Welcome to the MSO's HeartStrings Toolkit Resource Page. The Toolkit is a manual that will help you and your organization create a Music Therapy-Informed Community Engagement Program. HeartStrings provides live classical music presented by professional musicians in local healthcare settings, with participatory activities guided by the American Music Therapy Association’s Standards of Practice.

Most recipients of this program are unlikely to ever attend a performance in the concert hall. HeartStrings has uniquely positioned itself to bring meaningful, high-caliber arts experiences directly to participants in comfortable and familiar locations. Partner locations can include state residential treatment facilities, retirement communities, memory care units, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and resource centers for families who have children with various disabilities, among others. Target populations are aging adults with dementia, people with developmental, intellectual and/or physical disabilities ranging from mild to severe, and those with long-term illnesses.

In a time when symphony orchestras are searching for new and innovative ways to engage their communities outside the concert hall, a program of this nature provides a means to reach beyond our traditional sphere of influence, focusing on community need rather than audience development. Our hope is that this toolkit will encourage you to embark on a journey that will affect peoples’ lives in ways that nothing else can. It will positively influence your organization and community for years to come.

The Toolkit is now available, and you can order yours for $25 by contacting Michelle Kaebisch at 608.257.3734 or mkaebisch@madisonsymphony.org.

Laurie Farnan, who has been instrumental in the development of the HeartStrings Program, has received a major award. She is Receipent of the 2011 American Music Therapy Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Here's what they have to say about her: Laurie Farnan has influenced professional music therapy practice in a visionary way throughout the past three decades and more. She served as the Coordinator of Music Therapy Services at Central Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled for 36 years, training 121 interns! Not only did she develop an innovative community partnership with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, as a consultant for their “HeartStrings” project, but she has also been involved in Very Special Arts. Laurie has designed research-based innovative sensory stimulation techniques to enhance the music experience for people with developmental disabilities and her original song-writing work provides scaffolding for the development of songwriting skills that can be generalized to a variety of settings and populations.

Laurie has served our professional associations at the state, regional and national levels. She was a member of the Clinical Training Committee, author for the Clinical Training column for Music Therapy Perspectives, and a member of the national Unification Commission on Education and Clinical Training (and member of the sub-committee on clinical training). She also possesses a prolific record of presentations and publications.

She has influenced the growth of music therapy from the grassroots clinical perspective, serving as a role model and continuing to push boundaries and develop services to meet the current and future needs of consumers.