Welcome back to my Therapeutic Music blog. It’s been a while since I’ve written, however, today I wanted to talk about the Music for Healing and Transition Program’s (MHTP) 2024 Conference and give you an update. MHTP has a biennial conference held every other year and in 2024 we celebrated MHTP’s 30th Anniversary. I learned so much about Music and its effects on Health including the Neuroscience of Music and MHTP’s Research Panelists’ update about their study on music and how it affects stress levels on nursing students. And that was just Friday Night.
Saturday was probably the most informative and fascinating day. I listened to an inspirational Grammy award winning Bassist by the name of Victor Wooten. His speech gave me extra motivation to keep singing and to eventually master the piano and guitar. He said that playing in front of people is always better for learning music than isolating in a room to practice an instrument or voice. He also said that mastering an instrument allows the instrument to “disappear” into the music so that the audience just focuses on you as a musician.
In addition to Victor’s speech, I listened to a Music Therapists’ perspective on helping Certified Music Practitioners (CMPs) spread awareness, access, and to advocate for Music in Healthcare. She explained that Music Therapy needs to be credentialed in all states because a lot of times the government believes that music cannot hurt anyone. Some music can harm patients so having that training to reduce harm is important. There were also lectures on Music and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Behavioral Health patients which gave me some facts about those conditions and what music to play/sing.
Sunday was also amazing. I learned the History of MHTP for MHTP’s 30th Anniversary (1994-2024). I learned about each decade of MHTP including how it was founded, who founded it, how the Module classes kept on being revised due to new information being obtained. Finally, I found out how MHTP transitioned their Modules into all online classes due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and learning how to transition into the Post Covid era. After learning so much about MHTP’s History, I learned about two wonderful CMP job opportunities at the University of Michigan Hospital, and Moffitt’s Cancer Center in Florida. Also, there was a lot of beautiful music played during the conference, and I sang at the Open Mic Night on Saturday. Overall, the conference was well done, and I can’t wait to learn more at the 2026 Biennial Conference. For an update on my business, I am job hunting for more Certified Music Practitioner (CMP) opportunities. If anyone that reads this knows of a place, I can reach out to around the Concord NH area, that would be excellent. I am currently looking at Encompass Health as well as the Nursing Homes in Concord. Thank you for reading and stay tuned.
Catherine's Therapeutic Music 