Music Therapy Profession Research Articles

Development of the music therapy profession in Latvia

Music therapy is a new profession in healthcare in Latvia. There have been some initial difficulties in the establishment of the profession in this country. The author has been actively involved since the beginning of the development of the Latvian Music Therapy Foundation. She has studied and taught on the Music Therapy programme in Latvia. She has also established and managed the Music Therapy Foundation and the Latvian Music Therapy Association. The author’s personal experience, therefore, successfully portrays the academic and clinical development of music therapy in a European country where it is acknowledged as a medical profession according to the Medical Law of the Republic of Latvia.

Feminist Music Therapists in North America: Their Lives and Their Practices

This survey study investigated the lives and practices of those in North America who self-identify as feminist music therapists. Earlier reports from this survey studied: 1) the experiences of music therapists, with a comparison of men, women, and their 1990 counterparts (Curtis, 2013d); 2) the experiences of music therapists who self-identify as community music therapists (Curtis, 2015); and 3) the experiences of music therapists in Canada as they compare with their U.S. counterparts (Curtis, in press, a). This current and final report explored the experiences of those in Canada and the United States who self-identify as feminist music therapists (50 from the 682 respondents). Areas of similarities and differences were noted between feminist music therapy respondents, Community Music Therapy respondents, and survey respondents as a whole. Similarities existed in terms of: age; gender (predominantly female) and ethnicity makeup (predominantly Caucasian); career satisfaction; and degree and nature of concerns in their lives. Differences existed in that: 1) greater numbers of feminist music therapy respondents worked in academic settings and had higher levels of education; 2) more feminist music therapists felt there was an impact of sex discrimination in peoples’ lives than did the community music therapists, or survey respondents as a whole (98%, 68.5%, and 67% respectively); 3) more feminist music therapy respondents held concerns about discrimination across many other intersections such as race/ethnicity and sexual orientation (98%, 74%, and 76% respectively); and 4) significantly more in Canada self-identified as feminist music therapists than did their U.S. counterparts. Qualitative analysis of respondents’ thoughts on feminist music therapy identified the following themes: being a feminist, belief and orientation, and working for empowerment and equality. The potential contribution that feminist music therapy offers the music therapy profession as a whole was highlighted in terms of its understanding of the impact of multiple sources of marginalization and privilege. This potential contribution could be enhanced through future research into the profiles of feminist music therapists living in other parts of the world.

Common Characteristics of Improvisational Approaches in Music Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Developing Treatment Guidelines.

Improvisational methods of music therapy have been increasingly applied in the treatment of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) over the past decades in many countries worldwide. This study aimed at developing treatment guidelines based on the most important common characteristics of improvisational music therapy (IMT) with children affected by ASD as applied across various countries and theoretical backgrounds. After initial development of treatment principle items, a survey among music therapy professionals in 10 countries and focus group workshops with experienced clinicians in three countries were conducted to evaluate the items and formulate revised treatment guidelines. To check usability, a treatment fidelity assessment tool was subsequently used to rate therapy excerpts. Survey findings and feedback from the focus groups corroborated most of the initial principles for IMT in the context of children with ASD. Unique and essential principles include facilitating musical and emotional attunement, musically scaffolding the flow of interaction, and tapping into the shared history of musical interaction between child and therapist. Raters successfully used the tool to evaluate treatment adherence and competence. Summarizing an international consensus about core principles of improvisational approaches in music therapy for children with ASD, these treatment guidelines may be applied in diverse theoretical models of music therapy. They can be used to assess treatment fidelity, and may be applied to facilitate future research, clinical practice, and training.

Music therapy as a profession in Spain: Past, present and future

The use of music for therapeutic purposes has a long history in Spain. For many years, clinical practice, training and research related to music therapy have been present in the country. Several people from different areas of the country have acted as pioneers, contributing great effort and dedication to the establishment of this profession. However, perhaps because these pioneering efforts lacked unity or failed to follow similar directions, there is still a long way to go before this discipline and profession become consolidated and integrated within the education and health systems, and recognised by the relevant authorities. To advance along this way, it is important and necessary to analyse where the music therapy profession lies at present in order to identify those aspects which hinder its development and consolidation.

