Researching the musical lifecourse in music therapy, community music and music education: Unique roles, convergences and blurring of philosophies and practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Peters ◽  
Deborah Seabrook ◽  
Lee Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Musical Engagement ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Health And Well Being

This article presents a diversity of approaches and a heterogeneity of research methods used, where the aim is to contribute to understandings of how musical engagement across the lifecourse may foster health and well being. Multiple perspectives and methodological approaches located in the disciplines of music therapy, community music and music education will be described, including identifying affordances and constraints associated with documenting lifelong and lifewide musical pathways. The research presented examines how lifelong musical engagement in different contexts might contribute to health and well being for different populations. The authors describe and situate their disciplines, present different methodological approaches that might contribute to lifecourse research in music and provide examples of particular projects.

Musical Creativity and Well-Being

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond MacDonald ◽  
Graeme Wilson ◽  
Felicity Baker
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Spinal Injury ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Community Music ◽  
General Music ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Musical Engagement

Participating in musical activities involves an immersive spectrum of psychological and social engagement. Connections between musical participation and health have been discussed for centuries, and relationships between the processes of music making and well-being outcomes have garnered considerable research interest. This chapter reviews studies investigating such associations to identify how creative aspects of musical engagement in particular can be understood to enhance health. The chapter begins by offering some suggestions about why these processes may have beneficial effects. Three key contexts for beneficial musical engagement (music education, music therapy, and community music) are examined: an organization (Limelight) that delivers music activities for individuals from disadvantaged groups; group improvisation music therapy sessions for individuals with cancer; and songwriting sessions for individuals following spinal injury. The relative contributions of creative process and creative product are considered, and psychological concepts such as identity, flow, agency, and scaffolding are suggested as important. The discussion extrapolates wider implications of this work to include general music making beyond clinical, educational, and community contexts.

scholarly journals The Use of Music in Healthcare Contexts: A Select Review of Writings From the 1890s to the 1940s

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Live Music ◽  
History Of ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Contemporary Practice ◽  
Health And Well Being

Playing live music with people who are ill to promote optimal states of health and well being is a contemporary practice which has origins as far back as the written historical record. This paper examines a select range of literature from the academic spheres of medicine, music and music education published in the late 19th century through to the mid 20th century in order to interrogate and explore aspects of the history of music therapy and its development in the English speaking world.

Improvisation and health

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-153
Author(s):  
Raymond A. R. MacDonald ◽  
Graeme B. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health It ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Verbal Expression ◽  
Unconscious Processes ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Musical Improvisation ◽  
Health And Well Being

This chapter focuses specifically upon the use of musical improvisation for health and well-being. It considers the fundamental features of improvisation and links them to possible improvements in health and well-being. A model showing the different types of communication processes involved is also presented. Improvisation has long been associated with the potential to bring about improvement in health. It is a key process used by music therapists and early texts outlining music therapy practice contained numerous examples of improvisational activities. This chapter draws these processes and potential outcomes together and explains four characteristics of musical improvisation identified as underpinning the health benefits: improvisation links conscious with unconscious processes; improvisation makes unique demands on cognition; improvisation facilitates creative interaction; and, improvisation enables the non-verbal expression of thoughts and feelings that may otherwise be difficult to express. When improvisation is viewed as a sophisticated form of social interaction, links to other non-musical contexts and the implications for health and well-being are clear.

Part 1: Community Music Therapy and El Sistema: Addressing the Empowerment Needs of Individuals and Communities Facing Socioeconomic Marginalization

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Virginia Eulacio Cierniak
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Program Structure ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
Music Program ◽  
El Sistema

Music is an accessible tool for positive change within people and societies, even in places facing socioeconomic marginalization due to poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to resources. Social capital has to do with the resources and networks available within society, which may help confront issues faced by individuals and communities. Community Music Therapy (CoMT) and the music education movement known as El Sistema both utilize music—understood as social capital—to address social justice. The purpose of this study was to comparatively examine the ways in which CoMT and El Sistema programs may address the empowerment needs of individuals and communities facing socioeconomic marginalization and suggest how these two approaches may be able to work synergistically to achieve their shared goals. Its findings reveal many parallels and divergence between El Sistema and CoMT in terms of the role of the music, program structure, social justice goals, outcomes, music education practice, areas of intersection, existing scholarly research, and criticisms each has received.

