Music Therapy Research


Music Therapy faculty and students frequently publish and present new research in leading journals, publications and conferences. We are currently in the process of developing a tool that our faculty and students will use to share their latest research and news of their publications here in this space. For now, have a look at these updates shared recently by KU News about our faculty.


Students standing next to a music therapy poster

Music Therapist's Writings Range from Philosophical to Practical

Bill Matney playing the drums

LAWRENCE – Bill Matney believes music therapists must sing and play a variety of instruments to have a complete toolkit to help their clients.

And as his scholarly publications show, the assistant professor at the University of Kansas School of Music takes a similarly wide-ranging interest in the field, from probing its deepest philosophical underpinnings to offering very specific instructions in his specialty, the use of percussion and the drum set.

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Music Therapy Aims to Develop Emotion Regulation in Preschoolers

Deanna Hanson-Abromeit playing guitar

LAWRENCE – Telling an adult, much less a preschooler, to calm down is easier said than done. But it is a skill that can be learned.

So that is what Deanna Hanson-Abromeit, University of Kansas associate professor of music, is working on. She and a colleague recently won a grant from the American Music Therapy Association to experiment with what they believe is an effective way to train preschoolers to regulate their emotions.

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