music therapy conference brochure

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THE MUSIC OF MUSIC THERAPY CONFERENCE | 2010

www.anglia.ac.uk/musicofmusictherapy

Faculty of Arts Law and Social SciencesDepartment of Music and Performing Arts

TheMusic ofMusic Therapy

Friday 26 – Saturday 27 February 2010

Conference Programme

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The Music Of Music Therapy ConferenceFriday 26 – Saturday 27 February 2010 • Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

Contents:Page 4 General information

Page 5 Welcome from Professor Helen Odell-Miller

Page 6 Timetable (Friday 26 February 2010)

Page 7 Timetable (Saturday 27 February 2010)

Page 8 Rachel Darnley-Smith (Keynote paper)

Page 9 Mércèdes Pavlicevic (Keynote paper)

Page 10 Katy Bell (Paper)

Page 11 Carol Chambers (Paper)

Page 12 Alison Davies & Paul Gordon (Workshop)

Page 13 Marieke Degryse (Paper)

Page 14 Philippa Derrington (Paper)

Page 15 Karen Gold (Paper)

Page 16 Angela Harrison (Paper)

Page 17 Matina Karastatira (Paper)

Page 18 Meertine MJ Laansma (Paper)

Page 19 Martin Lawes (Workshop)

Page 20 Dawn Loombe (Paper)

Page 21 Susanne Metzner (Paper)

Page 22 Liz Norman & Eddie Norman (Paper)

Page 23 Amelia Oldfield (Paper)

Page 24 Deborah Parker (Paper)

Page 25 James Robertson (Paper)

Page 26 Clare Rosscornes (Paper)

Page 27 Bethan Lee Shrubsole (Paper)

Page 28 John Strange (Paper)

Page 29 Giorgos Tsiris (Paper)

0 Daisy Varewyck (Paper)

Page 31 Wai Man Ng (Paper)

Page 32 Donald Wetherick & Gail Brand (Workshop)

Page 33–35 Notes

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• General information for delegates •

Reception and help deskA registration/help desk will be situated in The Street outside the refectory. This will be staffed before theconference.

Delegate badgePlease wear your badge at all times for security purposes and to give you access to refreshments andmeals.

Messages and notice boardA board for messages and notices will be situated near the reception desk. Please check it forannouncements and changes to the programme. You are also welcome to leave messages there for otherdelegates.

Assistance and technical supportMA music therapy students will be acting as conference stewards and are available to answer questions,direct you to the conference rooms and provide general support. A technical officer will be available anda steward will be in each presentation room to help presenters.

BookstallA bookstall run by John Smith’s Bookshop will be open in The Street for the duration of the conference,selling books specifically related to the conference themes in addition to general music therapy texts.

Venue:Anglia Ruskin UniversityEast RoadCambridgeCB1 1PTwww.anglia.ac.uk

Scientific Committee• Professor Helen Odell-Miller (Chair)• Helen Loth (Conference manager)• Eleanor Richards• Dr Amelia Oldfield

Technical support• Richard Taylor

Administrative support• Karen Sturt

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• Welcome •

Dear Colleagues,I have great pleasure in welcoming you to this conference The Music of Music Therapy. This is the fifthin the series of music therapy conferences organised by the academic and clinical team at Anglia RuskinUniversity and it will add to the existing literature and research on this important theme. The conferencebrings together speakers of international repute with new researchers and clinicians. Over twentyclinical, theoretical and research papers and workshops will be presented by music therapists from theUK and other European settings, and we expect lively debate and discourse.

We are pleased to welcome you into the Department of Music and Performing Arts at Anglia RuskinUniversity. It is home to the established Music Therapy MA programme, and to a developing PhDprogramme in which we now have four PhD music therapy students working on new research in a rangeof areas. All these research activities are part of the Music for Health Research Centre and the MusicTherapy Clinic at Anglia Ruskin University.

The conference team of experienced clinicians, researchers and administrators has been led by HelenLoth, Conference manager. We are grateful to the team of MA Music Therapy students who are helpingwith the many tasks needed to keep the conference running smoothly and providing us with musicalentertainment during the buffet dinner on Friday evening.

The conference brochure includes the programme and full abstracts of all the papers and workshopsbeing presented. I hope you will have a rich and diverse experience and that you will enjoy thisopportunity for debate and exchange.

With good wishes

Professor Helen Odell-MillerChair Scientific CommitteeDeputy Head Music and Performing Arts Department

• Friday 26 February 2010 •

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Recital Hall Helmore 038 Helmore 037 Helmore 217

11.00am – 1.30pmConference Registration tea/coffee: The Street

Refreshments available from the University refectory and coffee bars

3.15pm – 4pmJames Robertson

Whose music is it anyway?

3.15pm – 4pmGiorgos Tsiris

Musical Reflections – a supportivetool for expanding therapeutic

insight and reflexivity

4.15pm – 5.45pmDonald Wetherick and Gail BrandThe musical training of musictherapists – is it fit for purpose?

Workshop

4.15pm – 5.45pmAlison Davies and Paul Gordon“An Open Conversation”…Music, words and therapy

Workshop

4.15pm – 5pmLiz Norman and Eddie Norman

Engaging industrial designers withmusic therapy

4.00pm – 4.15pm Tea/coffee break: The Street

3.15pm – 4pmDawn Loombe

Bellows, reeds, buttons and keys:being a piano accordionist and howthis has influenced my work as a

music therapist

5.15pm – 6pmCarol Chambers

Edelweiss – one woman’s searchfor reconciliation

6.30pm – 9pmConference buffet dinner

and entertainment

1.30pm – 2pmConference opens

4.15pm – 5pmAngela Harrison

Where does the music come from?Digging deep to meet the needs of

a diverse client group

Welcome addresses by:Paul Jackson,Head of Music and Performing ArtsProf. Helen Odell-Miller,Deputy Head of Music andPerforming Arts

2pm – 3pmRachel Darnley-Smith

What is the music of musictherapy and is it art?

Keynote presentationChair: Helen Loth

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• Saturday 27 February 2010 •

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Recital Hall Helmore 038 Helmore 251 Helmore 252

10am – 11amMércèdes Pavlicevic

Between Musics, Musicality AndMusicing – Group Music Therapy

Considered

Keynote presentationChair: Helen Odell-Miller

11.15am – 12pmSusanne Metzner

Music – the call to that whichis missing

11.15am – 12pmWai Man Ng

The exploration of Chinese music ina GIM programme ‘Harvest’

11.15am – 12pmDaisy Varewyck

Vocal improvisation & psychosis:The voice in resonance to the other

12.15am – 1pmJohn Strange

Facility in improvisation – A mixedblessing?

12.15am – 1pmClare Rosscornes

How does the setting affect themusic? A comparison of clinicalwork with children in a hospital,a mainstream school and a

children’s centre

12.15am – 1pm Deborah Parker.Reading the music – Understanding

the therapeutic process.Documentation, analysis and

interpretation of improvisationalmusic therapy

12.15am – 1pmKaty Bell

Linking worlds – thinking about thefunction of pre-composed music inmusic therapy for adults with

psychotic illness

1pm – 2.15pm

Lunch: Refectory

2.15am – 3pmAmelia Oldfield

Why did I play that? An analysis ofhow and why a music therapist

improvises during group playing inchild and family psychiatry?

2.15am – 3pmBethan Lee Shrubsole

An exploration of cultural andreligious aspects of music improvised

in music therapy groups inNorthern Uganda, led by anEnglish music therapist

2.15am – 3pmMeertine MJ Laansma

Music as mediator – The music inmusic listening: a cognitive informedapproach to receptive music therapy

in the treatment of depression.

