join us for this waiata session on 4 September - to register contact info@musictherapy.org.nz

Image is a poster for event Waiata Sessions with green and purple semi-circles, a sketch of a guitar and event information in text

08/08/2025

Congratulations Pito-One Harmony Singers

07/08/2025

Thirtieth anniversary congratulations to the Institute of Music and Neurologic Function in New York.

Founded in 1995 by a team that included Oliver Sacks (1933-2015), MD, noted neurologist and author, and Concetta M. Tomaino, DA, MT-BC, a pioneer in the field of music therapy, the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF) was established to bridge the gap between neuroscientific research and clinical music therapy practice. For three decades, IMNF has served as a leading resource for the development, application, and dissemination of evidence-based music interventions that address the needs of individuals with neurologic disorders, including dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and developmental disabilities.

https://www.imnf.org/the-institute-for-music-and-neurologic-function-marks-its-30th-anniversary

31/07/2025

Singing is an accessible music therapy approach and interdisciplinary field supporting adults living with an acquired neurological condition that affects communication and social connectedness - whether in an inclusive (neurological) choir or specialist (aphasia, Parkinson's, dementia, etc.) singing group. Alison Talmage, NZ RMTh and researcher, co-authored this poster with colleagues in the interprofessional Aphasia Choirs Go Global network. The poster was presented in person by Hungarian music therapist Zsófia Fekete at the European Music Therapy Conference in Hamburg, July 2025.

30/07/2025

Did you know that music therapists often form part of a multidisciplinary team, working with other allied health professionals?
In the latest edition of the Australian Journal of Music Therapy, music therapists and physiotherapists share their findings from a two-year interdisciplinary collaboration that supported pulmonary rehabilitation in a young person with neurological injury.

Did you know that music therapists often form part of a multidisciplinary team, working with other allied health professionals?

In the latest edition of the Australian Journal of Music Therapy, music therapists and physiotherapists share their findings from a two-year interdisciplinary collaboration that supported pulmonary rehabilitation in a young person with neurological injury.

Read a useful demonstration of how music therapy contributes to the achievement of a patient's clinical goals in complex care settings, by authors Eta Lauw RMT, Michi Kuan and Sarah Heah from AWWA School in Singapore.

📖 Read the full article:https://www.austmta.org.au/public/151/files/AJMT/2024/Issue%201/Lauw%20et%20al.pdf

Source: Lauw, E., Kuan, M., & Heah, S. (2024). Breath is life! A two year collaboration between music therapy and physiotherapy for pulmonary rehabilitation in a child with brain injury. Australian Journal of Music Therapy, 35(1), 31–41.


📷 Text: "Australian Journal of Music Therapy. Practice article: breath is life! Eta Lauw, Michi Kuan and Sarah Heah". AMTA logo. Author headshots.