This year, at the AMTA National Conference in Cleveland, we witnessed what is likely the beginning of a new focus. There were at least twelve percussion-related CMTE’s and concurrent sessions offered during the conference. The overwhelming majority of these sessions were offered by board-certified music therapists, including clinicians and university educators! This is largely due to two considerations, those being 1) the evolution of percussion-based competencies, and 2) the requests of the field seeking a specific percussion track during the conferences to address the needs of music therapists. Amy Furman was kind enough to make sure that a particular room was available to meet this need, both sizable enough to accommodate attendance and hands-on participation (many sessions were running between 60 and 80 people), and far away enough from other sessions not to disturb them.

What will this mean for the future? Music Therapy Drumming will seek to not only exist as a training program, but also as an extended consortium of music therapists/percussionists.  Thanks to all who offered their passion and their expertise!