2.15pm – 3.45pmMartin Lawes

Health and pathology in thedynamics of musical structure andrelating: a psychoanalytically

informed perspective

Workshop3.15am – 4pmPhilippa Derrington

The Sweet Escape – Hearing-impaired students in a mainstreamsecondary school get out of lessons

to go to music therapy

3.15am – 4pmMatina Karastatira

An exploration of the influence ofmodes as used in Ancient Greek

music with reference to children andadults with learning disabilities

3.15am – 4pmKaren Gold

The focus and the flow – what mightwe learn about the music in musictherapy from seeing patients withdementia working therapeutically

in both music and in art?

4pm – 4.15pm Tea/coffee break: The Street

4.15pm – 5.15pm

Plenary

5.15pm – 5.30pm Closing remarks

9.00am – 9.45amConference Registration tea/coffee: The Street

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11.15pm – 12pmMarieke Degryse

Working the trauma – creating asafe place in the midst of aggression.

Music therapy in childpsychiatry

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• Keynote Paper • 2pm – 3pm, Friday 26 February • Recital Hall •

Rachel Darnley-SmithWhat is the music of music therapy and is it art?

Theoretical discussion in music therapy literature in Europe and America has recently included thequestion of the status of music within music therapy, for example whether musical experiences inclinical contexts can be ‘continuous with non clinical musical experiences’, (Aigen, 2008).

In this paper I shall provide an account of this discussion, with particular reference to improvisation,ontology and aesthetics.

I shall show how a consideration of ontology is useful in making a distinction or not making a distinctionbetween the music that is made within the clinical setting and the music that is made elsewhere.Furthermore how there may and may not be different ontologies of music ‘at work’ inside and outsidethe clinical setting, and that this is closely linked to the question of what values drive aestheticconsiderations in music therapy music.

In all I shall seek to show how such a consideration of the music that is made inside and outside theclinical setting, is of profound significance in terms of what we think music therapy might be.

References

K. Aigen, In Defense of Beauty: A role for the Aesthetic in Music Therapy Theory: Part II, Nordic Journal of Music Therapy17 (1) 2008: 3–18

Biography

Rachel Darnley-Smith is a coordinator of the MA in Music Therapy at Roehampton University, London. She is currently therecipient of an Arts and Humanities Research Council award and undertaking a PhD study into the aesthetics of clinicalimprovisation at the University of Durham.

Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1985, she worked for many years as a clinician mostly with Adultsand Elderly Adults in NHS Mental Health settings. She is co-author (with Helen Patey) of Music Therapy (Sage Publications,London 2003). Her article ‘What Has Schopenhauer’s theory of music to contribute to an understanding of improvisationalmusic therapy? recently appeared in the British Journal of Music Therapy Vol, 23, No. 1.

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• Keynote paper • 10am – 11am, Saturday 27 February • Recital Hall •

Mercédès PavlicevicBetween musics, musicality and musicing: Group music therapy considered

Group music therapy seems to have been traditionally neglected in music therapy literature until fairlyrecently. This is unsurprising given the dyadic emphasis of the ‘therapist-client’ relationship in muchmusic therapy thinking. However, a changing professional landscape is placing unprecedented demandson our practices and insists on us reconsidering the places in which we work, the work that we do, andhow we think about this.

A recently completed 4-year International Community Music Therapy project1 studied a range of socialplaces in which music therapists were engaged in (mostly) group musicing. As part of the study, fourmusic therapist researchers did in-depth observation and analysis of how group participants use‘everyday musics’ in group musicing; and considered what disciplinary and methodological frames wouldenable close-up studying of music therapists’ work in these social contexts.

This paper engages with three questions that emerged from detailed analysis of the socio-musical heartof group music therapy.

• What happens to ‘everyday music’ in group music therapy?• How do participants negotiate group musicing?• How might music therapist-researchers generate ‘close-up’ thinking to frame such enactments?

The stance of this paper is that a reflexive stance in the ‘close-up’ study of group music therapy mayhelp us address the changing professional; landscape, convey the rigor of our practices, and mostimportantly perhaps, retain our imaginative impetus and creative fire.

References

1 Stige,B. / Ansdell,G. / Elefant,C. / Pavlicevic,M. (2010) Where Music Helps: Community Music Therapy in Action andReflection. (Ashgate)

Biography

Prof Mércèdes Pavlicevic, PhD, is Director of Research at Nordoff-Robbins music therapy (UK). Mércèdes is also professorextraordinary at the University of Pretoria, South Africa and Hon. Reader at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. She iswidely published and the author of several music therapy books.

• Paper • 12.15pm – 1pm, Saturday 27 February • Hel 252 •

Katy BellLinking worlds – Thinking about the function of pre-composed music in musictherapy for adults with psychotic illness

This paper will look at the function of pre-composed music in music therapy for adults with psychoticillness. According to doctoral research by Odell-Miller (2007) the practice of using pre-composed musicis favoured in psychiatric services throughout Europe. The purpose of this paper is to consider what it isabout enduring psychotic illness that makes the use of pre-composed music potentially effective withthis group of adults. An understanding of the function of pre-composed music, and of psychosis, isinformed and influenced by theories taken from psychoanalysis.

Based on experience from a training placement in a psychiatric hospital and as a qualified musictherapist working with adults in rehabilitation and recovery within the same hospital, this paperdraws on material from two patients. In individual sessions both patients have chosen to make use ofpre-composed songs as a way of beginning to re-visit events and emotional states that hold significancefor them as they try to come to terms with their lives.

The paper concludes that the use of pre-composed music, as an additional tool to improvisation, mightoffer something particularly useful to patients with a chronic psychotic illness in the development of atherapeutic relationship.

Biography

Katy Bell trained as a music therapist at Anglia Ruskin University 2006 – 2008. Her six month first year placement was atFulbourn Hospital; she also discussed this work in her MA dissertation. Since graduating she has been employed by theCambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust at the same hospital on an honorary contract. She also works as a musictherapist in a school for children with special needs.

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• Paper • 5.15pm – 6pm, Friday 26 February • Recital Hall •

Carol ChambersEdelweiss – One woman’s search for reconciliation

Is the use of pre-composed music in music therapy a receptive method or a creatively active process?Can it be viewed from an alternative understanding of improvisation in which the therapist becomes therecipient?

This presentation is approached from the philosophical framework of behaviourism and from a socialconstructionist perspective of the creation and enactment of self-identity, grounded in a belief that lifeand music become inextricably linked during the constructive process.

Drawing on aspects of completed doctoral research (Chambers 2008) with women in medium-secureforensic psychiatric units, this paper proposes that pre-composed music offers a chance to recreateexperiences and reconstruct an emotional narrative of life. Using clinical vignettes of one song choice,‘Edelweiss’, (Rodgers and Hammerstein 1959) from a woman during a three-year case study asillustration, I will examine how the relationship between therapist and client is built upon culturalaccessibility and acceptability. I argue that analysis of such musical repetitiveness at different levels ofinterpretation can offer a revelatory alternative model of musical creativity which demonstrates pre-composed song as an active process.

References

Chambers, C. (2008) Song and metaphoric imagery in forensic music therapy [online]. PhD thesis, Nottingham University.Available at URL:http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk

Rodgers, R. and Hammerstein II, O. (1959) The Sound of Music. Milwaukee: Williamson Music.

Biography

Dr Carol Chambers qualified as a music therapist in 1982 and has worked with many client groups, both in private practiceand as a former Head Music Therapist. Her doctoral research at the University of Nottingham explored the use of pre-composed songs by women in forensic psychiatry. She currently works part-time for the Workers’ Educational Association inLincolnshire.

