‘Sewing together’: An idiographic study of a music therapist’s experiences of a group at a special school for children and young people with severe and complex special educational needs

Abstract

This research was commissioned by a school in London which provides for children and young people aged 2 to 16 with a wide range of learning difficulties. This single-participant study uses video annotation, video elicitation interview and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore perceptions of processes in a music therapy group, from the point of view of a music therapist. Two tables of annotations present a description of events in each video clip in a timeline. The IPA interview analysis produced 25 emergent themes, grouped into four superordinate themes (‘Balancing diverse needs’; ‘Spontaneity’; ‘Therapists’ musical stance’; ‘Group dynamics’). Parallels are drawn with other music therapy groups described in the literature and with Foulkes’ group analytic psychotherapy. The study elucidates an approach to group music therapy which provides a space for spontaneous and meaningful interaction, both through music and other modalities.