03/13/2022
What a great new resource! Dr. Sorel's work is inspiring.
"Becoming a Music-Centered Therapist" by Suzanne Sorel is a hands-on practical book designed to help students and professionals integrate—or re-integrate—their identity as a musician with their career as a music therapist. Theory, context, and step-by-step exercises combine to encourage students and practitioners in examining their relationship to music, prompting thoughtful questions about how their musical identity can expand what’s possible clinically, and deepening insight into how to spark this growth in the design of their treatment plans.
The author crafts clinical scenarios and musical examples to guide readers in building dynamic treatment plans that combine music with the complex needs of the human beings with whom they work. The strategies and philosophy at the heart of Becoming a Music-Centered Therapist help the reader bridge the divide between humanistic understanding and evidence-based outcomes. Language and communication choices, as well as the practical application of goals, are explored in depth.
Music therapy educators will find this book’s clear-cut practical framework—juxtaposed against a backdrop that crosses multiple disciplines—will work well in treatment planning, methods, practicum, internship, and clinical musicing classes and can be used repeatedly during different stages of a student’s training. For music therapy practitioners, Becoming a Music-Centered Therapist offers a refreshing opportunity to consider where their own musicianship resides in their practice. Humanism, positivity, and the art and science of music therapy are explored to infuse the music therapist's sessions with new life and renewed purpose.
Dr. Suzanne Sorel is Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Music Therapy at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY, where she has been teaching since 1991. She received the Molloy College Distinguished Service Award in 2009 and the Faculty Recognition Award in 2012. She practiced clinically as a senior music therapist and supervisor for 13 years at the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy at New York University achieving Level III Certification (trainer status) in the approach. Since 2003, she has worked as a music therapist, supervisor, and consultant at The Rebecca Center for Music Therapy, Molloy’s on campus clinic. In 2010, she developed the Nordoff-Robbins training at Molloy at The Rebecca Center. Dr. Sorel completed her undergraduate music therapy training at State University of New York at New Paltz in 1986 and received Master’s and Doctoral degrees from New York University in 1993 and 2004. She has worked with a variety of client groups including autistics of all ages, as well as children and adults with developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, speech and language disorders, and psychiatric illnesses. Dr. Sorel has been an invited lecturer at regional, national, and international conferences and workshops sharing her expertise regarding Nordoff-Robbins music therapy, clinical improvisation, and developing humanistic music-centered treatment plans that are evidence-based. In addition to this book, she is the author of several chapters in music therapy texts, and is the composer of many musical compositions used for music education and therapy. She serves as Co-Chair of the Academic Program Approval Committee of the American Music Therapy Association and on the Steering committee of the Music Therapy Faculty Forum. She lives in New York City with her husband Leo, and two sons, Walter and Adam.
Welcome
Introduction
Chapter 1 Beginnings
Chapter 2 Clinical Musicianship and Musical Identity
Chapter 3 Music-Centered Musings
Chapter 4 Humanism and Strengths-Based Music Therapy—A Natural Fit
Chapter 5 Language and Communication Choices Matter
Chapter 6 Navigating the Big and the Small
Chapter 7 Treatment Planning A-B-C-D’s
Chapter 8 Real-World Application
Chapter 9 Pivoting
Final Thoughts
References
Index