Music Therapy: An art beyond words (2nd ed.)

This is the second edition of a book appearing 20 years after its initial publication. The first edition was authored by Leslie Bunt, and Brynjulf Stige has been added as the coauthor for the second edition. It is intended as an introduction to the current international practice of music therapy as seen through seven contemporary perspectives: medical, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, transpersonal, culture centered, and music centered. The scope of these perspectives indicates the authors’ intent to be broadly inclusive and comprehensive in their account. The nine chapters of the book include three introductory chapters focusing on what music therapy is, how it has developed, and information on its basic building blocks. The four chapters that follow introduce clinical work organized by four stages of life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and older adulthood. The book concludes with two chapters exploring the profession and discipline of music therapy as a community resource with a hybrid identity.

Effects of professional music therapy supervision on clinical outcomes and therapist competency: a systematic review involving narrative synthesis

Supervision for music therapists is often regarded as useful for professional development, and for processing clinical and non-clinical issues, which arise from practice. However, little is known about the research evidence, which informs this practice and its links to improved professional competency and clinical outcomes. A narrative synthesis was conducted to map the types of supervision literature, identify corresponding research evidence and examine effective models of music therapy supervision. Relevant databases were searched and the authors identified a considerable body of literature relating to professional supervision (n = 48), with only five, mostly qualitative, research studies identified. Review results show that supervision is useful for assisting a therapist’s professional and personal insight into clinical practice although the effects of the intervention remain unknown. Two core interactive ingredients constitute professional supervision: (1) flexible and creative approaches towards practice and learning, including the use of music as a supervision tool; (2) a supervisory relationship, which is fundamental to the process. These ingredients are shaped by three underlying concepts: (1) shared experience between supervisor and supervisee; (2) improved insights; and (3) qualities of an effective supervisory relationship. Results revealed an overall lack of evaluation studies and an over-reliance on qualitative design. The discipline would now benefit from research that measures the effects of professional supervision on patient outcomes and professional competencies.

A Community Music Therapy Project’s Journey

Since starting the music therapy Community-Based Organisation (CBO) Music for Peaceful Minds (MPM) in July 2008 there have been on-going gradual but significant changes to the way music therapy is practised and spoken about worldwide that has both challenged and informed MPM’s local practice in northern Uganda.This paper is a personal reflection of MPM’s work over the past seven years with an aim of explaining what it means to work as a music therapist with a community-driven frame of mind when working in places that need a flexibility of approach. How has this work moved away from conventional music therapy (where symptoms and health problems at an individual level are focussed on in a therapeutic space) (Stige 2002)? And how has MPM evolved alongside the music therapy profession’s changes over the years since the emergence of community music therapy?

What Do We Do? Music Therapy and Assessment: Considerations for 21st Century Practice

Assessment is a process well-recognised as an essential basis for any music therapy work. However, very little has been published focusing specifically on the theory, practice, and research of assessment in the music therapy profession. Rather, information is fragmented (Sabbatella 2004) and inconsistent. This article offers an overview of documented concepts and deduced definitions in a clinical context, based on the author’s own research and reflection. It expands upon the author’s oral presentation of the same title (Churchill 2014), summarising part of her Master’s research thesis (Churchill 2012).

Considering Theory in Practice

This volume offers readers an opportunity to encounter, consider, integrate, and respond to differing perspectives on the relationship between theory and clinical practice. This is important not only because of the perspectives offered, but because of the ways these perspectives reflect dialogues we have as a profession that relate to differences in perspective—whether they be in theories, models, methods, or practices—and how we, as a field, engage in these dialogues. Brynjulf Stige identifies and describes a practice turn in music therapy theory. Informed by praxeology (philosophy of action) and practice theory (a specific theory tradition in the social sciences), Stige suggests that our practices and theories are social and situated activities, living within social structures at the macro level and individual agency at the micro level. As such, our practice theories are reflexive and should seek to articulate and connect macro- and micro-level dimensions of clinical practice. Ken Aigen discusses epistemological, methodological, and pragmatic foundations of evidence-based practice (EBP), and how these affect the profession of music therapy. He challenges the sometimes narrowly defined nature of evidence found within the EBP hierarchy, and how this privileges certain forms of knowledge over others. In so doing, he explores the concept of the “gold standard” and what this value brings to clinical practice. He also questions whether other forms of knowledge, based on quite different perspectives, are embraced and advanced if such a hierarchy is adopted within our profession as a dominant paradigm.

