Department of Music

IPFW Associate Professor Dr. Nancy Jackson (l.) and Tammy Else of Lutheran Hospital appreciate the wealth of instruments donated by Blue Star.

Blue Star Instruments Enhance Music Therapy

Nancy Jackson, IPFW associate professor of music and director of music therapy will be facilitating a new music therapy practicum program at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. Music therapy students enrolled in Practicum III will be placed at Lutheran to complete their clinical training course requirements. The program, which begins in January 2013, will offer an excellent opportunity for IPFW’s music therapy students to gain real-world experience in the application of music therapy.

The collaboration began as a conversation at a 2011 conference, sponsored by Erin’s House for Grieving Children, between Jackson and Tammy Else, child life specialist at Lutheran Children’s Hospital, has found additional support in the form of a donation of musical instruments from Blue Star Connection, which will help Jackson’s students with their work at Lutheran Children’s Hospital.

“The IPFW students who would go to Lutheran would be enrolled in clinical training practice,” said Jackson. “Most likely it would be the most advanced level of practicum they would do before going out to do a full-time internship somewhere. It will provide a really good balance of getting some independent work in while still having close supervision.”

Caroline Johnson of Blue Star, a nonprofit organization that raises money to facilitate music programs for children in need, contacted Else not long after the program had been created. After a second conversation with John Catt, founder of Blue Star, Jackson and Else received a shipment of keyboards, kazoos, guitars, recorders and percussion instruments.

Jackson’s students are currently involved as interns at Park Center, area schools, Turnstone Center for Disabled Children and Adults, as well as long-term patient care facilities throughout the Fort Wayne area.

The Auer Lobby of the IPFW Rhinehart Music Center.

Architectural Design Wins Merit Award

Fort Wayne-based SchenkelShultz Architecture and Brenner Design of Indianapolis have won a merit award for interior design for their design of the John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center. The award was given by American Institute of Architects (AIA) as part of an annual design competition. AIA’s panel of judges described the interior of  Rhinehart as elegant simplicity.

The IPFW John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center was designed to serve the university and the community. Visually exciting, the building was created with glass-prismed piano studios, a conference room and lobbies that provide exquisite space for learning and interaction, with panoramic views of the IPFW Arts Plaza and the heart of the campus. It features a 250-seat recital hall, classrooms, studios, administrative offices and a 1,500-seat auditorium.