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.

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.

A Consumer Behavior-Influenced Multidisciplinary Transcendent Model of Motivation for Music Making

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie L. Vaccaro
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
Psychic Energy ◽  
Self Transcendence

This chapter reviews multidisciplinary research from the fields of consumer behavior, humanistic and positive psychology, music education, and other areas to develop a new Transcendent Model of Motivation for Music Making. One’s “extended self” identity can be defined partly by possessions and mastery over objects, and objects can “complete” the self. Music making involves a person’s investment of “psychic energy,” including attention, time, learning, and efforts, and is a creative path which can lead to peak experiences and flow. Music making can help satisfy social needs, achieve self-actualization, experience self-transcendence, enhance well-being, strengthen spirituality, and improve the quality of life.

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.

scholarly journals Understanding music’s therapeutic efficacy: Implications for music education

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Thram
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Cell Phone ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Biological Capacity ◽  
Average Person ◽  
Computer Addiction ◽  
Actual Participation

In the current era of electronic domination of human experience, be it via cell phone and/or computer addiction, or the ubiquitous television, actual participation in music- making is less and less common for the average person, child or adult. Passive participation through listening is most often cited by people as their major experience with music in their lives. When asked if listening has therapeutic effects, it is rare for anyone to respond in the negative. Likewise, for performers/active participants in music- making, be it solitary or as part of a group, invariably an enhanced sense of well-being from the act of making music is reported.This paper addresses therapeutic aspects of musical participation (singing, clapping, playing an instrument, dancing, listening) by providing a historical overview (12th c to present) of attitudes toward music’s therapeutic effects. It argues that music exists through the interaction of our biological capacity to make music with our cultural circumstances. How individuals benefit in all aspects their being – physical, mental and emotional – from engaging in the act of making music is illustrated with examples from field research in southern Africa. Finally implications for Music Education are explored which emphasize how more comprehensive integration of music into the curriculum can serve as an antidote to the increasing isolation and alienation of modern life.

Commentary: Music in the Community

2012 ◽  
pp. 98-103
Author(s):  
David J. Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Music Making ◽  
The People ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship

This article presents an overview of Section 2 of the Oxford Handbook of Music Education, Volume 2. It considers John Dewey's (1927) thoughts on the relationship between the “goods” (values, benefits) of some kind of activity and the nature of “community.” It argues that it is highly unlikely that there will never be a fixed concept or “how-to” of community music. For however and wherever community music is conceived and practiced, this elusive phenomenon continues to evolve and diversify locally and internationally to meet the changing needs of the people it serves today and those it will serve tomorrow. It reinvents itself continuously in relation to the musics and technologies its practitioners and clients desire and appropriate; and, of course, community music matures constantly as community music facilitators deploy their creativity to reframe, adjust, combine, integrate, and overlap existing ways of empowering people to make music for the realization of its many “goods” and the many ways that music making, musical sharing, and musical caring creates “community.”

scholarly journals Community-Based Referential Music Making with Limited-Resource Adolescents: A Pilot Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-118
Author(s):  
Natasha Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Limited Resource ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Community Group ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Referential Music

Abstract Black/African American adolescents from limited-resource communities face challenges and circumstances that are unique to their racialization and socioeconomic status; this merits community-engaged resources, such as community music therapy, that are equally unique in creating culturally responsive opportunities for limited-resource adolescents to engage socially with peers and experience meaningful success in a safe, supportive environment. The purpose of this study was to pilot and explore the feasibility of and behavioral processes in a community-based referential music-making intervention for limited-resource adolescents labeled as “at-risk.” The methods consisted of a concurrent nested (embedded) mixed methods design based on the principles of participatory actions research (PAR), during which qualitative data were collected during 8 focus group style music-making sessions. Quantitative data assessing self-efficacy were collected prior to first and following the 8th music-making session. The validity of quantitative results was challenged by the lowered reading level of participants and a high amount of mis-labeled (and thus unusable) data. Qualitative data suggest 3 themes, including creating community, artistic prioritization, and pride. All results were impacted by issues, such as inconsistent attendance and malfunctioning recording equipment. Nevertheless, participants expressed a collective desire to share their work with their community group. Discussion points are raised including how participants in this community music therapy-based approach were able to create and direct their own stories. The implementation of community music therapy approaches seems a valuable way to bring authentic representations of limited-resource adolescent participants into clinical practice.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Jammin’ the Blues: Experiencing the “Good Life”

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth A. Debrot
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Music Learning ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Musical Growth ◽  
Conceptual Foundations

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics, attitudes, and perceptions of older musicians who participated regularly in a local blues jam. Six core dimensions of eudaimonic well-being and their conceptual foundations provided a framework for examining the way that music-making contributes to subjective well-being during the lifespan of an individual. The following research questions guided this investigation: (1) In what ways do biographical factors and engagement with music influence the lives of older adult blues/rock musicians who participate in a local blues jam? (2) What implications for subjective well-being with regard to music learning might be used to inform music education practices? Interviews and observations over a 2-month period provided data for understanding how lived experiences impacted personal well-being, and musical growth and development over time. Findings suggested that eudaimonic well-being is the result of active engagement in human activities that are goal-directed and purposeful, and a good life involves the self-realization of individual dispositions and talents over a lifetime. Implications for music education include individualized pedagogical approaches that encourage learners to discover a sense of well-being in and through music.

Music facilitation for promoting well being through the lifecourse

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Varvarigou ◽  
Lee Willingham ◽  
Vicky Abad ◽  
Jonny Poon
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Music Learning ◽  
Quality Of Life Research ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Diverse Community ◽  
Community Contexts

A growing body of research is concerned with how lifelong music learning and participation in community contexts may support well being and quality of life. Research focused on how non-formal community music learning and participation can be supported and facilitated is more limited. This article sets out three case study examples of the ways in which facilitators of music learning in diverse community contexts (including the home) can be supported and trained. Following these examples, a model for music facilitation is presented and discussed, highlighting key tools for supporting active music-making across the lifecourse.

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