Group Music Therapy Reconsidered

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Pavlicevic
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Health Centers ◽  
Care Homes ◽  
Community Centers ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Group Music Therapy

Group music therapy, while acknowledged professionally as a powerful therapeutic format, remains relatively undocumented and untheorized in the literature. This historical scarcity is puzzling, given that music therapists do group work in a range of formats as part of their service delivery in schools, care homes, health centers, hospitals, cafes, and community centers. In this chapter a range of approaches to group work in music therapy will be presented. Four key texts providing information about group work in music therapy are reviewed and discussed in order to show how group work offers opportunities for differences, opportunities for attachment, for different kinds of simultaneous roles, relationships, and transferences, and different combinations of self-and-others, with larger groups, and with offering opportunities for the person to become themselves by contributing to the group.

scholarly journals Virtual Music Therapy: Developing New Approaches to Service Delivery

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-156
Author(s):  
David Knott ◽  
Seneca Block
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Service Delivery Models ◽  
Initial Wave ◽  
Traditional Service ◽  
Virtual Services ◽  
Delivery Models

Abstract As the global Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic transforms our society, music therapists must adapt service delivery models that ensure client safety. Given the prevalence of COVID-19 in our communities and lack of personal protective equipment in many settings, music therapists are faced with the need to shift delivery models in order to provide safe and relevant services. Telehealth is one solution to these current service delivery challenges. Music therapists possess a depth of practice-based knowledge and understanding of client populations, which enables them to develop virtual services, matching both the clinicians’ and clients’ technical capabilities. Developed during the initial wave of COVID-19 infections in the United States, this article describes the coauthors’ three-tiered scaffold model intended to support the program development and deployment of virtual music therapy (VMT) services. The model describes an approach to developing VMT services that directs the clinician’s goals of care in formats that are accessible, appropriate, and best meet the patient/client’s needs and abilities. The severity and lasting nature of this worldwide health crisis and its disruption of traditional service delivery models require clinicians and researchers to develop the most effective uses of VMT while considering its limits with regard to clinical populations and need areas.

scholarly journals How does a music therapy student work to facilitate reminiscence and memory in dementia patients

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
I-Chen Sun
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Clinical Work ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Student Work ◽  
Dementia Patients ◽  
Group Music Therapy ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
Therapy Strategies

<p>This study was prompted in response to increased interest in, and demand for, music therapy provision in improving quality of care for dementia patients. It is an exploration of the strategies to facilitate memory and reminiscence in persons with dementia, and considers the need for those preparing for end of life to recall identities, connect with family and others, and express feelings. This research is a qualitative study involving secondary analysis of clinical data from my clinical practice and identifies the strategies, techniques and procedures that I applied in my clinical work to stimulate preserved memory ‘islands’. The findings show that familiarity is central in enabling a remembering process, and music can have unique ways of accessing memory in people with limited cognitive and social abilities. Eight core categories of music therapy strategies were found to be helpful in enabling memory and reminiscence. This study includes examples of both individual and group music therapy. The objective of this study was to examine my music therapy practice, and potentially provide some beneficial ideas and insights to other music therapists working on memory and reminiscence with dementia patients.</p>

scholarly journals How does a music therapy student work to facilitate reminiscence and memory in dementia patients

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
I-Chen Sun
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Clinical Work ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Student Work ◽  
Dementia Patients ◽  
Group Music Therapy ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
Therapy Strategies

<p>This study was prompted in response to increased interest in, and demand for, music therapy provision in improving quality of care for dementia patients. It is an exploration of the strategies to facilitate memory and reminiscence in persons with dementia, and considers the need for those preparing for end of life to recall identities, connect with family and others, and express feelings. This research is a qualitative study involving secondary analysis of clinical data from my clinical practice and identifies the strategies, techniques and procedures that I applied in my clinical work to stimulate preserved memory ‘islands’. The findings show that familiarity is central in enabling a remembering process, and music can have unique ways of accessing memory in people with limited cognitive and social abilities. Eight core categories of music therapy strategies were found to be helpful in enabling memory and reminiscence. This study includes examples of both individual and group music therapy. The objective of this study was to examine my music therapy practice, and potentially provide some beneficial ideas and insights to other music therapists working on memory and reminiscence with dementia patients.</p>

scholarly journals A Survey of Music Therapists Working in Pediatric Medical Settings in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Knott ◽  
Marial Biard ◽  
Kirsten E Nelson ◽  
Stephanie Epstein ◽  
Sheri L Robb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Medical Settings ◽  
Music Therapist

Abstract Music therapy is becoming a standard supportive care service in many pediatric hospitals across the United States. However, more detailed information is needed to advance our understanding about current clinical practice and increase availability of pediatric music therapy services. The purpose of this cross-sectional survey study was to collect and summarize data about music therapists working in pediatric medical settings. Specifically, we collected information about (1) therapist demographics, (2) organizational structure, (3) service delivery and clinical practice, and (4) administrative/supervisory responsibilities. Board-certified music therapists working in pediatric medical settings (n = 118) completed a 37-item online questionnaire. We analyzed survey data using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Findings indicated that there is a ratio of approximately one music therapist for every 100 patient beds, that one-third of respondents are the only music therapist in their setting, and that half of the surveyed positions are philanthropically funded. Prioritizing patient referrals based on acuity was common (95.7%, n = 110), with palliative care and pain as the most highly prioritized needs. More than half of respondents reported serving in high acuity areas such as the pediatric intensive care, hematology/oncology, or neonatal intensive care units. We recommend replication of this survey in five years to examine growth and change in service delivery among pediatric music therapists over time, with additional studies to (a) explore how therapist-to-patient ratios influence quality of care, (b) identify factors that contribute to sustainability of programs, and (c) determine how expansion of services support a broader population of patients and families.

