About

*Music therapy is a research-based practice and profession in which music is used to actively support people as they strive to improve their health, functioning and wellbeing.

*Music therapy is the intentional use of music by a university trained professional who is registered with the Australian Music Therapy Association Inc. Registered music therapists draw on an extensive body of research and are bound by a code of ethics that informs their practice.

*Music therapists incorporate a range of music making methods within and through a therapeutic relationship. They are employed in a variety of sectors including health, community, aged care, disability, early childhood, and private practice.  Music therapy is different from music education and entertainment as it focuses on health, functioning and wellbeing.

*Music therapists are committed to supporting people of any age and ability regardless of musical skill, culture or background.



Let me tell you a little about OMMG and ME

Hi :) I'm Alli, a 4th generation NW Coast Tasmanian girl. My Dad tells me my first words were the Fats Domino 'Blueberry Hill' album - the entire album* - so, yeah, none of this 'one word at a time' bizz. I was singing from the beginning. My Mum tells me as a young child I said the only thing I could hear inside my head was music, from as soon as I woke up until I went to sleep*. I learnt instruments, went to band camp (and as anyone who's been to band camp will tell you, it actually IS totally cool!!), discovered jazz and blues, played my saxophone a lot, studied music at school and somewhere along the line heard about music therapy. 

"NO WAY" I thought. There is no way I'm doing anything to do with music as a job, it's my hobby and that's how it's gonna stay. HA! Oh, how things change. 

After school I left my small town, as I was bursting to do, and went to London to live. Then I went to NSW and against my 'music is my hobby' pledge studied a combined Bach music/Bach teaching. I have to be honest I never had any intentions of being a teacher but it seemed 'practical' and I'd always been the practical type. 

I became restless in NSW so next I moved to Melbourne, then became restless and moved to Brisbane. By now it was becoming clear that my career was going to involve music and I had developed a peace with that. With each year I was becoming less practical and more aware of intuition and destiny :)

I launched into the Master of Music Therapy at University of Queensland (based on a terrible audition of 'Puff the Magic Dragon', 'Twinkle Twinkle' and 'True Colours' - seriously!) and never looked back. Music therapy encompassed all the things I resonated with in life - music, people, psychology, health and wellbeing. I totally loved it and after 6 YEARS of uni (oh my hat) I got a real job - employed as a registered music therapist in aged care. 

But still I felt like something enormous was missing - and in the end it turned out that two things were.

1) The music therapy resources I had developed seemed so narrow, and I had many questions. Why did we always have to use tuned instruments? Why the western scale? Why not 'sound' instead of 'music'? Why not focus on the very nature of sound, the vibration, as the catalyst for change as opposed to the way the sound is implemented in the therapeutic setting? Why not focus on the absence of sound? Why not silence!? 

So, obviously, I went travelling to work this stuff out. 

And work it out I did. It became immediately clear that along with the very westernised music therapy I had studied I could combine skills and philosophies and ideas from many collective cultures and come up with MY style of music therapy.

2) After becoming restless in QLD, restless in India, restless in Canada, restless in Hobart I realised that my home was where I'd come from all along. My small '4th generation' home-town in Tassie. I finally kicked that nagging 'it's uncool to move back home' thing and moved back home. It felt right, I was able to really sink my roots in, be part of and help create community. In my awesome, spontaneous, transient and wanderlust-full traveller's life community had been missing. 

After making these two very important discoveries I was able to move forward and developed my private practice, Oh My Musical Goodness. 

As a registered music therapist (RMT) with the Australian Music Therapy Association I have worked in the areas of early childhood intervention, special educational needs, juvenile detention, youth engagement, mental health, aged care, palliative care, dementia care, perinatal care and neuro-rehabilitation. These areas have included a range of clinical and community based work environments. If you're interested in finding out more or using music therapy to address any of these areas please don't hesitate to contact me to find out more. If we don't live close by I can still help you locate a music therapist in your area! 

As all good things do, OMMG has evolved, and is now not only an access point for music therapy, but for education, self care and community connectedness statewide, nationwide and world wide. It includes workshops and opportunities to learn skills such as sign language, breathing, relaxation, mindfulness, meditation and energetic balancing. The recent addition of online workshops has allowed for musical goodness to be spread far and wide including the most isolated of areas.

Music therapy is relevant to everyone, no matter your age, culture, gender, therapeutic needs or musical experience. EVERYONE can benefit from music therapy and if you are interested in finding out more about any of this stuff please do contact me here.

As a Registered Music Therapist...

I aim to continue offering high quality programs in both clinical and community settings, to remain objective and creative in my approach and to maintain a client focused framework. 

As an Educator...

I aim to offer information about music, sound and silence, and how they can be used as tools for improved health and wellbeing, to anyone who wishes to access it, especially those in regional or isolated demographics. (Find out more about that here)

As a Creative... 

I aim to provide short stories, reflections, imagery, ideas and creative posts for my own self care and to spark the passion of Musical Goodness in others.

As a Mum and Wife...

I aim to never work on the weekends!

I warmly welcome all of your comments, feedback, thoughts and ideas. And I love to collaborate! So come at me with your ideas! 

* These facts actually ARE true!