Music Therapy Faculty

Dr. Amy Clements-Cortes, Coordinator & Assistant Professor, Music Therapy

Amy Clements-Cortes began her career as a music therapist, performer, and vocal teacher. Her extensive clinical experience involves working with a variety of clients including: geriatrics, adult psychiatry, palliative care, children, adolescents and adults with learning disabilities and developmental delays, cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s, stroke, etcetera. Dr. Clements-Cortes has worked both in hospitals and nursing homes, and spent 15 years at Baycrest Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Her music studio Notes By Amy was founded in 1995 and through that company she offers private voice lessons, private music therapy, summer performing arts programs, and performances. Dr. Clements-Cortes became a sessional instructor at the University of Windsor in 2007. She is now an assistant professor in music therapy on a two year appointment.

Clements-Cortes obtained her Masters and Doctoral Degrees from the University of Toronto. Her work has been presented throughout the world at numerous conferences including: the World Federation of Music Therapy, European Music Therapy Congress, American Music Therapy Association, Canadian Association for Music Therapy, Ontario Gerontology Association Conference, International Symposium on music therapy in supportive cancer care, and the International Congress on Palliative Care.

Dr. Clements-Cortes’ has been published in the Canadian Journal of Music Therapy, Canadian Music Educator’s Journal, and the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

With her strong commitment and interest in internship supervision Clements-Cortes has written a handbook on Internship Supervision and created a workbook for workshops that she provides to train new Internship Supervisors. Her commitment in this area is evidenced in her volunteer work on the Canadian Association Board of Directors where she held the position of Internship Chair for over 5 years. Clements-Cortes is now the President of CAMT, a two year appointment which began in May 2011. and also sits on the BOD for Room 217, and numerous other professional committees, such as the Clinical Practice Commission, for the World Federation of Music Therapy.

Dr. Clements-Cortes has produced several recordings. Recently she released the CD “Episodes of Relationship Completion”. www.notesbyamy.com Her collaboration with musician David Bradstreet saw the emergence of two therapeutic CDs. Theracalm and Therasleep. These CDs were specifically designed to target brain waves to induce states of calm and sleep for those experiencing anxiety, and sleep disorders. www.theramusic.com Her other areas of past and current research projects and interests includes: music to reduce pain perception; music to facilitate sleep; music therapy to reduce anxiety; and the incidence of burnout in palliative care music therapists.

Currently, Dr. Clements-Cortes is working on two research studies: one looking at the health benefits for older adults singing in a choir led by two music therapists “Buddy’s Glee Club”; and the second which assess the production and development of a sing-a-long CD for cognitively impaired older adults. This project involves nursing homes across Canada.

Dr. Clements-Cortes is an Academic Advisor for Music Therapy students.
Office in the Music building: Room 104
Tel: (519) 253-3000 ext. 2791
Email: acortes@uwindsor.ca

Ms. Emily Finnigan, Sessional Instructor

Upon earning an Honours Bachelor degree in Music Therapy and receiving accreditation from the Canadian Association for Music Therapy, Emily went on to complete a Master of Education degree with a concentration in music therapy and autism. The research supporting this degree investigated the effects of music therapy on the social responsiveness of children with autism. Results were presented at the 2009 International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) and at the Canadian Association for Music Therapy conference and have been published in Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice.

Emily is currently the owner and senior therapist of Whole Note Music Therapy Services (www.wnmusictherapy.com / www.facebook.com/wholenote), a private practice that provides music therapy services for children, adolescents, adults and seniors with a wide range of special needs across Windsor-Essex County.   Although, Emily specializes in working with school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders, she has experience working with individuals having a wide range of developmental disabilities in both group and individual settings. Through accredited leadership practices, Whole Note Music Therapy Services aims to actively engage individuals in musical experiences, which support positive change in other aspects of their whole being.

Emily is also the director of Therapy Express – a therapeutic summer day camp program for children, adolescents and adults with special needs. Unique to the Windsor-Essex community, Therapy Express combines three core curriculums – music therapy, expressive art experiences and drama techniques for the purpose of encouraging personal growth in the areas of communication, social awareness & interaction, and creative self-expression. Therapy Express also offers a unique Social Competence Program specifically designed for children diagnosed with High-Functioning Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, PDD-NOS, ADHD and other related social disorders. TE: Social Competence uses the expressive arts to facilitate the understanding of non-verbal cues, problem solving skills, emotional competencies, perspective-taking skills and executive functioning. 

As a trained HealthRHYTHMS facilitator, Emily also employs group empowerment drumming techniques that are based on research supporting the use of drumming as an effective means for promoting and maintaining health and well-being. Among others, she has facilitated drum circles for The Hospice of Windsor and Essex County Inc., AIDS Committee of Windsor, Sandwich Community Health Centre Inc., and The Alzheimer Society of Windsor-Essex County.

Emily currently serves as a member of the board of directors for the Canadian Association for Music Therapy.  In her role as the Internship Chair she is responsible for approving internship sites for aspiring music therapists across Canada.  Locally, she provides supervision and direction for students completing their internships in the greater Windsor-Essex area.