Manager Music and Music in Health - The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Its hard to know whether to put a short personal statement or the whole  CV on this page. 

I believe that participating in music and art is a basic human right. I work with music because its a  very powerful tool and my biggest passions is helping people find their own song. I feel very strongly about placing music in a hospital, I like the fact that people dont expect it to be there and its that juxtapositioning that increases its potency. 

Now for my formal CV

Emma is the founder of the music therapy and music in health program at the Royal Melbourne (in 1998) she is an internationally renowned innovator in the role of music in wellbeing; specializing in acute health care. She has pioneered methods in guided facilitated songwriting across music genres and her work was the subject of the multi award winning SBS/f-reel documentary, ‘Opera Therapy’ (2005). Emma is currently a principal researcher and designer of a major arts based training project for medical staff in surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital focusing on cultural change, building on reflective communication skills and change management to increase quality of care and minimise clinical risk. 

Emma has been working in public health as a manager and clinician for the past 14 years and she has also enjoyed a successful career as a vocal performer and a contemporary classical composer. She trained in opera singing in Europe and most recently composed an original opera ‘avatara’, developed from ‘Opera Therapy’. 

Emma is currently completing PhD at The University of Melbourne on the effect of her specialized method of guided songwriting on cancer patients’ quality of life, mood states, distress levels and satisfaction with hospital stay.  Emma has lectured in Music and the Brain and Music & Medicine at The University of Melbourne for 7 years and was the researcher/writer for the recent award winning documentary film ‘Music of the Brain’( 2009, f-reel productions). Her methodologies and research have been published in major text and peer reviewed journals. 

In November 2011 Emma was given a prestigious Victorian Public Health Care - Health Leaders Award for her pioneering work in enabling person and family centered care in music therapy. 

Emma's most recent collaboration was with Australian singer songwriter Pete Murray who released two songs written by two young women with cancer (KATE'S SONG and RED) on his latest LET YOU GO EP on ITUNES in March 2012. Emma created and directed two community music video clips for the songs with the girls' families, friends, Pete Murray and artist/national treasure Michael Leunig.