By Phoenix reporter Isy Odiaka ’19:
On Friday, February 1, 2019, Kellenberg alumna Katie Van Loan ’01, MA, MT-BC, LCAT came to Kellenberg to speak about music therapy to the members of the Phoenix Chorus and Band.
Ms. Van Loan, whose job requires her to perform various musical exercises with patients to assist in assessing emotions, discussed the diverse elements of music therapy: clients, therapists, interventions, evaluations, and assessments. These exercises can range from having patients create lyrics and sing to express their emotions or calm them, playing instruments to help premature babies develop certain feeding patterns and many more things.
“Music therapy requires you to truly love music and working with people,” concluded Ms. Van Loan.
After the presentation followed a question and answer session, during which Ms. Van Loan discussed how to become a music therapist.
“I especially enjoyed the videos of patients who are infants and seniors,” expressed senior Andrea Smith. “There is so much more to music therapy then I was aware of.”
Ms. Van Loan graduated from Kellenberg in 2001, and while she was a Kellenberg student she participated in Chorus, Drama, Tennis and Firebird Swing. She has had a career in music therapy for over ten years, beginning with a job working with premature babies. Currently, she works at Mt. Sinai Hospital with psychiatric patients.
Katie Van Loan ’01 with Mr. Clark Blanton, Music Department Chairman