Playing With Chaos: Broadening Possibilities for How Music Therapist’s Consider Chaos in Group Work With Young People

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Oosthuizen ◽  
Katrina McFerran
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
South African ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Group Process ◽  
Therapy Group ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
The Arts ◽  
African Context

Abstract Many music therapists have alluded to challenges in their work with groups of young people. However, chaos, incorporating experiences of disintegration and destruction, is a construct often overlooked in music therapy literature. Some music therapy authors have related experiences of chaos to the struggles faced by young people referred for therapy. These experiences require management, modification, or resolution. The authors of this article synthesized broader understandings and approaches towards chaos described in literature from fields including music therapy group work, drama therapy, the arts, psychoanalysis, organizational studies, and philosophy. Chaos is positioned as an inherent and necessary aspect of music therapy groups with young people, situated within a mutually potentiating relationship with more ordered features of a group process. From this paradoxical perspective, therapeutic transformation is enabled through creativity that holds the tension between order and the destructiveness of chaos. When chaos is welcomed in music therapy groups and framed within appropriate boundaries, the authors argue that experiences of chaos can be harnessed to support engagement with the paradoxes of creativity and destructiveness. The provision of a space to play with chaos supports young people who are required to flourish within adverse, chaotic life circumstances. The significance of this position for a group of young people who have committed offences in the South African context is highlighted.

Developmental Music Therapy

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Edwards ◽  
Jason Noone
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Cultural Frameworks ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Developmental Theories ◽  
Models Of Development ◽  
Group Music Therapy ◽  
Training Courses

Developmental music therapy (DMT) is a model that underpins music therapy practice with multiple client groups. The resonances of DMT can be found whenever music therapists use any or all of their understanding of developmental stages, family context, and social and cultural frameworks to consider needs and interactions within individual or group music therapy. Music therapy training courses teach developmental theories, and therefore most practising music therapists use these theoretical perspectives in their interactions with clients. Thus chapter will show how developmental music therapy refers to three major theoretical orientations: (1) Theories of stress, coping, and adaption; (2) Human life span development, including stage models of development, and musical milestones of development; and (3) Ecological perspectives such as Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of development (Bronfenbrenner 1979). Boxill consistently termed her approach developmental music therapy (Boxill 1989). Therefore, this chapter provides an overview of Boxill’s writings and theoretical positioning within DMT.

Music Therapy for People with a Diagnosis of Personality Disorder

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Odell-Miller
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Concern For Others ◽  
Self Harm

Towards the end of the twentieth century focus upon the diagnosis of personality disorder began to change. Previously, people with personality disorders experienced marginalization within mental health services. People with a diagnosis of personality disorder may feel distressed, frightened, and in psychic pain on a daily basis, as well as having emotional and relationship difficulties. They may also engage in self-harm which is difficult to alleviate and often hidden. Music therapists can engage musically with patients, and listen to the music they create in order to better understand their emotions and how they interact with others. These experiences and emotions can then be made more meaningful through subsequent discussions. Through group work processes members can take care of themselves and develop concern for others. In music therapy feelings can be explored that may be difficult to discuss, and a focus away from preoccupation with self-harm can be provided.

scholarly journals Music Therapy Through Irish Eyes: A Student Therapist’s Experience of Irish Traditional Music

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Traditional Music ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Music Therapists ◽  
Irish Music ◽  
Physical Response ◽  
Irish Traditional Music ◽  
Movement Activities

This article outlines my personal experience of Irish traditional music and considers how it can inform music therapy practice. The use of Irish music may be particularly meaningful for some clients and help them connect with their culture and identity. Music therapy can also draw on specific features; including the melodic, rhythmic and social aspects of the music. The melody is prominent in Irish traditional music, and its expression is very important. The word draíoght (meaning "spell" or "enchantment") is used to describe this expressivity. Music therapists can aspire to capture this quality in the music they create with their clients. Often the rhythm of dance tunes elicits a physical response, so these tunes could be used in movement activities. The relaxed and informal style of playing in sessions provides an atmosphere where the music can grow out of the interactions between players. An attempt to create a similar atmosphere may facilitate creativity and spontaneity in group work. While this article only presents a few ways in which Irish traditional music can influence music therapy practice, it is hoped that readers will be inspired to seek their own ways of relating Irish music to music therapy.

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