New Paltz Alumni Present Music Therapy Showcase

On Oct. 19, as part of the 2024 Alumni Reunion, three SUNY New Paltz graduates who are now certified music therapists participated in the Third Annual Music Therapy Alumni Showcase. Dr. Kathleen Murphy, director of the music therapy program, said “[the showcase] came to be because I thought it was really important for our students to connect with the alumni and see all the cool things they were doing out there. When students are here for six years to get their masters degrees, they might not know what life is like outside of academia.” In the past, presentations have covered private practice, clinical research, hospice and palliative care.

This year, music therapists Joy Pollard, Alexa Marie and Xiyu Zhang presented to a room full of around 35 alumni, current students and faculty in College Hall. The event, which is meant to expose current students to career possibilities that a degree in music therapy can lead to, provided an opportunity for networking and reconnection among alumni. The showcase also counted for a concert series credit, of which music majors are required to get eight per semester. 

Among the speakers was Joy Pollard, one of the pioneering members of the first cohort of music therapy students at SUNY New Paltz. Her presentation titled, “A Song for Everything, and Everything’s a Song: 50 Years at the Keyboard” involved live demonstrations of techniques used in her practice, particularly in a pre-school setting. She was lively and energetic, as she gave advice to the aspiring students in the room. She meditated on music therapy’s unique way of cultivating experiences for people of all ages that activate parts of themselves nothing else can. Pollard was the first music therapy intern through SUNY New Paltz at Wassaic Developmental Center.

Alexa Marie, a 2022 New Paltz graduate, has been working at Elizabeth Seton Children’s Center after interning there while she was in college. The center, which serves more than 3,000 children per year, describes itself as “a pioneering provider of care, education and hope for children with some of the most challenging medical conditions any person can face.” As part of her presentation, Marie explained how a sound bed is used to help relax patients and facilitate flexibility as a physical therapist works in collaboration with them. There is a string side and a tone bar side of the bed that are used while the music therapist sings. As a result, patients often vocalize, have more relaxed breathing and can become more flexible in their movements and expressions. After hearing her speak, Elle, a second-year majoring in music with a concentration in clinical musicianship and who is on the path to the graduate music therapy program said, “It’s fascinating to see how [music therapy] can expand through children and adults who are nonverbal, or who are unable to move around by themselves or need 24 hour care and change their abilities.”

Xiyu Zhang, who graduated from SUNY New Paltz with the Award of Outstanding Graduate Honor, spoke about her experience working as a music therapist for elderly patients with dementia. She described ways in which music can be a single force of reconnection for people with late-stage dementia who have disconnected from most other things.

At one point during the showcase, technical difficulties caused a delay in presentations. The room broke out into “Three Little Birds,” singing, “Every little thing is gonna be alright.” Smiles broke onto everyone’s faces as the music spread a radiant sense of joy that few other things can.

For more information on the music therapy program at SUNY New Paltz, visit www.newpaltz.edu/ms-music-therapy, follow @sunynpmusictherapy on Instagram, or contact Murphy at murphyk@newpaltz.edu.