Abstract
This is the accompanying paper to an arts-based pilot project that musically explored interdisciplinarity between improvisation in music therapy and music performance. A culminating concert that brought elements of music therapy improvisation to the stage (available for viewing online) is where the vital learning from this project resides. This written piece additionally articulates philosophical, theoretical and practical concepts and questions that arose from the investigation. Elements of music therapy and music performance improvisation are compared, contrasted, and combined from within the author’s experience. The emergent potential of improvised musical performances for health and wellbeing is also discussed.
Highlights
For this concert I’m inviting you to listen to music in a way that is perhaps more accustomed to music therapy than to performance
While the main focus of this paper is the intersection between music improvisation in music therapy and music performance, it is not meant
Improvised Musical Performance for Health and Wellbeing. This pilot study pointed to a type of performance focused on health and wellbeing, and the special role of improvisation within such a concept, as vibrant areas of interdisciplinarity between improvisation in music therapy and music performance
Summary
For this concert I’m inviting you to listen to music in a way that is perhaps more accustomed to music therapy than to performance. Both involve music improvisation and require intra and inter-personal musical communication The purpose of this pilot study was to musically explore and articulate areas of intersection between music improvisation in music therapy and performance, and to challenge the boundary between the disciplines. In some ways, this interdisciplinarity has been musically explored by other music therapists and performing musicians. Brandes’ performance goals can be viewed as therapeutic because his intentions are exclusively focused on the emotional and interpersonal impact of the performance on the audience This example illustrates one way in which music performance can incorporate interdisciplinarity by involving music therapy-type principles. I wanted to explore the intersection between music improvisation in music therapy and performance using music itself; I used arts-based research principles to create and contextualize this pilot study
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