Keely Phillips, who will be receiving her bachelor’s degree from UTC in December, is serving a music therapy internship this fall with Atlanta’s Fulton County school district. Photo by Angela Foster.
Keely Phillips first heard the phrase “music therapy” as a freshman in high school.
“My grandmother mentioned it,” she explained. “I just remember we were in the car driving to go out to eat or something and she said, ‘Have you ever thought about music therapy?’ And I asked, ‘Well, what’s that?’”
“That” is now her future career.
“My goal in life in all my different jobs and different roles is to make the people that I interact with the happiest, healthiest versions of themselves,” Phillips said, “and I could see how I was using music to facilitate those changes.”
Phillips and Kyndall Blum are the first students to attend the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as music therapy majors for all four years they were enrolled. They are graduating as part of December commencement ceremonies.
Joseph Taylor, who transferred from Belmont University in Nashville to UTC as a junior, also is graduating with a music therapy degree—the first transfer student to earn the degree.
Music therapy is used to treat people on the autism spectrum, stroke victims, dementia patients and those who have post-traumatic stress disorder.
The music therapy program began at UTC in 2019 and now has 35 students as majors.
“I am so very proud of Kyndall, Keely and Joseph,” said Director of Music Therapy Katherine Goforth Elverd, who created the program at UTC. “They took a chance selecting a rigorous major in a brand new program at UTC. Each of them demonstrated adaptability and flexibility as the program launched, navigated curriculum changes, and maneuvered through the challenges of COVID-19. No doubt that these three students have shaped the program into what it is today.”
Kyndall Blum
Blum was a junior at East Hamilton High School and searching for a way to combine her love of singing with her “heart for helping people,” she said, when she learned that her friend’s sister was majoring in music therapy at the University of Alabama.
“Then conveniently, in the most perfect timing, the UTC music therapy program started the fall of my freshman year,” she said.
She’s now finishing an internship at Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, working with patients from preschool children to senior citizens. Each group requires a different type of music therapy, from cognitive and motor skills for older adults to teaching young ones how to listen closely and follow directions.
Taylor said that, before he began college, singing and psychology were “the only things that interested me in terms of academic stuff.”
“Music therapy was right where I needed it to be,” he said.
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and graduate of Grace Christian Academy, Taylor is now an intern for J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center in Morganton, North Carolina, where he works with adults in group and individual sessions.
“It is better than I thought I would be. I was very pleasantly surprised,” he said. “I’ve always felt comfortable taking on more things at my natural pace and I’m still doing all the things that I’m required to do. It just feels more natural.”
In fall semester 2023, Phillips began an internship as a music therapist in the Fulton County school district in Atlanta, working in three elementary schools and two middle schools.
“It’s going really well. It’s like my dream job. It’s perfect,” said Phillips, who attended Shelbyville (Tennessee) High School.
Upon graduation, all three hope to find full-time work in music therapy. Phillips would like to find a job either in the Fulton County system, the Hamilton County system in Chattanooga or in Bedford County, Tennessee, where Shelbyville is located.
“I knew I wanted to do something with music, and I knew I wanted to help people,” she said.
Joseph Taylor
Taylor said going home to Knoxville to start his career would be the best, “at least for my first job until I get on my own two feet.”
“It doesn’t always work out that way, so I might have to go for the best job available,” he said.
For Blum, the goal is to return to Chattanooga and find a music therapist job in a hospital.
“I am thinking that I will go get my master’s in music therapy next, then search for a music therapy job in the medical field and work my way closer to home,” she said.
“From the first time that I’ve seen music therapy, and every single time that I see it more, I just love it so much. Now that I’m doing it full-time, I can really confirm that I have picked the right career for me.”
Learn More
