Rolling Admissions Music-Thanatology (RA-M-Than)

Applications for the RA-M-Than program are also received from a diverse constituency. In addition to successful completion of the pre-requisite RA-CM, many applicants to Music-Thanatology have more than one graduate degree and/or licenses (or ordination through their respective seminaries and faith traditions).    

The particular work of music-thanatology is oriented toward depth, musical artistry, clinical acuity, service and spirituality.

The RA-M-Than program includes a clinical internship, and requires maturity and stability, excellent inter- and intra-personal communication skills, and the interdisciplinary curriculum asks the ultimate philosophical, theological, musical, clinical and practical questions about death and dying, service, community. These are some of the core fundamentals required to serve the needs of the dying with prescriptive music.    

Many registrants are already care-givers. Some care for a loved one who is actively dying, and some have been a primary caregiver or clinical provider for a loved one who has died in the past, or for those whom they served in hospices and hospitals. It is not uncommon for this level of personal experience to be the profound and transformational seed that initiates a desire to change professions or vocations. The lived experience of the death of their loved one can permeate the student’s orientation with urgency and presence of being rather than shore up theory or abstraction, safe fascination or compartmentalized curiosity. The RA-M-Than applicants tend to be responding to something meaningful and personal that has taken place in their lives. M-Than attracts highly motivated individuals, each of whom is asked to demonstrate high levels of personal accountability coupled with equally viable respect for others.

Who applies to RA-M-Than? Practicing health care professionals, those from religious studies and pastoral services as well as individuals with backgrounds in medieval studies, anthropology, psychology, social work and every aspect of music, be it performance, conducting, composition, history, theory, musicology, ethnomusicology, biomusicology, conducting, music therapy, etc.

  • Participation in or successful completion of RA- CM or Contemplative Musicianship does not suggest or imply automatic acceptance into RA- M-Than or any other seminar or program the organization offers.
  • Music-Thanatology applications are reviewed on the strength of the student’s previous musical and academic work as demonstrated while enrolled in Contemplative Musicianship, in combination with their demonstrations of excellence in inter and intrapersonal communication skills.
  • Music-Thanatology seminars offer graduate level, low-residency, distance learning, adult-level, certificate bearing continuing education opportunities to those who feel called to bring music, spirituality and the principles of palliative medicine together in one coherent unity in order to serve the needs of the dying with prescriptive music.
  • The curriculum has been revised 19 different times over 4-plus decades to reflect several different educational contexts and continually changing clinical protocols. The Founder has presented this course work in institutes, colleges, university and seminary settings, international congresses and conferences, and has delivered seminars, plenaries and residencies at or for medical schools, nursing schools, schools of theology, social work and music; delivered medical grand rounds at hospitals; taught in both graduate and undergraduate settings, for traditional classrooms and on-line cohorts.
  • The Chalice of Repose Project is the first music-thanatology organization in the world. The Chalice of Repose Project has offered music-thanatology programs, classes, conferences and seminars for decades, and the work accomplished has been distinguished with numerous publications, awards, grants and television documentaries.
  • School Offices for RA-M-Than applications or study are closed to the public during the months of July and December.

Other Educational Opportunities include a variety of seminars:

  • Composition (primarily art song, song cycle, instrumental works and chamber choral works).
  • Private continuing education tutorials in either Voice or Harp or voice and harp together, for the singing harpist.
  • Medieval Studies Repertoire – for those specifically interested in repertoire and symbolism from the 11ththrough the 14th centuries
  • The Grail Seminar
  • Advanced Practice Principles in Prescriptive Music for graduates
  • Additional Thanatological continuing education and advanced practice seminars.
  • The Divine Feminine in Song and Symbol: Medieval and Twentieth Century Repertoire

Please continue to the Application Process Page for instructions on materials packet and application process.

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