The American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) convened an historic and innovative research symposium, “IMPROVING ACCESS AND QUALITY: MUSIC THERAPY RESEARCH 2025” (MTR 2025), July 16-18, 2015. This visionary special event was designed to recommend guidance for future research in music therapy. Dr. Blythe LaGasse, associate professor of Music Therapy and coordinator of Music Therapy at CSU, was the invited presenter on the topic of research in music therapy and individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr. LaGasse was also involved with the work group focused on making recommendations for the future of music therapy research for autism.
In May 2015, Dr. Bonnie Jacobi, coordinator of Music Education, assistant professor of Music Education, and director of the Colorado Kodály Institute, received the 1905 Alumnae Fellowship Award from Mount Holyoke College. It is Jacobi’s second time receiving the competitive award from her alma mater, and will enable her to return to the Mount Holyoke College Library Archives in South Hadley, Mass. in Jan. 2016 to continue her study on the role of music in the lives of the earliest college women. The anticipated result of her research will be a national-level presentation and an article for publication in a major, peer-review music education journal that chronicles the interest early college women had in music (prior to it becoming a major in 1935) and details the types of music activities that were integral to life at Mount Holyoke College.
In July, Dr. Jacobi presented her Dalcroze-based research in Vienna, Austria at the University for Music and Performing Arts as part of the 2nd International Conference of Dalcroze Studies (Dalcroze created the first modern method of music education). “A moving ceremony opened the conference at Dalcroze's birth house in Vienna where a plaque was bestowed in honor of his 150th birthday,” she reflected. “This man has had a substantial impact on my life and work.”
In July, Dr. Wesley Ferreira, assistant professor of Clarinet at CSU, attended the annual International Clarinet Association’s annual ClarinetFest held for 2015 in Madrid, Spain where he performed on the featured evening concert, judged the ICA Young Artist Competition, and performed with his former teacher Robert Riseling, professor emeritus at the University of Western Ontario. Ferreira’s student, Music Performance Major Emily Kerski, also attended the conference.
In June, Dr. Michelle Stanley, assistant professor of Music, Flute at CSU, taught at the InterHarmony Internationales Musik-Festival in Arcidosso, Italy. The annual intensive summer performance festival includes a concert series of international solo musicians and young performers, and an institute for students of solo, chamber music, and orchestral playing. CSU flute students Gabriela Bliss, Samantha Post, and Katie Miswell joined their professor for the festival. "I'm especially sad to leave my magical time with my students," said Stanley. "They made me so proud with their musical development and growth and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with them and having fun together. Miss you...what a great festival!"