A Critique of Evidence-Based Practice in Music Therapy

T he present article is a critical analysis of the episte- mological, methodological, and pragmatic foundations of evidence- based practice as they affect the profession of music therapy. The article is situated within a narrative presentation of the author's back- ground in the philosophy and history of science, and in experimental psychology. Areas of critique include narrow understandings of the nature of science, restrictive notions of evidence, methodological issues in the randomized controlled trial, the medical model and its associated illness ideology as an inadequate model of music therapy, the concept of an intervention as an inadequate conceptualization of what makes music therapy work, and the potentially corrupting effect of commercial influences in research.

Music Therapy Advocacy for Professional Recognition: A Historical Perspective and Future Directions

The Merriam-Webster dictionary (2014) defines advocacy simply as “the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal.” Among healthcare professionals, advocacy can be a broad construct. It can happen on a micro level when a therapist helps a client access services (Dhillon, Wilkins, Law, Stewart, & Tremblay, 2010) or secure funding support (McCarty, 2009). Advocacy can also have an educational focus. This occurs on an individual level when, for example, one explains the importance of a particular profession and why it should be supported (Dhillon, Wilkins, Law, Stewart, & Tremblay, 2010; Mark, 2002), or an organizational level, as when an association launches a targeted public relations effort (Mark, 2002). There is also an aspect of advocacy that connects directly to legislative and policy issues, which occurs when an individual, group, or organization engages in lobbying efforts (Dhillon, Wilkins, Law, Stewart, & Tremblay, 2010; Palfrey, Cheng, & Schuster, 2011). Advocating for the music therapy profession is a cornerstone of the State Recognition Operational Plan (SROP), a national initiative developed and implemented collaboratively by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and the Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT). Since its launch in 2005, the SROP has resulted in a growing number of advocacy-related initiatives, including continuing education training on being an advocate, social media-focused efforts, Hill Day events at State Capitol buildings, and concurrent sessions at regional and national music therapy conferences. To some, it may seem as if these AMTA- and CBMT-initiated advocacy efforts are novel; however, educating the public about music therapy and establishing its credibility has been an intentional focus since the founding of the National Association for Music Therapy (NAMT) in 1950 (Michel, 2000; Solomon & Heller, 1982). In fact, all of the music therapy professional organizations and certifying bodies have contributed time, energy, and resources to advocating for and promoting music therapy in the United States (Davis, 1999; Anne Parker, personal communication, January 11, 2014). The SROP is not a reactive, stand-alone plan, but is an initiative built upon the advocacy foundation created by music therapy organizations in previous decades. Understanding organizational history is valuable, as it can offer a broader perspective and better understanding of current happenings, and can serve to more clearly explain complex ideas and events (Heller, 2000; Solomon & Heller, 1982). Thus, in order for music therapists and music therapy advocates to better understand the focus on state recognition for music therapy and their role in the initiative, the intention of this article is to create a historical narrative of advocacy activities conducted by the music therapy professional and credentialing organizations, then connect them to current efforts and future trends associated with the joint AMTA/CBMT State Recognition Operational Plan.

Embedding Innovation into the Counterpoint of Music Therapy Practice Today

When Alexia founded Music as Therapy International, the music therapy profession seemed very different. Who has changed? The author or the profession? Or both? The author will present her experiences of being a threat, a novelty and now a welcome contributor to practice, and consider the changing professional context against which (and within which) her work has unfolded. The article will trace the development of Music as Therapy International's work in Romania, as the country's care system has progressed through dramatic reforms following the crisis in care revealed after the fall of Communism in 1989. The author will explore how the consequent portfolio of activities devised by the charity has since proven relevant in other countries and has become increasingly influential in the UK. Specific relevant projects will be presented, including the six-week introductory training project model (international), the distance learning programme (Romania), the training DVD (Rwanda), the UK continuing professional development seminars and interactive music-making (a university credit-rated course for UK practitioners working with under-5s). The paper will also refer to responses to these projects from the profession and the relevant practice of others over the years.

