scholarly journals How Gamelan Music Has Influenced Me as a Music Therapist - A Personal Account

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Loth

This essay discusses how the playing of Indonesian Gamelan music has influenced my work as a music therapist. Having played Gamelan music for 23 years it is part of my musical identity. I reflect on what drew me to the Gamelan and the relevance this has to its use in music therapy practice. I feel that the unique ways in which the group plays together in this music have influenced how I work musically in my clinical group-work. These features include the lack of a conductor and consequent emphasis on listening and responding to aural cues, group communication, the culture of inclusion and the lack of hierarchy. I also discuss how I have used gamelan in the training of music therapy students and consider some directions for future research.

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Oldfield ◽  
Malcolm Adams ◽  
Lucy Bunce

This paper describes an outcome investigation into two clinical groups of mothers and young children receiving short-term music therapy. The first group was a closed group of mothers and toddlers receiving six-weekly music therapy sessions. The second group was an ongoing group of parents and babies receiving one music therapy session followed by a discussion of videotaped excerpts of this music therapy session a week later. As a point of comparison, a group of children and parents attending a local nursery school receiving six-weekly music sessions run by a music therapist was also investigated. Video analyses, audio analyses and parent's questionnaires were used to measure results. Comparing information collated from the questionnaires to results of the video analyses revealed that parents attending the clinical group viewed their children's behaviours in a less positive light than control group parents. The article is written from the music therapist's viewpoint. This group music therapy work is described and reflected upon in a more qualitative way in a previous article entitled ‘“Mummy can play too…” Short-term music therapy with mothers and young children’ published two years ago in the BJMT.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Becky White

This paper explores how studying clinical work can be a rich experience and lead to personal and musical development. In this paper I describe completing a master’s project on group work for children who have autism. This paper describes how analysing a group in detail (using music and video coding analysis) and reading  literature on music therapy and group work, led to a personal prompting to reflect on my own musical experiences and identity and to develop more as a musician. It explores how the roles of music therapist, student and musician can influence each other an be blurred together, and how I experienced cross-over in my personal and musical life.  


Author(s):  
Chantise J Hunt ◽  
Michael J Silverman

Abstract Music therapy can decrease illness- and treatment-related symptoms for adults in medical settings. In these environments, service users often decide to accept or decline music therapy after a brief introduction by the music therapist. As there is limited literature exploring the challenges related to these introductions, the purpose of this interpretivist study was to describe how music therapists introduce music therapy in the form of patient-preferred live music (MT-PPLM) in adult medical settings to augment the likelihood of patients accepting treatment. We conducted semi-structured interviews with nine participants who had experience providing MT-PPLM in adult medical settings. In this exploratory interpretivist study, we used an inductive approach to thematic analysis and incorporated member-checking to augment trustworthiness and credibility of the results. We identified three themes (supported by eight subthemes depicted in parentheses): (A) Offer patient a unique interaction through verbal and nonverbal techniques (Provide opportunities for patient control; Engage patient through nonmedical dialogue; and Use affect and body language to convey a different demeanor); (B) Clarify expectations related to patient and session (Avoid the word “therapy”; Use the music to explain the intervention; and Mention clinical benefits to describe what the patient can expect from the session); and (C) Respond to patient’s verbal and nonverbal communication (Assess patient and adapt introduction; and Validate patient’s response). The findings offer introductory techniques for music therapists that may increase the likelihood of adults in medical settings accepting MT-PPLM. Implications for clinical practice, ethical considerations, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.


1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice M. Dvorkin

It is the focus of this paper to look at the idea of resistance as providing information on the primary object experience. Using this information, the music therapist needs to assess his or her role in playing music during the session, in the same way that he or she assesses verbal interventions.


