scholarly journals Showing the way, or getting in the way? Discussing power, influence and intervention in contemporary musical-social practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Ansdell ◽  
Brit Ågot Brøske ◽  
Pauline Black ◽  
Sara Lee
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Community Music ◽  
International Projects ◽  
Professional Perspectives ◽  
Participatory Music ◽  
The Way

This article presents a broad discussion of power and influence within contemporary participatory music practices in relation to practices of intervention. The discussion is presented through the respective experience and professional perspectives of music therapy, music education and community music – each illustrated by current practice examples and their accompanying dilemmas; and covering both local and international projects. In a shared closing discussion, the four authors review the key question: whether professional influence and power in participatory music practices ‘shows the way’ or ‘gets in the way’. They conclude that intervention takes place on a continuum, in different ways, and to different degrees and levels. What is vital is to retain practical and ethical reflexivity on the dimensions of intervention as a practice that can offer both creative opportunities, but which can also be part of subtly oppressive power relationships.

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.

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.

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. 

The effects of music in community and educational settings

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Hallam ◽  
Raymond MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Background Music ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Educational Settings ◽  
Educational Aims ◽  
The Way

This article reviews the literature that has explored the ways in which music may have benefits beyond those associated with our enjoyment of active engagement or listening in community and educational settings. It outlines developments in community music, considers research that has assessed its impact, explores the way in which music has been used to attain educational aims beyond those relating to music education itself, and considers issues and findings relating to the use of background music when studying.

scholarly journals Kodály Approach in the Crossroad of Education and Therapy

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Tiszai
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Choral Singing ◽  
The Common ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Shed Light

Kodály's concept about music education is worldwide adapted to different cultures. However, the significance of his theoretical framework is almost undiscovered by music therapy. The aim of the present paper is to shed light on the common elements of Commuity Music Therapy and the Kodály Approach by literature-based Research. Kodály was a pioneer establishing a multidisciplinary dialog between musicology, philosophy, sociology and education. The practice and theory he established was a powerful response to his time’s social needs and problems. As a musician an educator he devoted himself to the popularization community music, choral singing and thus building up a better society. As a researcher he studied the therapeutic effects of his method, especially transfer effect with intellectual and social skills. His overall goal to make music accessible to everyone highly resemble with Community Music Therapy. Many of his ideas such us choral singing for social connectedness or agency and empowerment through musical education are a part of the practice of Community Music Therapy. His concept is a fundamental part of music education but music therapy also could profit more from his ideas.

Trends of differentiation and integration in UK music therapy and the spectrum of music-centredness

2021 ◽  
pp. 135945752199779
Author(s):  
Martin Lawes
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Important Case ◽  
Integral Approach ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Case Vignettes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Way

A long-standing trend to differentiate and even oppose psychodynamic and ecological approaches to practice can be identified in the UK music therapy literature. This is complicated by the way in which ecologically oriented thinking is associated with practice identified to be music-centred. While the trend to differentiate and separate approaches is most apparent in the literature, it is also evident that in practice, therapists have long integrated different perspectives and ways of working, this integral trend having its roots in the work of the UK music therapy pioneers. This article explores how the ecologically oriented thinking associated with the Community Music Therapy movement, and introduced soon after the turn of the 21st century, served in part to broaden the scope of UK practice in a progressive, integrally oriented way. However, the article also discusses the rejection of psychotherapeutically oriented thinking made by some ecologically oriented authors to make space for the new way of thinking. It is suggested that this rejection has been less helpful for the development of the profession as a whole, as the different ways of working in music therapy can be understood to address different types and levels of need. This means that psychodynamic, developmental, ecological, neurological and other perspectives are all potentially important. Case vignettes are used to illustrate this and an integral approach to working, with music-centredness discussed in a way that embraces the full spectrum of UK practice.

Community Music and Music Therapy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Wood ◽  
Gary Ansdell
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Community Music

This chapter outlines the historical and current relationship between community music and music therapy—in particular the seeming overlap between community music and the newer sub-discipline of music therapy called community music therapy. The chapter argues for a re-imagining of certain key areas of joint concern and potential linked to the broader shared agenda of working musically with people. These topics indicate a way for community music and music therapy to align and collaborate in a relationship that can be both ‘joint’ and ‘several’—ensuring that the work remains creative, effective, responsible, and professional for people and their communities.

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