Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-natiOnal.ORg WintER 2014 PAN PIPES 7 By Kelly lorenz, Mt-BC D uring the previous triennium, SAI Philanthropies, Inc. launched a national music therapy project in which chapters were encouraged to complete a project to advance, support, or further the work of music therapy in conjunction with a practicing music therapist. Many chapters completed projects including assisting with music therapy conferences, utilizing a music therapist for participation in a career day, renovating space for music therapy sessions, as well as donating to SAI Philanthropies, Inc. to further support music therapy within the fraternity. Chapters are welcome to continue supporting music therapy by completing a project! Music therapists in SAI have also been making connections and networking with each other on a more frequent basis. A Facebook group, "Music erapists in Sigma Alpha Iota," was created for the purpose of connecting with other music therapists who are also members of SAI and to bring awareness to the field of music therapy to the rest of the fraternity. Members have shared ideas, posted music therapy positions, and asked questions about the SAI Philanthropies' national music therapy scholarship and about music therapy programs. Members of the fraternity who are music therapy students or music therapists are welcome to seek out and join the Facebook group. ere are 49 group members at the writing of this article. It would be great to increase that number to 75 or 100! In addition to the Facebook group, music therapists in SAI began organizing get-togethers at music therapy conferences. Music therapists met for lunch at the most recent American Music erapy Association (AMTA) national conference, "Voices of the Seas." e conference took place in Jacksonville, FL, in November 2013. At the close of the lunch, participants formed a circle and sang the SAI Chorale. It was a great opportunity to connect with other music therapists from around the country to share ideas and to get to know each other. Gamma Gamma initiate Sarah Giunta, a music therapy student at Shenandoah University who attended the lunch posted in the Facebook group, "It was so much fun to get to know you girls, and it's wonderful to know that there are so many of us (and more) involved in the Love and Roses that is SAI, as well as the Love and Music that is Music erapy. You are all beautiful." Pictures of the group were taken and posted in the Facebook group. It would be wonderful for more of these types of gatherings to take place not only at the national music therapy conference but also at regional music therapy conferences. Music therapy students and music therapists willing to assist in advertising and organizing future lunches are encouraged to make a post on the Facebook group wall, or to contact me at klorenzmtsai@yahoo.com. It has been great to see these connections being made and I hope to continue to see music therapists who are members of SAI come together to support each other, music therapy, and the fraternity! An initiate and past president of Zeta Psi at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Kelly Lorenz is a member of the Lake County Alumnae Chapter, where she served as editor. A board certified music therapist, she is the Music erapy Director of SAI Philanthropies, Inc. the importanCe oF musiC Music Therapists in SAI Make Connections By SiMon JohnSon the SunDay telegraph t he Queen of England's official composer has warned that hundreds of thousands of British youngsters have never even heard of Beethoven or Mozart thanks to the education system's "elitist" treatment of classical music. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies said the situation has reached a "serious tipping point" whereby centuries of great works could be lost to future generations more interested in "vacuous celebrity culture and inane talent shows." He described the standard of music teaching in British schools as a "disgrace" and backed calls for every child to study classical works to help them better understand humanity. However, the 79-year-old said the same ignorance extended to other areas of learning, warning that many children are equally oblivious to the writings of Shakespeare or Dickens. e outspoken intervention by Sir Peter, who is one of the world's greatest living composers, came aer Nicola Benedetti, the acclaimed violinist, earlier this year made an outspoken attack on the state of music teaching. As part of the school curriculum, she said teachers should be encouraged to take children through symphonies by composers such as Beethoven, Sibelius, Dvorak, and Mahler and explain the form in detail. Sir Peter, who has been Master of the Queen's Music since 2004, said she was "absolutely right," adding: "ere are hundreds of thousands of youngsters who now have never even heard of Mozart or Beethoven. It is shocking and a disgrace that has been allowed to happen. "e same applies to Shakespeare and Dickens. It just shows what has gone wrong with areas of the educational system." He said that both right and le-wing [government representatives] have been responsible for the decline, arguing: "I'm afraid successive governments and local authorities have seen classical music as an elitist fringe activity." Playing a musical instrument improves a child's self-esteem, he argued, before attacking as "shameless" councils that charge for music tuition. "It goes against the very ethos of widening music across all social classes. e danger is that music becomes the preserve of the better off – Queen's Composer Decries Lack of Classical Education Sir Peter Maxwell, official composer of Queen Elizabeth II. EDUCATION continued on page 25

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