The Oxford Handbook of Coercive Relationship Dynamics

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Peer Relationships ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Academic Adjustment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Improve Health

Since the mid-1980s pioneering research about daily coercive interactions in relationships has shed light on the development and treatment of multiple mental health problems and school safety issues. This handbook brings together the expertise and the perspective of leading scholars and intervention developers in an effort to interpret and clarify coercive dynamics and discuss interventions that reduce coercion and improve health and adjustment. Researchers examine social, physiological, and genetic correlates of coercion dynamics from multiple perspectives, including an evolutionary framework. Coercion is explored with respect to the etiology of aggression, antisocial behavior, violence, anxiety disorders, suicidal behavior, and academic adjustment. Interventions are described that effectively reduce coercion in families, romantic and peer relationships, committed adult intimate relationships, and schools, and among youths and families with autism. Several chapters illustrate methodological, measurement, and conceptual issues that enhance the scientific understanding of how daily coercive interactions influence adjustment over time. Also offered are prospects for prosocial cooperation free of coercive dynamics and strategies for disseminating interventions across global communities for promoting public health and well-being.

scholarly journals ‘Through music and into music’, through music and into well-being: Dalcroze eurhythmics as music therapy

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Habron
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Palliative Treatment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Disabled Children ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Educational Aims ◽  
Reform Pedagogy ◽  
Training Practice

There is a longstanding relationship between music therapy and Dalcroze Eurhythmics, an approach to music education that had its beginnings in the reform pedagogy movement of the European fin de siècle. Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950), the founder of the approach, initially focused on educational aims, but was soon to include therapeutic ones as well. During the early twentieth century, Dalcroze teachers applied the approach to their work with disabled children. Such applications have continued to develop to the present day and have expanded to include palliative treatment in HIV/AIDS and gerontology.There are many theoretical and technical similarities between Dalcroze Eurhythmics and improvisational music therapy, including communication through musical improvisation and attunement in playing for movement. However, many of these similarities remain to be discussed in relation to the literatures on music therapy and communicative musicality. To address this gap, this article takes a transdisciplinary approach, making conceptual connections between the theory and practice of both Dalcroze Eurhythmics and music therapy. Implications for future training, practice and research in Dalcroze Eurhythmics are discussed.

The Oxford Handbook of Music Therapy

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
International Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Rehabilitation Services ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Therapeutic Practice ◽  
Doctoral Level ◽  
The People ◽  
University Of Edinburgh

Music is acknowledged as an arts medium with a universal and timeless potential to influence our behavior and emotions. As international research about the effects of music on well-being expands it is timely to consolidate and report the gains in the profession of music therapy through this firstOxford Handbook of Music Therapy. With a foreword by Professor Colwyn Trevarthen (Emeritus, University of Edinburgh) this handbook provides an overview of some populations who are served in music therapy, with information about the contexts in which practitioners work. These include mental health services, hospitals, education programmes, and rehabilitation services. The people who come to music therapy either through self-referrals or by referral from a practitioner or service are described in detail by practitioner researchers most of whom are qualified at doctoral level. A range of chapters from internationally recognized experts has resulted in a substantial multidisciplinary, and pluralistic account of recent advances and applications in music therapy. The handbook presents an overview of many of the models and approaches that have developed in the field since its inception. Many of these chapters were written by the founders of the methods. Multiple perspectives to practice are honored in this text, with music therapy predominantly described as a relational therapeutic practice throughout.

Part 2: Community Music Therapy and El Sistema: A Multiple Case Design Study Reflecting Music's Empowerment in Marginalized Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Virginia Eulacio Cierniak
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Education Practice ◽  
Music Program ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Multiple Case

Music is an accessible tool that has been used to foster change within people and societies, even in those places facing socioeconomic marginalization due to poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to resources. Social capital has to do with the resources and networks available within a society, which may help confront issues faced by individuals and communities. Community Music Therapy (CoMT) and the music education movement known as El Sistema* both utilize music—understood as social capital—to address social justice. Part I of this article defines CoMT and examines the purpose and goals of CoMT and El Sistema comparatively, and the ways in which their programs may address the empowerment needs of individuals and communities facing socioeconomic marginalization. Part II reviews the findings of a study that leads toward a suggestion of how these two approaches may be able to work synergistically to achieve their shared goals. Findings reveal many parallels and divergences between El Sistema and CoMT which may be useful in advancing change. This article defines the role of the music, program structure, social justice goals, outcomes, music education practice, areas of intersection, existing scholarly research, and criticisms each has received, in an effort to further advance the understanding and possibilities music’s influence may have on society. 

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