The study of music therapy: current issues and concepts

1. The Identity of the Music Therapy Profession 2. The Identity of the Professional Music Therapist: Roles and Related Disciplines 3. Psychodynamic, Social, and Music-Centered Perspectives on Music 4. Musical Styles in Music Therapy: Culture, Identity, and the Nature of Change 5. The Medium of Music and Clinical Goals 6. The Relationship between Clinical and Nonclinical Music 7. The Role of Verbalization in Music Therapy. 8. The Client-Therapist Relationship in Music Therapy 9. Music Therapy and Traditional Healing Practices: Definitional Issues 10. Music Therapy and Traditional Healing Practices: Clinical Applications 11. Community Music Therapy: Origins and Definitional Issues 12. Perspectives on Performance in Community Music Therapy 13. Early Interaction Theory and Music Therapy 14. Neurological Science and Music Therapy 15. Evolutionary Theory and Music Therapy 16. An Overview of Current Music Therapy Frameworks 17. A Comparative Analysis of Current Music Therapy Frameworks

Premature Infants: Perspectives on NICU-MT Practice

Music research began in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) over 25 years ago. Initially, medical staff resisted the idea that music therapy could impact premature infant medical outcomes. Today NICU-MT is well known in the U.S. with over 300 specially trained Board Certified Music Therapists (MT-BCs), and it is evolving in international settings. Over 50 research studies in refereed journals provide evidence-based methodology for NICU-MT and document important and unique infant benefits from music Quality of medical services is evaluated by benchmarks of benefit that are also economical and efficient. NICU-MT is underutilized and improves both medical and developmental outcomes for infants while reducing medical costs. For these reasons, it is an important new benchmark of quality NICU care. It behooves the profession to describe and promulgate specialized NICU-MT treatment techniques. Because of the extreme fragility and unique needs of premature infants still undergoing fetal development, it is also timely that the music therapy profession begins to develop specialized training for clinical treatment in this area. This article offers a perspective on NICU-MT by integrating music research with developmental theory, medical treatment, and MT clinical practice. It also provides suggestions for development of the specialization of NICU-MT.

Viewers' Perceptions of a YouTube Music Therapy Session Video

Recent research revealed diverse content and varying levels of quality in YouTube music therapy videos and prompted questions about viewers' discrimination abilities. This study compares ratings of a YouTube music therapy session video by viewers with different levels of music therapy expertise to determine video elements related to perceptions of representational quality. Eighty-one participants included 25 novices (freshmen and sophomores in an introductory music therapy course), 25 pre-interns (seniors and equivalency students who had completed all core Music Therapy courses), 26 professionals (MT-BC or MT-BC eligibility) with a mean of 1.75 years of experience, and an expert panel of 5 MT-BC professionals with a mean of 11 years of experience in special education. After viewing a music therapy special education video that in previous research met basic competency criteria and professional standards of the American Music Therapy Association, participants completed a 16-item questionnaire. Novices' ratings were more positive (less discriminating) compared to experienced viewers' neutral or negative ratings. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) of novice, pre-intern, and professional ratings of all items revealed significant differences p, .05) for specific therapy content and for a global rating of representational quality. Experienced viewers' ratings were similar to the expert panel's ratings. Content analysis of viewers' reasons for their representational quality ratings corroborated ratings of therapy-specific content. A video that combines and clearly depicts therapy objectives, client improvement, and the effectiveness of music within a therapeutic intervention best represent the music therapy profession in a public social platform like YouTube.

Music Therapy Salaries from 1998–2012: A Comparative and Descriptive Study

Regardless of profession, salaries can be important for choosing an occupation, deciding whether or not to attain higher education, as well as many consequential life decisions. While anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that most music therapists enter the profession not assuming they will become wealthy, salaries remain a substantial consideration when entering and remaining in the field. Many aspiring students ponder how much income they will earn as Board Certified music therapists and may even base life decisions (i.e., work, family, career, geographic location) on aspects of their salaries. Although the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) publishes salary data each year in its annual Workforce Analysis (AMTA, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), to date, no researcher has compared or descriptively analyzed music therapy salaries. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to compare music therapy salary data with those of related helping professions in 2011 and descriptively analyze music therapy salary data from 1998-2012.Literature ReviewSurprisingly little attention has been paid to how much music therapists earn and whether their salaries are in line with other professionals with similar education and training. Salaries can reflect many professional aspects: status, value, expertise, experience, and level of education. Although music therapists may not enter the field with the expectation of attaining high salaries, there is often the implicit understanding that salaries reflect education and training, and that they may reflect how people are valued in various professional settings.As most professionals receive payment for their services, it would seem that salary studies are almost ubiquitously essential across vocations. As there has not been a music therapy specific salary study, it would seem appropriate to examine other professions' literature bases as they relate to salary. Although notably different, some persons might perceive the teaching profession to be somewhat related to music therapy as many of these positions rely on state and federal resources and clinicians practice at the undergradu- ate level, are largely female, experience shortages, have relatively low salaries yet high job satisfaction, and often serve diverse populations (American Association for Employ- ment in Education, 2008; Rumberger, 1987).Although burnout and attrition may account for teacher shortages, one of the chief theories concerning the reason for the teacher shortage is low salary (Ingersoll, 2003; Ingersoll & Smith; 2003; Levin, 1985). However, teachers tended to report higher levels of job satisfaction than other college graduates and the general public. Moreover, a researcher found that teachers had more interest concerning intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards (Feistritzer, 1986). Thus, perhaps aspiring teachers make career-based decisions upon other, non-monetary and satisfaction- and reward-based factors. Generalizing these theories to the music therapy profession, it may be that aspiring music therapists make similar decisions based upon job satisfaction and intrinsic rewards. Although no systematic data exist, perhaps the ability to continue one's role as a musician in a professional environment lowers the importance of salary for future music therapists. Of course, salary can be a driving and influential factor for making career-based decisions. However, factors such as motivation, rewards, job satisfaction, and employ- ment-based benefits (Spetz & Adams, 2006) may certainly shape and influence some of these career-based decisions.Other professions' salary data are available by state from the United States Department of Labor (2011). Additionally, from 1998 to 2012, the AMTA published salary data of music therapists in its annual Descriptive Statistical Profiles. However, to date, these data have not been descriptively analyzed. …

Areas of concern in psychiatric music therapy: A descriptive analysis

Psychiatric settings remain a large area of clinical practice for the music therapy profession. However, the percentage of psychiatric music therapists has remained relatively constant and music therapy students seem to be increasingly interested in other clinical areas. The purpose of this descriptive study was to survey psychiatric music therapists and identify their potential areas of concern for the future of psychiatric music therapy. The researcher emailed a brief survey to all members of the American Music Therapy Association listed in the “mental health” section of the 2009 Member Sourcebook. Fifty-three respondents participated for a response rate of 18.40%. There were significant main effects in areas of concern and theoretical orientations and there was a significant interaction between these two variables. Results indicated that outpatient care was the highest concern, followed by healthcare reform, brief treatment, and evidence-based practice. Participants rated job security as the lowest area of concern. Participants who identified themselves as having cognitive behavioral, eclectic, and humanistic orientations rated the importance of qualitative research and quantitative research equally. To corroborate data, themes from participants’ free response comments were coded. Participants most frequently indicated that research, training, employment, and licensure/credentials/reimbursement were areas of concern. Overall, results seem to be congruent with contemporary trends in the literature base and clinical practice. Limitations of the study, implications for clinical practice, and suggestions for future research are provided.

A Tribute to Clive Robbins 1927-2011

I wanted to start this essay by saying how fortunate I was to count Clive as a colleague and a friend and how much I will miss him; I then realized that much more important than my personal loss will be the loss of such a warm, dynamic, and visionary man to the profession of music therapy; this subsequent thought was itself soon replaced by the notion that, although none of them have actually met Clive, in a sense it is actually the tens of thousands of clients of music therapists who were influenced by Clive that will miss him the most. No individual person respected clients more than Clive, no one challenged them more or demanded more of them, and certainly no one loved them more than Clive. These attitudes - which are strongly connected to each other - permeated Clive's being and radiated out to anyone who read his publications, heard him speak, or viewed his clinical work. No therapists with an open heart could come into contact with Clive and not have their clinical work and the way they relate to clients forever changed in ways that reflected Clive's beliefs.Clive's contribution to music therapy was sustained for over 53 years, beginning with meeting Paul Nordoff in 1958 and ending only with his passing in 201 1 . It was also widespread as Clive traveled and taught throughout North America, South America, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and in every region of Europe. As the co-originator of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, the importance of Clive's life and work - and his influence on music therapy and the world - will take years and many investigations to fully document. These investigations will highlight a number of well-known elements of Nordoff-Robbins work that Clive originated: a belief in creativity and intuition as equally important parts of the therapist's approach and the client's experience; his emphasis on quality music and instruments as essential components of effective therapy; an emphasis on individualized treatment borne out of a recognition that each human being's fate was to become more fully n/mself or herself as unique beings, a process in which music therapy could play a central role; and last, a belief that human beings had a unique relationship to music that allowed it to play a central role in awakening awareness of the self, facilitating its ability to mobilize itself in intentional action directed towards self-actualization.Yet there were many other dimensions to Clive and many other areas in which his influence has been felt in music therapy. It is these perhaps less heralded contributions that I would like to discuss in the balance of this article, as they serve to draw a more complete portrait of the man and his work. I would like to focus on a few aspects of Clive's earlier life as they are likely to be less well known.Clive was a teenager in Great Britain at the time of World War II. His goal was to become a pilot in the Royal Air Force, and to expedite this process he joined the RAF when he was 16-years-old as a technical apprentice working on precision navigation equipment used in airplanes. Clive was quite accomplished in this work as it brought together his quick and insightful mind, his truly gifted way with tools, and his innate understanding of the functioning of all things mechanical. Clive was working on the cutting edge of technology here in its applied dimension.This aspect of his being was clearly manifested in his early and ongoing embrace of all things technical in the service of music therapy. As early as 1960, Clive was utilizing the highest quality portable reel-to-reel audio recorders that could be reasonably secured at the time to record and preserve all of Nordoff's and his clinical work and teaching. In the mid-1970s when audio cassette tapes first started becoming widespread, Clive ensured that the major publication of his and Paul Nordoff's work together - Creative Music Therapy (Nordoff & Robbins, 1977) - was published together with an audio cassette containing clinical examples. …

Arts-based research practices in music therapy research: Existing and potential developments

Poetry, drama, music, dance, and visual art are increasingly used in healthcare research to learn about the experiences of healthcare workers and recipients, to gain access to marginalized voices, and to communicate research findings to a wide range of people. Despite this emerging inclination towards the recognition of the value of the arts for healthcare research, creative arts processes have had limited use in music therapy research to date. In this article, we reflect on the small body of existing music therapy literature about arts-based research and explore possible reasons for the current neglect of these methods. We provide examples from Alison's doctoral research that demonstrate the value of using arts-based research for developing a deeper understanding of the profession of music therapy. Our reflection on the current literature leads us to propose further uses for arts-based research practices, for developing rich and evocative findings, accessing the voices of people who receive music therapy services, and communicating music therapy research findings to a broader audience eager for this information.

Writing Music Therapy

Communicating about music therapy is problematic because discursive language fails to convey the nonverbal, embodied essence of experience. I explore the emergence of this problem in the music therapy literature. I discuss the scholarship of phenomenological writing. I provide examples of nondiscursive music therapy writing. I introduce the genre of poetic inquiry. Poetry is the most musical form of language. Poetry and music, linked throughout history, share many characteristics. It makes sense that we use poetry to write about music therapy. Writing is a crucial skill for music therapy professionals who must produce various notes, proposals, and reports. Writing poetically is a diminished stance compared to discursive prose writing. It is understandable that representing music therapy in experimental, tentative, and creative texts is risky. I invite music therapists to aspire towards poetry when writing music therapy to better address nonverbal, embodied, music therapy essence. I address this invitation to all writers of music therapy: undergraduate and graduate students, clinicians, and researchers.