Collaborative Insights

Abstract

Abstract This book provides insight informed by interdisciplinary thinking on musical care throughout the life course. Musical care refers to the role of music—music listening as well as music-making—in supporting any aspect of people’s developmental or health needs: for example, physical and mental health, cognitive and behavioural development, and interpersonal relationships. Musical care can be seen as relevant to several types of music, approach, setting and stages of the life course. By introducing the term musical care, the editors of this book prioritize the overlapping areas of practice, engagement, and research that are widely applicable rather than the boundaries between them. The life course structure, from infancy to end of life, highlights the changing roles of musical care throughout our lives. The multifaceted nature of musical care requires bringing together perspectives and expertise from practice and research, from different fields and disciplines. This edited book shows interdisciplinary collaboration in action by assembling music practitioners and researchers to collaboratively write each chapter—each covering a stage during the life course—to discuss musical care from interdisciplinary perspectives, and to offer directions for future work. This book illustrates the wealth of understanding that can be gained from interdisciplinary collaboration in musical care. This is the start of a conversation and a call to action; a catalyst for new collaborations that will bring new insights to musical care throughout the life course.