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• Workshop • 4.15pm – 5pm, Friday 26 February • Hel 217 •

Alison Davies & Paul GordonAn Open Conversation – Music, words and therapy

What is it about playing music together and talking in therapy that can be an ‘affirming flame’ in theface of the increasing demand for accountability through ‘knowledge’?

This convivial conversation between Paul Gordon and Alison Davies will explore the idea of therapy as aform of open-ended, open-minded dialogue. Drawing on Paul’s thinking in his recent book, ‘The Hope ofTherapy’ Alison will look at how his approach to psychotherapy can be related to music therapy, and inparticular, to the use of music. With much emphasis at the present time in both music therapy andpsychotherapy on verifiable outcomes and research, our conversation will focus on a return to therapy asa creative journey concerned with how we lead our lives and how, in the case of music especially, howwe communicate our emotional selves.

We intend to have a dialogue which will then be opened up to the thoughts and ideas of the companypresent.

Biographies

Paul Gordon has been working as a psychotherapist for 20 years in various settings. He currently works in private practiceand as a therapist to one of the Philadelphia Association community households. He is the author of Face to Face: therapy asethics (1989) and co-editor of Between Psychotherapy and Philosophy: essays from the Philadelphia Association (2004). Heis currently Chair of the Philadelphia Association

Alison Davies is both a psychotherapist and a music therapist. She works on the music therapy trainings at Anglia RuskinUniversity and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has written extensively about her work and has a particularinterest in group music therapy. With Eleanor Richards she is co-editor of ‘Music Therapy and Groupwork: Sound Company’.She is a member of The Philadelphia Association.

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• Paper • 11.15am – 12pm, Saturday 27 February • Hel 251 •

Marieke DegryseWorking the trauma – Creating a safe place in the midst of aggression.Music therapy in child psychiatry

Working as a music therapist in Fioretti, a small psychiatric unit with a specific population for childrenwith learning disabilities between the age of 6 and 17, we are confronted with a lot of aggression. Mostof these children have attachment disorders and severe behavioural problems. By which means canmusic exist in music therapy within this specific setting?

Starting from different case studies, regarding this population, we will elaborate on the traumatic natureof free improvisation, which can be threatening and overwhelming, thereby often resulting in‘dysregulation’.

On the other hand, receptive music therapy which consists of listening to songs that clients bring to thesessions, can create a place of rest where client and therapist can co-exist in a contained and safemedium. It is often a necessary way to safeguard control for the client, to prevent loss of self andpossible trauma which can arise through more free playing.

These contradistinctions bring us to a dialectic which we perceive on the one hand as possibilities ofplaying techniques, and on the other hand the performing of pre-composed songs, leading to some formof control. Through these methods, the relationship between therapist and client can evolve into aprocess where the traumatic material can be digested through the music. All this lies within the focus ofthe socio-emotional development of the child and his aggression, underpinned by theoretical approachesof Winnicott, Dösen and Bowlby.

Biography

Marieke Degryse achieved her Bachelor degree in psychology and Master in Music Therapy (Belgium). In 2005–06 sheworked as a music therapist with children and adults with special needs. She joined the music therapy centre ‘Musers’ inMostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina) for 18 months, where she worked with special needs children in a post-war environment.She is currently employed in ‘Fioretti’; the child psychiatry department of the St. Ghuislain hospital in Ghent (Belgium).

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• Paper • 3.15pm – 4pm, Saturday 27 February • Recital Hall •

Philippa DerringtonThe Sweet Escape – Hearing-impaired students in a mainstream secondaryschool get out of lessons to go to music therapy

In September 2008, a music therapy project was set up at a mainstream secondary school inCambridgeshire, specifically for the hearing support service. Six profoundly deaf students were offeredmusic therapy for a year and all of them benefited to an extent that neither I nor the teaching staff everenvisaged. The key outcomes were very clear because all of the students became more motivated atschool and more confident to communicate.

Every year, several deaf students give up attending large class music lessons due to the obviousdifficulties that they face. Trying to keep up in group musical playing without visual clues is extremelydifficult, if not impossible, and is ultimately isolating. It seemed unreasonable that for deaf students, asthe pressures of schoolwork increase and school life becomes evermore challenging, the amount ofcreative and fun lessons should decrease. The project’s resulting offer of individual music therapysessions to these students was received with enthusiasm and, in some cases, a sense of relief andgratitude for a legitimate lesson that is time out!

This paper will review the project using casework and video examples. I will illustrate how the studentsand I maneuvered through various musical styles, used visual activities, used pre-recorded music,experimented with sounds and together worked towards finding common grounds in music. I will look athow the music could create obstacles to our interaction, but through the process of music therapy couldhelp us to communicate creatively.

Biography

Philippa Derrington studied and taught modern languages in the UK and abroad before training as a music therapist at AngliaPolytechnic University. Since qualifying in 2001, she has worked predominantly with children and adolescents withemotional and behavioural difficulties and established work at a mainstream secondary school. The Music Therapy Charity isfunding her research project which is looking at the impact of music therapy on young people at risk of under-achieving orexclusion. She has presented at conferences in the UK and abroad, taught at Anglia Ruskin University and been guestlecturer at the Arts Therapies Department at Girona University, Spain. Email: [email protected]

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Karen GoldThe focus and the flow – What might we learn about the music in musictherapy from seeing patients with dementia working therapeutically in bothmusic and in art?

This paper describes the process of art therapy and music therapy being offered jointly, by an art therapystudent and a music therapy student, during each session of a slow open group of elderly patients withdementia on a short-stay hospital assessment ward.

Although there were many similarities in patient-therapist interaction, and in the therapists’understanding of patients, patients also appeared to respond in certain different ways to the twotherapeutic media. These differences were observable by both therapists in the dynamics of the group,and in levels of patient arousal. Two patients also appeared to use the different therapies to expressdifferent aspects of themselves. The sequence of therapies in sessions appeared to impact strongly onpatients’ engagement.

These differing uses by patients of the two therapies suggests that some of the character and strengthsof music in music therapy for this patient population may lie in the area of emotional arousal – the flowof feelings – and in the area of group cohesiveness, both at the level of social interaction and ofunconscious resonance. The clinical implications of this will be explored.

It is hoped that examples of patients’ music and artwork can be played and shown.

Biography

Karen Gold is a music therapist based in Cambridge. She collaborated on this work with Eveline Scheele, a 4th year arttherapy student at HAN, Nimjegen, The Netherlands, in 2008 whilst on the Anglia Ruskin University MA course.

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• Paper • 4.15pm – 5pm, Friday 26 February • Recital Hall •

Angela HarrisonWhere does the music come from? Digging deep to meet the needs of adiverse client group

This paper will examine and demonstrate the need for music therapists to be flexible and creative intheir musical responses.

It is not always in the gift of a music therapist to work with one single client group and certainly in acommunity-based service, it is essential to have a wide range of musical resources to respond to theneeds of our clients.

Before leaving an internationally acclaimed orchestral career, I came to realise that music therapy wasconcerned with process rather than performance. It was important to consider the potential effect on mymusical sensibilities of the music created in sessions being broken down into its most basic components.

In work with people aged 14 months up to 98 years with a variety of conditions, there are considereddecisions to be made each day as to the music improvised in sessions.

I present my approach by referring directly to work with a child with acquired brain injury, with an adultdisabled by traumatic background and with residents in a dementia care home.

