Ming Yuan Low

Assistant Professor

Affiliated Departments

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Ming Yuan Low, Ph.D., MT-BC, is a Nordoff-Robbins music therapist and assistant professor of music therapy at Berklee College Music. His clinical work and research center on community-informed music therapy practices and supports for folks who locate in marginalized identities. His scholarship focuses on critical explorations in music therapy theory and practice, as well as participatory action research with autistic and BIPOC communities.

Low received his B.S. and M.A. in music therapy from Texas Woman's University, and his Ph.D. in creative arts therapies from Drexel University. He has worked as a research fellow at Drexel University in two different research labs, one examining chronic pain in patients with advanced cancer and opioid use in cancer survivors with chronic pain, and the other exploring care-coordination factors affecting health care transition from pediatric services to adult services for minimally verbal autistic youth. Low has presented his research and clinical work at national and international conferences, and has authored and coauthored peer-reviewed journal articles. He has also served in various elected and appointed positions in the American Music Therapy Association, World Federation for Music Therapy, and Malaysian Music Therapy Association. He is on the editorial board of Music Therapy Perspectives and is an article editor for Voices.

Courses Taught (4)

Improvisation Methods in Music Therapy

MTH-305

Music Therapy Internship Preparation

MTH-320

Advanced Music Therapy Practicum 2

MTH-400

Introduction to Music Therapy Research

MTH-410

Career Highlights

Nordoff-Robbins music therapist
International, national, and regional presenter at music therapy and autism conferences
Currently serving in various appointed and elected positions in the World Federation of Music Therapy, American Music Therapy Association, and Malaysian Music Therapy Association
Currently on the editorial board for Music Therapy Perspectives and Voices
Recent publications include the articles "Rojak: An Ethnographic Exploration of Pluralism and Music Therapy in Post-British-Colonial Malaysia" written with coauthors and published in Music Therapy Perspectives (2020) and "Vocal Music Therapy for Chronic Pain: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study" written with coauthors and published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2019), and the essay "Unfinished Story" in the book Sociocultural Identities in Music Therapy, Barcelona Publishers (2021)

Awards

Recipient of an MAR-AMTA Collaborative Research Grant, 2017

In Their Own Words

"I want students to explore who they are, who they will be, what they bring into the therapeutic relationship as music therapists. I hope that students will be able to explore what music therapy could be as an anti-oppressive practice to advance the profession, self-exploration, and liberation, and, most importantly, for the dignity of their clients."

"As a Chinese Malaysian and an international scholar in the United States, I have explored and continue to examine what it means to be a music therapist as we develop new knowledge of what it means to exist in the world. I use a variety of interactive classroom activities and clinical and real-world examples to guide students to critically explore what music therapy is to them and, most importantly, their clients. My experiences as a participatory action researcher guide my clinical and teaching lens to focus on client and community needs. My training as a Nordoff-Robbins music therapist guides me to support my students' discovery about the potentials of music in the therapy process."