#hEALMETOO Podcast HOME > S02 Ep04: angel band project

#HealMeToo Podcast S02 ep4:

The Relationship With Our Own Voice—The Angel Band Project

Learn about the powerful work of The Angel Band Project and the unique relationship we have with own own voice—including a playful exercise you can join in from home. Guests include music therapist Katie Down, back again after her appearance in Episodes 1 & 2 of this season, and Rachel Ebeling, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Angel Band Project, as well as Amber, a survivor who just recorded her Song of Survival with Katie and Rachel, for the Angel Band Project’s upcoming cd release.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• Rachel on the experience of healing through music that launched The Angel Band Project,

• Katie on the ways music and playful, curious collaboration can help open up the heart to heal,

• Amber on the details of her story navigating, leaving, and starting to heal from a harmful relationship, and how the process of writing and recording a song that has helped her step forward to be heard.

• Samples of songs by all the survivors on The Angel Band Project’s original Songs of Survival album, including:

  • Time To Be Free by Dawn Mason, Lead Vocals Dawn Mason, Vocals: Courtney Arndt

  • Rise Up by Hannah Tombley, Vocals and Piano: Hannah Tombley

  • I’m Not Silent Anymore by Deb Busch, Vocals Deb Busch, Piano: Rocky Tucker

  • Just Keep Running by Tess Sundhausen, Lead Vocals: Tess Sundhausen, Vocals: Courtney Arndt, Guitar: Chris Helmick and Courtney Arndt, Ukelele/Vocals: Devon Cahill

  • Start Living by Erin Rieke, Lead Vocals: Erin Rieke, Accompanying Vocals: Heather Lawyer, Piano: Dave Drebes

  • Home by Judy Rosen, Tibetan Singing Bowls and Melody: Judy Rosen, Violin: Judy Lindquist, Cello: Caitlin Hawkins, Double Bass: Courtney Arndt, Vocal: Judy Rosen

Related links:

• Buy The Angel Band Project’s original Songs of Survival album, sampled during this episode, on Amazon and cdbaby.

• Here’s an NPR article on the scientific study Hope mentions during the episode, showing that music and lyrics are processed by different parts of the brain.

• And here’s the talk Hope mentions by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on Creativity, Imagination and Innovation, in which he describes the unique way the brain and body process music.

The #HealMeToo Podcast is hosted by Hope Singsen--the artist, creativity researcher and survivor-activist who founded the #HealMeToo Festival and Podcast in NYC in the Spring of 2019. 

The recording facilities and engineer for this episode were provided through the generous support of Fr. James Hauver, Pastor of St. Columba Church, and Fr. Walter Niebrzydowski of The Fr. Walter Outreach, inc., a nonprofit organization working to repair the effects of sexual violence and gender oppression. You can learn more about their mission to promote the true, the good, and the beautiful through spirituality, media, and technology at fatherwaltersparish.org.

Recorded & Engineered by Corey Kaup
Edited by Hope Singsen
Opening & closing music: "Love Is Rising" written by Vanessa Marie Milanesi & Helga Kaefer, performed by Vanessa Marie (@vanessamariemusic)

Guest Bios

Amber is an entertainment law student who has just finished work with music therapist Katie Down through the Angel Band Project to write her own original Song of Survival.

The Angel Band Project is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual violence on their path to healing through innovative music therapy programming. Music therapy is the specialized use of music by a credentialed professional with a therapeutic goal in mind. It can help address social, communicative, emotional, physical, cognitive, sensory and spiritual needs. We use the power of music to provide healing, raise awareness and create positive social change for survivors of sexual violence. Learn more at angelbandproject.org.

Katie Down (MT-BC, LCAT) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, award-winning sound designer, and licensed creative arts therapist. She works in the realms of theatre, dance, and film and runs Sound Well Center, a private psychotherapy and creative arts therapy practice in New York. Katie is the coordinator and music therapist for the New York chapter of The Angel Band Project, a program that offers free music therapy services for survivors of sexual assault. Learn more at soundwellcenter.com, katiedown.com and angelbandproject.org.

Rachel Ebeling, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Angel Band Project, is a lifelong lover of music. Rachel Ebeling has been breathing fire into The Angel Band Project since its inception in 2009. Rachel is responsible for day-to-day operations with a focus on growing the organization into a meaningful force for healing and social change. As a public speaker, she tells the story of her own healing from losing one of her best friends to a horrific act of sexual violence in 2009.  She also illustrates how music helped her and others heal in the aftermath of this tragedy, and how the Angel Band Project is now supporting survivors through music therapy programs in the U.S. An interactive multi-media presentation includes video and moving discussion about how music therapy is now being used as a modality of healing through programs in St. Louis, MO, Seattle, WA, and New York City, NY.  Rachel was recognized as a Woman of Achievement 2018 in her hometown of St. Louis.

Rachel has spoken at several universities including Washington University, University of Kansas, University of Missouri-Columbia, Marquette University, Maryville University, and the University of Central Arkansas.  She has also shared the story of Angel Band Project by giving keynote speeches at conferences from coast to coast, including the National SART/SANE Conference in Austin, Texas 2012, the National Sexual Assault Conference in Chicago 2013, Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault 2013, New Hampshire Coalition Against Sexual Assault 2013, End Violence Against Women International 2014, the American Music Therapy Association Conferences in 2015 and 2016,  End Violence Against Women International 2017, National Sexual Assault Conference in Philadelphia, PA 2019. She will present at the 2020 World Music Therapy Conference in Pretoria, South Africa. Contact: Rachel.ebeling@angelbandproject.org.