William Matney

Ph.D. University of Kansas, M.A. Texas Woman’s University, B.S. Texas Woman’s University 

William Matney joined the KU faculty in the fall of 2016. His previous teaching experience includes Nazareth College, where he was assistant professor and clinic manager, and Texas Woman’s University, where he was an adjunct lecturer.

As a clinician, William has worked primarily in special education settings, where he developed programs with unique populations, including group drumming programming with children who have severe emotional and behavioral diagnoses, and music and movement programming in early childhood bilingual co-teach classrooms.  He also worked as a private practice clinician with a range of populations. His current clinical and supervisory work includes interprofessional work in music therapy and speech with people who have aphasia and other communicative diagnoses. 

William’s current research interests include (a) clinical musicianship in music therapy, (b) percussion andragogy and percussion-based interventions in music therapy, (c) the role of philosophy and theory in research, (d) uses of contemporary philosophy to inform critical and integrative music therapy theory and practice, and (e) interdisciplinary intervention research related to various populations. He currently serves as an associate editor for the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. 

William has published research in the Journal of Music Therapy, the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, and Arts in Psychotherapy.  He has edited and co-authored a book chapter in the book Music Therapy: An Introduction to the Profession. He also authored the book Tataku: The Use of Percussion in Music Therapy, and co-authored Roots and Branches: Songs of Tradition and Culture. He has provided percussion trainings to clinicians and students nationally, primarily in relation to the Music Therapy Drumming consortium.  He also has presented consistently at regional and national conferences of the American Music Therapy Association.