Author(s):  
Jonathon Oden

Abstract The purpose of this study was to descriptively analyze music therapy employment data from 2013 to 2019, including years in the field, gender, age, ethnicity, hours worked, jobs created, number of new board-certified music therapists (MT-BCs), funding sources, and wages. A database was created to analyze descriptive data from the 2013–2019 American Music Therapy Association Workforce Analysis Surveys as well as data from the Certification Board for Music Therapists. Results indicate a large portion of music therapists (MTs) have been in the field for five years or less. Though the majority of MTs work full time, there is a high rate of part-time employment. An estimate of the total number of new full-time jobs represented a ratio of 57% of new MT-BCs during the period. Private pay was the most reported funding source for music therapy services. Music therapy wages tended to be higher for those with higher levels of education. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are provided.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-201
Author(s):  
Emily Carlson ◽  
Ian Cross

Although the fields of music psychology and music therapy share many common interests, research collaboration between the two fields is still somewhat rare. Previous work has identified that disciplinary identities and attitudes towards those in other disciplines are challenges to effective interdisciplinary research. The current study explores such attitudes in music therapy and music psychology. A sample of 123 music therapists and music psychologists answered an online survey regarding their attitudes towards potential interdisciplinary work between the two fields. Analysis of results suggested that participants’ judgements of the attitudes of members of the other discipline were not always accurate. Music therapists indicated a high degree of interest in interdisciplinary research, although in free text answers, both music psychologists and music therapists frequently characterized music therapists as disinterested in science. Music therapists reported seeing significantly greater relevance of music psychology to their own work than did music psychologists of music therapists. Participants’ attitudes were modestly related to their reported personality traits and held values. Results overall indicated interest in, and positive expectations of, interdisciplinary attitudes in both groups, and should be explored in future research.


Author(s):  
John Mondanaro ◽  
Joanne Loewy

Adolescence is a time of change marking the transition from childhood to adulthood. When a teenager is ill and requiring hospitalization many of the constructs upon which individual identity rests such as contact with peers, and social belonging, can become compromised. Music therapy offers a way to address the personal and psychological stress that can result from hospitalization. In this chapter the authors highlight conditions in medicine that are common to teens. Music psychotherapy approaches are described that promote expression in individual and group modalities, and can also provide avenues for self-reflection related to the disease process, such as the receiving of a new diagnosis, or in cases where traumatic injury has occurred. The role of the music therapist in working with the medical team, the patient, and the patient’s family is presented with reference to the detailed knowledge and experience of the authors in providing music psychotherapy to adolescents.


1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Cowan

Often through the course of work with a patient, issues arise which challenge one's role as a music therapist, and which lead one to question the limits of the experiences being offered to the patient. In this paper I describe my work with a woman who initially avoided and resisted shared music-making, and who gradually became more able to be involved in spontaneous activity. I tried to find ways of understanding the issues at the root of our relationship, in order to build on the musical interactions. From this case, I intend to illustrate the deeper questions which, I believe, are pertinent to be asked more generally about the limitations attending the role of the music therapist.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Brenda Oosthuizen

The Support Programme for Abuse Reactive Children, was initiated by the Teddy Bear Clinic (an NPO established to protect abused children) in South Africa in response to the increase of child-on-child offenders in this country.  This short-term programme aims to offer holistic rehabilitation to first time young sex offenders and incorporates conventional diversion approaches alongside creative programmes, including group music therapy. Based on a review of my session notes, this paper considers challenges and positive developments I experienced over time as the programme’s music therapist from 2006 to 2016. Although I often experienced this work as chaotic, findings suggest that through co-creating a context-specific music therapy programme alongside group members, clinic staff and the broader community, music therapy has offered an increasingly relevant and valuable complement to the diversion programme. Continuing challenges within this work are also highlighted.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Murow

Music therapy in Mexico is only beginning. Though there is a lot of interest in what it is and on its effect on health and personal growth, there are also a lot of misconceptions about what it really is. I have encountered that one of the obstacles for the growth of music therapy in Mexico is what I call the myths about what it is. I am sure some of them are well known to my colleagues around the world: if you play a music tape the client gets well, or just get some percussion instruments and have the children play and you are doing music therapy. I think one of the worst misconceptions here is that some people believe there is no need for professional training and education to practice music therapy. Being a music therapist has been a real struggle not to mention trying to educate health and education professionals about music therapy, and that it is a real profession in other Countries! On the other hand, there are many musicians and health professionals who are very interested in music therapy and its use.


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