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Biography

Dr. Lynn Gumert, music therapist, composer/arranger, educator, performer, and conductor, has been a music therapist since January 2019 and has been teaching in the Music Therapy program at Rowan University since September 2019. They have provided music therapy and adaptive piano, voice, and guitar lessons for children, adolescents, and adults in psychiatric settings; older individuals experiencing the effects of dementia; and children with developmental delays. They have served as Site Supervisor and Clinical Supervisor for music therapy practicum students through Rowan University, Montclair State University, and Temple University. They served as Vice President of the New Jersey Association for Music Therapy and are currently an Assembly Delegate for the Mid-Atlantic Region (MAR) of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). They are currently a PhD Candidate and Research Fellow in Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University, where they work in the Music, Creativity and Wellness Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Joke Bradt.

As a composer and educator, they have taught courses in Music Therapy, Gender and Popular Culture, Music Theory, Popular Music, Music Technology, World Music, Women in Music, and Composition at several universities. Their compositions have been performed in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe, including performances by the Contemporary Music Forum in Washington, D.C., the Festival of Women Composers International, and the Seventh International Alliance of Women in Music Concert. They have received commissions for vocal, choral, early music ensemble, viola da gamba, and guitar compositions. They have also served in various capacities on the Board of the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM).

As a community artist, they supervised Rowan music therapy students on The Lullaby Project, an international initiative founded by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) through which Rowan partnered with ACENDA Integrated Health. They have also developed bilingual programs using music for building self-esteem and enhancing creative expression with groups ranging in age from pre-K to senior citizens and have worked with immigrant and migrant communities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They have served on Pennsylvania AIE artist roster panels for the Cultural Alliance of York County and the South Central PaARTners at Millersville University.

As Artistic Director of Zorzal Music Ensemble, they developed and managed multidisciplinary art projects that received funding from Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts and served as Artistic Director for projects funded by the Central PA Consortium. They also presented lecture-recitals on aspects of colonial-period Latin American music at the College Music Society International Conference in Costa Rica and at the Seventh International Festival of Women Composers in Pittsburgh.

Commissions, Publications, Grants, Awards, Presentations

Publications:

• Gumert, L. An Arts-Based Inquiry into Autistic Meltdown, under review
• Bradt, J., Myers-Coffman, K., Gumert, L. Music Therapy and Emotion. In P. Juslin (Ed.) Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Applications. Oxford University Press, forthcoming, 2025
• Gumert L. Roomful of Teeth. Roomful of Teeth. New Amsterdam Records NWAM041, 2012, CD. Roomful of Teeth, Render. New Amsterdam Records NWAM065, 2015, CD. Journal of the Society for American Music. 2016;10(2):233-237. doi:10.1017/S175219631600016X

Presentations:

• Artistic Music Therapy: A Multi-Expressive Approach to Improvisation, public presentation of master’s research, Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, DC, December 2018
• Composing a Life: The Music of Lynn Gumert, lecture and concert sponsored by SAI Music Fraternity, Gettysburg College, March 2004
• Music Making in Colonial Period Mexican Convents, lecture-recital, Festival of Women Composers International, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, March 2004
• Cultural Crossroads: Music of Spain and Spanish America, hybrid panel-performance, College Music Society International Conference, San Jose and Muelle, Costa Rica, June 2003
• Incorporating Women Composers into Private Piano Studio Curriculum: Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, Lemoyne, PA, 4/2003

Awards:

• Eighth Aliénor International Harpsichord Competition
• Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic Competition

Grants:

• Mellon Foundation Grants; Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission Arts (MCCHC) Artistic Innovation grant; Jump Street-Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA) grant; Gettysburg College professional development grant

Residencies:

• UCross Foundation Residency Program, Clearmont, WY
• Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation Fellow, Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY

 Education and Credentials

• PhD Candidate: Creative Arts Therapies, Drexel University
• MA: Music Therapy, Montclair State University
• DM, MM: Music Composition, Indiana University—Bloomington
• MM: Music Composition, The Catholic University of America
• Music Therapist, Board Certified (MT-BC)