UHLIG Sylka (Germany/Holland)

Sylka Uhlig (Germany/The Nederlands)

Sylka Uhlig, MA, LCAT, RMTh,

was born in former East Germany where she studied classical singing at the Hans Eisler Conservatorium Berlin/Schwerin. She moved to the Netherlands and studied Music Therapy at the University for Professional Education in Nijmegen from 1989-1993. She worked in the psychiatric hospital of H.C. Rümke Groep in Utrecht as a Music Therapist from 1991-1999, conducting individual and group work with traumatized and sexually abused women, forensic rehabilitation clients and patients in short term therapy. She received her RMTh (Registered Music Therapist) in 1997 in the Netherlands. Additional training included Voice & Body Work in 1995/97. In 1998 she trained for six months in oriental music therapy with Oruc Güvenc, Marmara University Istanbul, Turkey. She began private practice in voice work and music therapy in 1997 in the Netherlands. In 1999 she moved to NY and completed the Advanced MA program in Music Therapy at NYU in 2000. She worked in New York in the neurological setting of Beth Abraham Health Services with patients with strokes, Parkinson disease and Alzheimer. From 2001-2005 she worked for the Board of Education, Special Education program for autistic and emotional disturbed children with developmentally handicaps, and for Hartsong Inc., Music and Art therapy program for children with disabilities, Scarsdale (USA). Since 2005 she is teaching music therapy and voice improvisation at HAN University for Professional Education, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

She has specialized her work in the voice, researching traditional forms of singing as a multicultural approach for music therapy. She gives voice workshops and presentations at conferences in Europe, USA and South America. She wrote a book about clinical and cultural voice practice: Authentic Voices, Authentic Singing - A Multicultural Approach To Vocal Music therapy, Barcelona Publishers, in 2006.