I will provide video footage of progress in sessions and discuss the demands on my musical flexibility.There will be evidence of references reflecting my own musical background but also some demonstrationof my efforts to assimilate new and unfamiliar genres. There are times when the music which is requiredis completely beyond definition, as it is an intuitive vocalisation or improvisation to match the dynamicmovement of the client or a series of sounds to represent the affect sensed in the room.

Music therapy is nothing without music and yet the accepted understanding of the nature of music isconstantly challenged in sessions. In this paper I will encourage therapists to consider their contributionswithin sessions and the role of their musical background.

References

Daniel M Stern (2004) The Present Moment in Psychotherapy and Everyday Life. WW Norton and Co Preface xvi

Ed Thomas Wosch and Tony Wigram (2007) Microanalysis in Music Therapy. Jessica Kingsley Publishers Chapter 6

Biography

Angela Harrison is Lead Therapist for the North Yorkshire Music Therapy Centre, a charity dedicated to providing a highquality service in a range of community-based settings and to promoting the use of music therapy. Angela has recentlypresented papers for conferences in London, Edinburgh, The Netherlands, Canada and Argentina. Her clinical focus is onchildren with developmental delay and those with attachment problems. Angela lectures at the Universities of Leeds, Yorkand Huddersfield and engages the local community in the provision of her team’s service. Angela has recently been appointedas joint Public Relations Officer for the APMT executive.

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Matina KarastatiraAn exploration of the influence of modes as used in ancient Greek music withreference to children and adults with learning disabilities

This article is a summary of my master thesis. It explores the use of modes in Music Therapy, viewedfrom both a theoretical and a practical perspective. It is partly based on a literature review, firstly withregard to the use of modes in ancient Greek music and secondly exploring the modes as they are usednowadays in Music Therapy. I have also drawn on my own case studies and findings on the use of themodes.

From the literature review one can conclude that there is not enough research on this subject. In ancientGreece the effects of the modes on the emotions and the human psyche was referred to extensively.They believed that each mode had a distinct quality which could influence and change a person’semotions. Some music therapists also believe this to be the case and base some of their work on theseprinciples. However, as this study shows, there is a common misconception amongst music therapiststhat the ancient Greek modes are the same as the current modes used in Music Therapy, which is notthe case.

As regards the practical aspect of this article, the case studies used are the author’s and are based onsessions involving a child and an adult with learning disabilities. Video and audio analysis was used toillustrate the use of the modes in each session. The modes can be a useful tool for the therapist toexplain some of the behaviours of his/her clients, but as with every tool it is necessary to find the righttime and place to use it.

Biography

I qualified as a Music Therapist in July 2008 from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. My work experience involvesworking with children with learning and emotional difficulties, with adults in an acute mental health ward and in a learningdisabilities team providing individual and group music therapy. Previous to that I did a BA in Science and Art of Music at theIonian University in Corfu (Greece). I play the piano, recorders, guitar and I also sing. While I was in high school I got aCertificate in Counterpoint, a Diploma in Byzantine Music and a Certificate in Music Harmony. I speak Greek (MotherTongue), English and French.

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Meertine MJ LaansmaMusic as mediator – The music in music listening: a cognitive informedapproach to receptive music therapy in the treatment of depression

In receptive music therapy in the treatment of depression, music listening facilitates the expression offeelings and thoughts (Smeijsters, 2006). Music itself is a mediator between words, thoughts, images,emotions and feelings and the reflection on and expression of these. As cognitive therapy is identified asa preferred treatment of depressive orders, there is limited application of cognitive therapy within amusic therapy context.

Based on recent literature regarding music therapy and cognitive therapy like Luce (2001) and Hilliard(2001), I developed a music therapy model in which cognitive techniques as mental imagery andcognitive reconstruction can be used in the treatment of depression.

In selecting the cognitive interventions to be used, I came to reconsider the musics to use.In listening to music, expectations about the direction the music is going will be made. (Honing, 2009)Where contemporary music irregulates frozen thoughts it opens path for other ways of thinking, liketaking distance or irony.

As research showed that where the character of the music is to be determined for mood, otherstimulations are necessary for a cognitive evaluation, by which the effect of the music is increased. As inan increasingly visual culture, images and pictures seem to be more accessible than words, and can beas rich and complex. (Smelik, 2006).

In this paper I will argue that a combination of images and contemporary music, used as a cognitivereframing intervention, is an extra stimulus to identify dysfunctional thoughts, emotions, expressfeelings, facilitate communication and provide reflection.

References

Hilliard. R (2001): The Use of Cognitive Behavioural Music Therapy in the Treatment of Woman with Eating Disorders, MusicTherapy Perspectives (2001),vol 19

Honing. H, (2009): Iedereen is muzikaal, wat we weten over het luisteren naar muziek, Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers.

Luce. D.W.(2001): Cognitive Therapy and Music Therapy. Music Therapy Perspective, vol 19.

Smeijsters. H. (2006): Handboek Muziektherapie, Bohn Stafleu van Lochum, Houten.

Smelik. A. (2006): Op het eerste gezicht, de glijdende schaal tussen echt en onecht, Jong Holland, 2006–2.

Biography

Meertine MJ Laansma, BM, SRMTh, senior music therapist, lecturer music therapy, musician. Studied music-pedagogy,music therapy and piano, and at the Royal Conservatory of Music, The Hague and the Rotterdam Conservatory. Shecontinued her studies at the Banff Centre of Arts, Canada. Received the Eucrea Award and the Marga Klompe Award forinitiating experimental theatre productions in the 90th’s. She is co-author of the chapter on mood disorders in the HandboekMuziektherapie, ed. by H Smeijsters, 2006. Presently she works for the Department of Mood Disorders in The Hague.

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• Workshop • 2.15pm – 4pm, Saturday 27 February • Hel 038 •

Martin LawesHealth and pathology in the dynamics of musical structure and relating:A psychoanalytically informed perspective

This workshop will introduce a model through which we can understand health and pathology asmanifest in the dynamic structure of musical form. A brief outline of the theoretical background will begiven, drawing on the work of psychoanalyst Thomas Ogden, who follows in the tradition of Klein andBion. Ogden proposes that our ongoing psychological experience results from the interplay of threedifferent modes of organizing experience (1989, 1994). Ogden’s work has a particularly usefulapplication to music therapy, as it can be suggested that we experience the interplay of these threethrough the way they are directly sounded in music. Firstly, there are the elements of music thatgenerate a sense of going-on-being (Ogden’s autistic-contiguous mode). Secondly is the emergence ofspontaneous vitality that enlivens the music but when uncontained threatens to disrupt its continuity,harmoniousness and coherence (Ogden’s paranoid-schizoid mode). Thirdly is the creative force throughwhich containment and integration occurs (Ogden’s depressive mode). These three exist in a creativetension with one another, pathology being defined as a collapse in their interplay, with one of the threemodalities becoming over dominant.

We will explore the way this helps us understand and work with the dynamics of musical form in clinicalwork. Case material will be presented before we explore the theme for ourselves through groupimprovisation. We will also take a look at Ogden’s work on intersubjectivity and the analytic third (1994;Brown, 1999) to develop a specific understanding of health and pathology in relation to the dynamics ofthe musical relationship. This will be in terms of the creative tension between being ‘one’ in the musicand being separate. We will discuss together the ways in which pathology manifests musically in ourwork and what the therapeutic task entails. This will have application to diverse clinical populations.

References

Brown, S. (1999). Some thoughts on music, therapy, and music therapy. British Journal of Music Therapy, 13(2), p.63–71.

Ogden, T. H. (1989). The primitive edge of experience. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

Ogden, T. H. (1994). Subjects of analysis. London: Karnac Books.

Biography

Martin qualified in music therapy in 1999 and in GIM in 2006. His clinical work is in special needs education and inpalliative care. He also has 5 years experience in adult mental health. Martin has been visiting lecturer on 3 of the UK musictherapy MA courses and is involved in GIM training as assistant trainer. He has presented at music therapy and GIMconferences nationally and internationally since 2001. Martin is an approved supervisor with the APMT and has published inthe British Journal of Music Therapy.

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• Paper • 3.15pm – 4pm, Friday 26 February • Hel 037 •

Dawn LoombeBellows, reeds, buttons and keys: Being a piano accordionist and how thishas influenced my work as a music therapist

The accordion is a portable instrument of great dynamic range and it uniquely combines the attributes ofsingle-line instruments with those of harmonic instruments. The accordion has also been an object ofreminiscence with older people, which has often provided a useful access to music therapy work withthis population. In addition, in culture-centred music therapy practice (Forrest, 2002) the accordion isoften associated with particular styles of music and specific cultures which can provide new possibilitiesin certain therapeutic situations.

I have played the piano accordion for more than 30 years and it has always been an important part ofmy life. With experience of being an accordionist and community musician, I came to study musictherapy later in life and particularly chose the course at Anglia Ruskin University, as it enabled andencouraged me to develop my use of the accordion; an unusual instrument in music therapy.The main reason I use my accordion in music therapy is because it is my first instrument and therefore,the one with which I communicate most effectively. However, in the course of my work I have come torealise that there are a number of unique features of this instrument that make it particularly useful inmusic therapy; for example, the use of the bellows to ‘breathe’ with clients, its visual characteristicswhich seem to have particular appeal for children with autism, and its distinctive sound. Thispresentation will examine various case examples of work with children and the elderly to demonstratethe use of the accordion in music therapy.

References

Forrest, L. C., 2002. Addressing issues of ethnicity and identity in palliative care through music therapy practice. In C. Kenny& B. Stige (Eds.), Contemporary voices in music therapy: Communication, culture, and community (pp. 67–82). Oslo,Norway: Unipub forlag.

Powell, H., 2004a. Light on my feet – music therapy with the accordion. Nordoff-Robbins...and no piano. Musicing, thenewsletter of Nordoff-Robbins music therapists, December 2004 (online).www.therebeccacenter.org/library/Musicing2004.pdf (accessed February 19, 2009).

Biography

Dawn Loombe studied at Anglia Ruskin University and qualified as a music therapist in 2005. She recently completed herMA qualification with her dissertation on the use of the accordion in music therapy. Dawn works as a music therapist at theChild Development Centre, Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge; with Cambridgeshire Music in various mainstream schools,special schools and Children’s Centres and also in private practice with older people with Dementia and adults with Profoundand Multiple learning Disabilities.

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Susanne MetznerMusic – the call to that which is missing

With the help of biographically relevant music pieces that are used in Germany especially in the therapywith older persons (reproductive and receptive), it is possible to make connections to important lifeevents and significant earlier relationships and to activate resources. However, the individual meaning ofmusic pieces or songs is intertwined with their historical and socio-cultural context. For example, inGermany, National Socialist songs or pieces of music that were instrumentalised for specific purposesduring the Third Reich belong to culturally tabooed areas. They can suddenly become virulent in a musictherapeutic relationship and produce an unconscious dynamic without this even being noticed, due totrans-generational defence collusion. As it is demonstrated in a case study, a specific music-therapeuticissue can develop with all its ideological, ethical, and gender-specific implications.

In the case being presented here, the music acquired several functions: On the one side compositionsthat triggered memories and shared fantasies; on the other side songs that were hints pointing to hidden,in part conflictive meanings. In contrast, the improvisations were a reverberation of life narratives andmaterial with an own meaning; they were also indications of things that were concealed and a vehiclefor random expression and impulses; and finally, symbol for what has been lost and the mutual point ofreference for both women, patient and therapist.

Although there is nothing generally objectionable about one single case study, I would like to drawattention to music as the ‘call to that which is missing’ (Ernst Bloch): Especially in music therapy withdepressive, elderly patients music offers something to withstand the obligation to communicate. Becausewith music it is possible to maintain the boundaries of discretion while allowing the expression of theeffects of this concealment.

Biography

Prof. Dr. sc.mus. Susanne Metzner, 1958, music therapist, social-pedagogue, musician, psychotherapist, supervisor; broadclinical experiences with different populations; 1991–2002 teaching experience as part-time professor at Hamburg Universityof Music and Theater, since 2001 professor at the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal; guest professor,member of several the scientific boards, numerous presentations at national and international congresses, publications inbooks and journals; theoretical background in psychoanalysis and aesthetic theory, specialised clinical knowledge inpsychiatry, in pain management; special interest in improvisation skills and in sociological aspects to music therapy.

Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal (FH), Germany

http://www.hs-magdeburg.de/fachbereiche/f-sgw/master/musiktherapie/

[email protected]

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Liz Norman & Eddie NormanEngaging Industrial designers with music therapy

Generally, music therapists use found objects in their work, such as existing musical instruments andtoys. This can be an effective strategy and music therapists are very creative in their practice. The fewinstruments designed and marketed for use in music therapy tend to be expensive as the market forthese products is small.

Designers employ their creativity in response to opportunities presented or which they seek out. Somedesigning has been carried out to provide specialist equipment for music therapists (e.g. the Nordoff-Robbins reed horns and Midicreator), but music therapy provides a rich design context with manyopportunities from which both design researchers and music therapists could benefit. Finalistundergraduate designers at Loughborough University have made a start in 2008/9 with exploratoryprojects targeted at supporting music therapy practice.

Research Questions:• Are there mutual benefits to be obtained through engaging industrial designers with music therapy?• If so, how can this be achieved?

Method:• Website and briefing document prepared (http://www.musical-research.org.uk)• Initial meetings held with interested students• Feedback given as ideas developed and as students accessed other sources of information (e.g. Nordoff Robbins centre andthe National Autistic Society)

• Designs completed and prototypes made• Feedback obtained from music therapists via website• Designs shown at Loughborough University Degree Show• Designs followed up to see where they develop

Outcomes:• 5 designs and their strengths and weaknesses• Feedback from design participants about the process• Project follow-up

Discussion: what was the point?• What role might bespoke design offer music therapy?•Is it worth pursuing with professional designers?

The paper will note current practice and give detailed accounts of the methods and outcomes beforeconcluding by reflecting on the potential benefits for music therapy from such engagement with design.

Biography

Eddie Norman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Design and Technology at Loughborough University and Leader ofthe Design Education Research Group. He is the Editor of the UK Design and Technology Association’s international researchconference and journal, and an R&D consultant for Cool Acoustics (a Loughborough University venture developing polymeracoustic guitars.) He contributes to the teaching of materials, design contexts, design education and design practice. In 2009Eddie Norman was given the honour of receiving the Design and Technology Association’s ‘Outstanding Contribution to Designand Technology Education Award’ for his lifetime’s achievements.

Liz Norman is a music therapist, working in Leicestershire and around the East Midlands. She completed her post-graduatemusic therapy training at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, in 2007. She is working on her MA project based on the roleof music therapists in schools. She also recently completed a Diploma in Systemic Thinking & Practice at the University ofDerby. She works in a variety of clinical settings including: a special school for children with severe learning disabilities, aschool for young people with atypical autism & challenging behaviour, a pre-school nursery for children with special needsand an adult learning disability service.

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Amelia OldfieldWhy did I play that? An analysis of how and why a music therapistimprovises during group playing in child and family psychiatry

In child and family psychiatry, one of the most important aspects of the music therapist’s work is toenable children and families who usually struggle to communicate verbally, to interact and engagethrough non verbal improvised music making. The music therapist will affect and influence theseimprovisations through her own playing, and the way in which she plays is crucial to the therapeuticprocess. At times the music therapist will make clear and definite musical decisions, at others she mayreact intuitively. After working for a few years, most music therapists become fluent at improvising inthis way and develop specific styles and techniques. They may no longer always be conscious of exactlyhow they improvise, or why they react musically in the ways that they do.

This paper will use videos excerpts of group improvisations from a music therapy group with fivechildren and two adults, and from a family music therapy session with a mother and a child. The musictherapist’s improvisations will first be described with particular attention to musical elements such as:structure, style, mood, volume. The musical contributions of the clients will also be considered and inparticular how these influence the music therapist’s improvisations.

Other important factors which affect the music therapist’s improvisation will then be examined. Theseinclude: the clinical needs of individual clients, the general needs of the group, the musical needs,strengths and limitations of the individual clients, the group and the therapist.

The paper will conclude by drawing out the key points that influence and affect the music therapist’simprovisation during group playing in child and family psychiatry.

Biography

Amelia Oldfield has worked as a music therapist with children for nearly 30 years. She currently works at a ChildDevelopment Centre and at the Croft Unit for Child and Family Psychiatry. She also lectures at Anglia Ruskin Universitywhere she co-initiated the MA Music Therapy Training in 1994. She has presented papers and run workshops at Conferencesand Universities all over the world. She has completed four music therapy research investigations and a PhD. She haspublished four books, numerous chapters in textbooks and articles in referred journals. She has also produced six musictherapy training videos.

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Deborah ParkerReading the music – Understanding the therapeutic process. Documentation,analysis and interpretation of improvisational music therapy

The paper presents one of the principal aspects addressed in the author’s thesis ‘In Search of a SecureBase’ (March 2009), which demonstrates how music therapy can support the construction of a secureattachment relationship between therapist and client, in order to promote ‘constructive personalitychange’ (C. Rogers). It represents a first phase of research into efficacious methods of documentingmusical material for analysis and interpretation.

Within the context of a case study involving a 26 year old, high functioning, autistic woman, significantextracts of improvisations, recorded audio-visually, during therapy sessions over a period of 14 monthsare transcribed in musical score form and presented in a ‘double system’, with analysis andinterpretation running simultaneously with the score. The notation employed in the musicaltranscriptions is necessarily augmented with respect to traditional notation, in order to include as manyindicators of ‘vitality forms’ (D. Stern) as possible, including those non-sounding (gestures, expressions,etc). The therapist’s interpretation of the process, whilst clearly subjective, is informed not only by herrecollections and notes of the sessions, but also by the analysis of her own musical behaviour in relationto that of the client.

Thus presented, the documentation reveals clearly how the therapeutic process is profoundly embeddedin the music, unravelling itself within the form and contents of the improvisations, which sustainanalysis both from a musical and a psycho-dynamic viewpoint.

The author welcomes reflection and discussion as to the efficacy of such documentation for the purposesof detailed study of how music works in music therapy.

References

Anzieu D. 1985. Le Moi-peau, Bordas, Paris / Bowlby J. 1988, A Secure Base, Routledge, London / Damasio A. 1994,Descarte’s Error; emotion, reason and the human brain, Penguin USA / Damasio A. 2003, Looking for Spinoza; joy, sorrowand the feeling brain, Harcourt, USA / De Backer J. 2004, Music and Psychosis (doctoral dissertation), Institute of Music andMusic Therapy, Aalborg University / Gaita D. 1991, Il Pensiero del Cuore: musica, simbolo, inconscio, Bompiani, Milano /Karkoschka E. 1966, Notation in New Music, UE London / Kirschenbaum H. and Henderson V. (editors) 1990, The CarlRogers Reader, Constable, London / Langer S. 1942, Philosophy in a New Key, Harvard University Press USA / Malloch Sand Trevarthen C. (editors) 2009, Communicative Musicality, exploring the basis of human companionship, OUP Oxford /Mithen S. 2005, The Singing Neanderthals, the origins of music, language, mind and body, Phoenix, Orion books London /Stern D. N. 1985, The Interpersonal World of the Infant, Basic Books, New York / Stern D. N. 2004, The Presente Momentin Psychotherapy and Everyday Life / Storr A. 1992, Music and the Mind, Harper Collins, London / Winnicott D. W. 1971,Playing and Reality, Tavistock London / Zuckerkandl V. 1956, Sound and Symbol, music and the external world, PrincetonUniversity Press N.J.

Biography

Deborah Parker graduated in Music from York University in 1981 and obtained her ‘cello diploma from the Musikhochschule,Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 2 years later. She then moved to Italy, working for 20 years as a concert artist and music educationspecialist. Constant contact with handicapped and disturbed pupils within the education environment led her to a musictherapy training in Assisi, which she completed with distinction in March 2009.

She now works full-time as a music therapist, and has 4 years of clinical experience in collaboration with the local healthservices in Tuscany, working with a wide client population from paediatric neurology to psychiatry and geriatrics.

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• Paper • 3.15 – 4pm, Friday 26 February • Recital Hall •

James RobertsonWhose music is it anyway?

This presentation will consider a specific element of music therapy when used within a forensicpsychiatry setting: the ownership of the music itself. When discussing a music-centred perspective tomusic therapy, Aigen1 (2005) writes: ‘…the client’s primary motivation is to participate in music, not toachieve some non-musical clinical goal’. (p. 92). In a group music therapy context, the process of‘musicing’ (Elliott3 1995) involves the simultaneous exchange of musical contributions from the therapistand the clients. This is often manifested as a creative form of interaction based largely on freeimprovisation. Because of its non-verbal nature, music allows this unique mode of dialogue to takeplace. Yet this opportunity potentially affords a dilemma for the music therapist. Who is leading thegroup – the therapist, the clients, or the music itself? Likewise, is this a fixed or fluid arrangement?

By listening to audio examples of group work with adults in music therapy, the opportunity is given tofocus on directive and non-directive forms of interaction and how ownership of the music needs to beshared. In so doing, negotiations are taking place within the musical moment that may be generalised toother settings. Part of this debate involves reflecting on just how free is free improvisation and how thismay compare and contrast to the notion of a piece of music as discussed by Cook2 (1998). Whenconsidering this within a musical context, the author will argue that structure and free improvisation arenecessary companions rather then opposing forces.

References

1 Aigen, K. (2005) Music-Centred Music Therapy Gilsum NH: Barcelona Publishers.2 Cook, N. (1998) Music: A Very Short Introduction Oxford: Oxford University Press.3 Elliott, D. (1995) Music Matters Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Biography

James Robertson is Programme Leader for the MSc Music Therapy (Nordoff-Robbins) at Queen Margaret University,Edinburgh. He has been a music therapist for over 25 years and has worked in a wide range of clinical settings. He has alsoworked as a music educator and has researched closely the overlap between music therapy and music education culminatingin the prospective concept of educational music therapy. More recently his clinical work has been based in adult learningdisability, palliative care and forensic psychiatry.

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Clare RosscornesHow does the setting affect the music? A comparison of clinical work withchildren in a hospital, a mainstream school and a children’s centre

In looking at my clinical work I am aware of similarities and differences between the different places Iwork. In this paper I will draw on my current research for my MA dissertation which looks at how thesetting affects the music therapy. I will look specifically at how the setting affects the music that I playand the effect that this has on the setting.

In the children’s centre and the school the sessions are private and therefore can not be easilyoverheard. However in the hospital it is very difficult to have a private session due to the nature ofthe setting and therefore it is often overheard by others. How does this affect the music that we play?What effect does it have on the child and the family and on others who can hear the session?

I will refer to relevant literature including music therapy in these settings and issues of boundarieswithin music therapy. I will also use some video examples of the sessions where possible.

Biography

Clare Rosscornes qualified as a music therapist from ARU in February 2006. She has wide experience of working withchildren and families having worked as a primary teacher in mainstream and special schools for ten years before training as amusic therapist.

She currently works as a music therapist in schools, a children’s centre and on the children’s wards of Addenbrooke’sHospital, Cambridge. Clare is also currently completing her MA dissertation: How does the setting affect music therapy withchildren? Clinical work with children in a hospital, a mainstream school and a children’s centre.

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Bethan Lee ShrubsoleAn exploration of cultural and religious aspects of music improvised in musictherapy groups in Northern Uganda, led by an English therapistTheme: What happens in the music when a classically-trained music therapist runs music therapygroups in Uganda with victims of the North Ugandan rebel war?

Setting: In July 2008 I set up a music therapy service in post-conflict Northern Uganda, currentlyservicing four schools and two orphanages with a peripatetic music therapist once or twice a week each.I started the work and was the main therapist for six months, then trained a Ugandan teacher to becomea music counsellor and continue the work in my absence.

Music therapy groups are run with around six children in each group, referred to me in a variety of waysdepending on the setting (i.e. school or orphanage). No individual work is done. I worked in Ugandawith a qualified Dutch co-therapist, and the proceeding Ugandan music counsellor worked on her own,with the occasional qualified music therapist volunteer.

Clinical population: Drawing on clinical examples of work done in music therapy groups by an Englishtherapist (and some comparison with the same work done with a Uganda music counsellor), in NorthernUganda. The children are between 4 and 18 years old and have all been affected by the civil war inNorth Uganda. Some present with PTSD symptoms, some with trauma symptoms and some with severeattachment problems.

The music therapy groups run for a term each (10–12 weeks) with six children in each group. Some aremixed groups and some single sex. They are arranged by 4–11 and 12–18 years old.

Intervention and outcomes: After client-therapist evaluations, the outcomes of the work have beenstaggering, showing that music therapy is extremely beneficial to the children in helping them to comeout of isolation and to manage their thoughts and flashbacks. The groups help them to socialise againand to find their lost creativity and ability to play, amongst other outcomes.

In terms of the music used in the sessions, I intend to elaborate on the following questions in my paper:• As a music therapist working in Uganda, does it matter that I was brought up with Chopin and KylieMinogue?

• Can pre-composed songs and improvisation be used together, and what will they be like, consideringthe cultural differences between the therapist and the clients?

• Does a shared faith help in therapy, or hinder?• What type of music can an English therapist improvise with an ‘adungu’ (African harp)?!• Is the language barrier an impossible factor in therapy between people of two different languages,or can it be beneficial?

• Should a therapist share songs from her own culture as part of the therapeutic process?• Can songs be composed in therapy groups, encompassing the cultural and religious aspects of theclients and the therapist?

Biography

Bethan Lee Shrubsole graduated as a music therapist from Anglia Ruskin University in 2008 and went on to NorthernUganda with plans to set up a music therapy service for traumatised ex-child soldiers. The project was very successful and‘Music for Peaceful Minds’ (MPM) was founded as a community-based organisation (CBO) in Gulu, Northern Uganda, inJanuary 2009. She is now UK-based but continues to direct MPM, which employs a Ugandan music counsellor and takesqualified music therapy volunteers to work in Uganda.

Back in the UK, Bethan works at The MacIntyre School, a 52-week residential special needs school in Buckinghamshire,and is an ABA therapist working with a pre-school boy with autism.

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• Paper • 12.15pm – 2.15pm, Saturday 27 February • Recital Hall •

John StrangeFacility in improvision – a mixed blessing

Comparisons between psychotherapies often conclude that therapist personality is more potent thantheoretical orientation. Psychotherapy training provides a conceptual framework and boundaries withinwhich to practise and interpret, and a repertoire of practical tools of the trade. It builds on and channelsinterpersonal understanding and skills acquired over a lifetime, enabling the therapist to use his/herpersonality and life experience most helpfully.

Probably the music therapist's single most characteristic tool is improvisation. Wigram1 expounds themulti-faceted complexity of the practical skills of clinical improvisation to meet the whole range of clientneeds. Then, beyond consciously formulated clinical aims, the therapist's improvised music alsoinevitably reflects his/her counter-transference, as Streeter2 points out.

Two other factors require consideration. The first is the range of styles and genres of non-improvisedmusic with which the therapist feels familiar and at home, including her/his musical mother culture.If this range does not include the musical mother culture of the client, this can pose problems asdiscussed by Bright3.

The second, main focus of this paper, is the therapist’s facility in non-clinical improvisation, for exampleas jazz musician or church organist. Is it an asset, freeing the therapist from performance anxiety tofocus on clinical matters, or a liability, risking the therapist’s music taking on a life of its own and losingtouch with the client’s music and needs? After analysing responses to a small survey of APMT fullmembers, these questions will be explored with reference to the author’s own clinical experiences, withsome recorded illustrations.

References

1 Wigram, A. (2004) Improvisation: Methods and Techniques for Music Therapy Clinicians, Educators, and Students London:Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

2 Streeter, E. (1999) ‘Definition and use of the musical transference relationship’ in Wigram, T. & De Backer, J. (eds) ClinicalApplications of Music Therapy in Psychiatry London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

3 Bright, R. (2005) ‘Cultural Competence and Music Therapy’ (paper presented at World Congress of Music Therapy,Brisbane).

Biography

John Strange has worked as a music therapist for twenty three years, mainly in the field of learning disability. He is a‘partner’ for the HPC, and acts as a music therapy expert witness in medical negligence cases. He is a church organist andchoir-trainer and a composer of instrumental and choral music, including musical comedies.

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Giorgos TsirisMusical Reflections: a supportive tool for expanding therapeutic insight andreflexivity

Music and music-making is at the core of our practice as music therapists. However, our ways ofreflecting and analyzing the therapeutic process, out of the time-context of sessions (e.g. immediatelyafter the completion of a session or in supervision), are mainly focused on verbal and written modes ofcommunication. But what is the potential role of active music-making in this process?

In this presentation I will bring this issue to the foreground by introducing the idea of ‘MusicalReflections’ which refers to the use of music improvisation by the therapist, out of the time-context ofthe sessions, as a supportive musical tool for expanding his insight of the therapeutic process. In thisframework, the presentation aims at exploring the use of Musical Reflections as a tool that facilitates thetherapist’s development as a reflexive practitioner. It focuses on the potential role of Musical Reflectionsin facilitating the therapist in the process of i) generating new understandings of the contextual andpersonal aspects of his practice, ii) exploring and identifying areas of personal/musical ‘comfort’ and‘discomfort’, and iii) inspiring new insights about the intra- and inter-personal dimensions of thetherapeutic process.

The concept of Musical Reflections, as a specifically music-based concept of music therapy practice,will be contextualized within the wider theoretical framework of music-centered music therapy(Aigen1 2005) and phenomenological approaches to music therapy (Forinash4 1992). Connections willalso be made with other practical, theoretical and research attempts which aim to enhance our practiceas reflexive practitioners in different ways (e.g. Barry & O’Callaghan2 2008; Bergstrom-Nielsen3 1993).Further potential uses of Musical Reflections, as well as their possibilities and limitations, will bediscussed on the basis of practical examples.

References

1 Aigen, K. (2005). Music-Centered Music Therapy. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.2 Barry, P. & O’Callaghan, C. (2008). ‘Reflexive journal writing: A tool for music therapy student clinical practice development’Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 17(1): 55–66.

3 Bergstrom-Nielsen, C. (1993). ‘Graphic notation as a tool in describing and analyzing music therapy improvisation’ MusicTherapy, 12(1): 40–58.

4 Forinash, M. (1992). ‘A phenomenological analysis of Nordoff-Robbins approach to music therapy: The lived experience ofclinical improvisation’ Music Therapy, 11(1): 120–141.

Biography

Giorgos Tsiris is a research assistant at the Nordoff-Robbins Research Department and he also works as a music therapist atSt. Christopher’s Hospice, London. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed e-journal Approaches: Music Therapy &Special Music Education (http://approaches.primarymusic.gr), as well as a joint coordinator (together with Julie Sutton) of theAPMT Research Network. His primary research interests include: spirituality and music therapy; aesthetics; music andhealth; music therapy and special education; transdisciplinary teamwork in music therapy.

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Daisy VarewyckVocal improvisation & psychosis: the voice in resonance to the other

The voice is generally seen as the carrier of language, but what makes the voice fascinating, is so muchmore than language alone. Within speech, dynamic, rhythmic and timbre elements play their importantrole, both consciously and unconsciously. We can state that the form of the voice is situated at a musicallevel and thus has an immediate character. Moreover the voice – and this is what makes it so specific –represents the verbal and preverbal nature. In this way the voice presents itself as an expression ofemotions, even before it subscribes itself at the service of language.

In some cases of psychosis, words are without significance and the words are experienced as pure soundobjects. Psychotic patients often use their voices in music therapy to reflect their outward actions. Whenpsychotic patients use their voices in music improvisations the ‘jouissance’ (Lacan), with its libidinousorigin, is prominently present. In music therapy the use of the voice takes a rather uncontrollable shapeand can be situated at the level of trauma, of the Real. It is the task of the music therapist to containthis music, to resonate with the patients’ experience and to represent the symbolic order.

The author will clarify her theoretical approach with different case examples and listening fragmentswhere the patient’s voice as well as the therapist’s voice will be analysed. During the discussion theattention will be turned to the voice of the music therapist. In music improvisations the therapist useshis voice/music in an intuitive manner, but does the therapist’s voice respond to the appeal coming fromthe patient? Is the patient affected by the voice of the therapist or vice versa? Or is the therapist’s ‘voice’sometimes too intrusive?

References

Billiet, L. (2008–3) De woorden zijn alleen maar dood in woordenboeken. sKRIPtA, bulletin van de Kring voor Psychoanalysevan de New Lacanian School

De Backer, J. (2004) Music and psychosis. The transition from sensorial play to musical form by psychotic patients in amusic therapy process. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Aalborg University, Denmark.

Poizat, M (1986) L’opéra ou le cri de l’ange: Essai sur la jouissance de l’amateur de l’opéra. Paris: A.A.Métalié.

Schokker, J., Schokker, T. (2000) Extimiteit, Jacques Lacans terugkeer naar Freud. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Boom.

Vives, J.M. (2002) Pour introduire la question de la pulsion invocante. In : Vives, J.M. (red.), Les enjeux de la voix enpsychanalyse dans et hors la cure. Grenoble: Presses Universitaires De Grenoble, p. 5–20.

Wigram, T. (2004) Improvisation, Methods and techniques for music therapy clinicians, educators and students. London andNew York: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Biography

Daisy Varewyck qualified as a music therapist at the College of Science and Art, Campus Lemmensinstituut (Leuven,Belgium). Since 2005, she has worked as a music therapist in a psychiatric hospital treating psychotic patients. She is also amember of the board of the Belgian Music Therapy Professional Group BMT (Beroepsvereniging voor Muziektherapeuten).Since 2009 she is pursuing her postgraduate training in psychoanalysis at the University College of Ghent.

Besides her work as a music therapist, she gives music workshops in Bozar and piano courses in a music school.Furthermore she is the pianist of two improvisation theatres.

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Wai Man NgThe exploration of Chinese music in a GIM music programme ‘Harvest’

Classical music has been traditionally using in Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) for many years becausethe music programme designers mainly belong to Western culture or classical music background.However, GIM is spreading around the world and the Asian GIM therapists are increasing such asKorean, Japanese and Chinese therapists. Therefore, Asian music is necessary to be developed for GIMmusic programme.

The creation of the first Chinese GIM music programme ‘Harvest’ was done in 2008 which includes sixmusic extracts lasting for 31 minutes. The project of programme creation aimed to explore the style ofChinese music (traditional, contemporary, Chinese instruments or Western instruments), the process ofcreating the music programme, the rationale of the music programme, the imagery of six participants,the using guideline of the music programme. The result of project showed the significant relationshipbetween music, client’s imagery and client’s emotions during the GIM sessions. It also demonstratedthe benefit of music for clients by using their cultural music.

References

AMI Website, (2007). www.ami-bonnymethod.org The Association for Music and Imagery / Bonny, H. L. (2002). MusicConsciousness: The Evolution of Guided Imagery and Music. NH: Barcelona Publishers / Booth, J. M. (1999). The ParadiseProgram: A New Music Program for Guided Imagery and Music. Journal of the Association for Music and Imagery. WA: AMIPublications. Vol. 6, P.15 / Chan, M. C. (2004). Because of You, Chinese Music will be more Attractive. Hong Kong: TheUnited Press / Grocke, D. E. (2002). The Bonny Music Programs. In K. Bruscia and D. Grocke (Eds.) Guided Imagery andMusic: The Bonny Method and Beyond. Gilsum, NH. Barcelona Publishers / Kompfner, Paul (2007). Interactive RandomizedMusic: Simple Parametrization of Musical Intensity. www.princeton.edu, Princeton University Website / Summer, L. (1988).Guided Imagery and Music in the Institutional Setting. MO: MMB Music, Inc / Thondup, T. (1998). The Healing Power ofMind. Taiwan: Living Psychology Publish Company / Yu, S. W. (2001). Out of Chaos and Coincidence: Hong Kong MusicCulture. China: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd / Ventre, M. (2002). The Individual Form of the Bonny Method of GuidedImagery and Music / (BMGIM). In K. Bruscia and D. Grocke (Eds.) Guided Imagery and Music: The Bonny Method andBeyond. Gilsum, NH. Barcelona Publishers.

Biography

Wai Man Ng (MA, PG Dip, Grad Dip, BSc, BMus, Registered Music Therapist, Registered GIM Therapist) is the only therapistobtained both the qualifications of Registered Music Therapist and Registered GIM Therapist in the Chinese regions. Hegraduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Chinese Music. Afterwards, he obtained the BMus(First Class Honors, Kingston), BSc in Psychology & Professional Studies (Gloucestershire), PG Diploma in Music Therapy(Roehampton), Graduate Diploma in Guided Imagery and Music (Melbourne) and MA in Psychology of Music (Sheffield).Mr. Ng was the Chairperson of Hong Kong Music Therapy Association. He is currently the director of the Professional MusicTherapy Centre in Hong Kong, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Part-time Lecturer, Clinical Supervisor for the local andoverseas universities.

Email Address: [email protected]

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• Workshop • 4.15pm – 6pm, Friday 26 February • Hel 038 •

Donald Wetherick & Gail BrandThe musical training of music therapists – is it fit for purpose

Training in musical skills is one of the five core areas of music therapy training common to all trainingsin the UK. