26: Music Therapy; Music as Therapy. A conversation with Jennifer Townsend.

In this episode, John Price speaks with music therapist, Jennifer Townsend, about music and music therapy. We discuss the definition of music therapy, the biological aspects of performing and listening to music, how concepts from physics have informed the connecting and healing processes of music therapy, the uses of music therapy as an aid in brain development following a trauma, relationship bonding when coming together on the “beat”, and other topics. Jennifer offers the listener stories of the healing aspects of music within populations ranging from those affected by acute psychosis, and non-responsiveness, she explains the rapport building dimensions of music in relationship and notes how music can reduce anxiety amongst those who have been traumatized. While listening to this episode, one thing becomes clear: that there are profound reasons why many of us will spend more of our time and money on music than sex and drugs (medical and otherwise). Bio: Jennifer Townsend, MMT, MT-BC, is the Program Manager for Music Therapy at Houston Methodist. In this capacity, she has overseen the growth of music therapy across the system of Houston Methodist hospitals, led research initiatives in music therapy and music medicine, and provides clinical supervision to the Houston Methodist creative arts therapy team of eight. She has published articles on technology in music therapy, music therapy in epilepsy treatment, music therapy in NICU, and published a chapter on Medically Fragile Children in Guidelines for Music Therapy Practice in Pediatrics. Website: https://www.musictherapy.org http://www.cbmt.org Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Band of the week: Grace Kali https://gracekali.com https://twitter.com/thegracekali Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/grace-kali/1396993208 https://soundcloud.com/gracekali https://www.amazon.com/Sign-Times-Grace-Kali/dp/B07DMGDTY7 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks