Definition
There is an important amount of people who is interested in the idea of Music Therapy.
The music is enjoyed and valued in an universal way and since it plays an integral role in our daily lives the idea of using it for therapeutic purpose seems obvious and fascinating. Most of the people admit the power of music to move emotions and a lot of them have discovered its therapeutic benefits through their own personal experiences.
But its definition is more complex, as it requires consider to which aspect or clinical approach we want to give more interest or importance.
Moreover, we have to take into account that music therapy is a body of interdisciplinary knowledge. These disciplines goes from psychology of music, acoustics, composition and musical performance to psychology, psychiatrics, psychotherapy, education etc.
As a fusion of music and therapy, music therapy is at the same time an art (because of its subjectivity, individuality, creativity and beauty), a science (with components of objectivity, collectivity and arguable and verification) and an interpersonal process (with components of empathy, intimacy, communication, reciprocal influence and role relationships).
In certain way music therapy has to be conceive in a manner that embraces this multiplicity and however preserving its integrity.
Music therapists can fulfil this profession in a variety of areas: mental health, education, geriatrics, special needs centres, prisons, rehabilitations, day care centres and private practice.
It can bi done individually or by an multiprofessional team: psychiatrists, doctors, psychologists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, teachers, social workers, etc.
There is no need to say that the objectives and methods of the treatment change from a profile to another one, from a type of population to another and from a music therapist to another one. The objectives can be educational, recreational, rehabilitation, preventive or psychotherapeutic ones and can be programmed towards physical, emotional, intellectual or spiritual needs of the client.
The methods of the treatment can accentuate the listening, the improvisation, the actuation, the composition, the movement or speaking, and can include additional experiences in art, dance, theatre and poetry.
Music therapy can also be practiced within a variety a philosophic approaches in accordance with behavioural, psychoanalytical, gestalt, cognitive, learning, etc. theories. The implications of such diversity are enormous.
The definition of music therapy given by Patxi del Campo from the Music, Art and Process Institute is the following one:
"When we use music and sound are used as exchange agents/tools in order to establish a therapeutic relation that makes easy the growth and development of a person we have a music therapeutic process.
We can define Music Therapy as the scientific application of sound, music and movement through the listening training and the sonorous instrumental performance, integrating the cognitive, emotional and motor aspects, developing awareness and promoting the creative process. This will let us:
- facilitate communication
- promote individual expression
- favour group and social integration"
