Biomedical Music Therapy Research-Based Foundation of the Effects of Music An Interview with Dr. Dale Taylor By Petra Kern

The idea of doing an interview with Dr. Dale Taylor was born, when I was teaching “Theories in Music Therapy” at the University of Windsor in Canada. My students became very excited about Dr. Taylor’s explanations of the functioning of music on the human brain, as described in Darrow’s textbook Introduction to Approaches to Music Therapy, which we used in class. The content resonated with all of us, as it takes “the myth and magic out of music therapy.” Having known Dale for more than four years through AMTA’s International Relations Committee (IRC), I decided to interview him in order to lift his theory out of the text book, and give it life through his voice, his personal experiences and anecdotes. Dr. Taylor earned his bachelor degree at the University of Kansas, worked in general hospitals and psychiatric institutes during his clinical career, served 35 years as founding Director of the Music Therapy Program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Clair, served 8 years as Chair of the Department of Allied Health Professions, as well as Editor of the International Journal of Arts Medicine. He served as the Secretary/Treasurer of the International Arts Medicine Association, over two decades on NAMT and AMTA Assembly of Delegates, as AMTA’s Certification-Registration Committee Chair, as National Coordinator of Student Affairs (USA), and as President and Vice President of AMTA’s Great Lakes Region. He is the originator of the Biomedical Theory of Music Therapy, authored Biomedical Foundations of Music Therapy, and his research is published in Music Therapy Perspectives, the Journal of Music Therapy, and in many books edited by colleagues. During this year’s AMTA Regional Music Therapy conferences, I took the opportunity to meet with Dr. Taylor and his great wife Jennifer at the Sheraton hotel in Detroit to talk about his motivation behind the development of the Biomedical Theory of Music Therapy, as well as his founding principles, applications, and much more. In this interview, Dale tells his story and shares his vision with readers and listeners of Music Therapy Today. Join me in the quest to understand the power of music on the human brain.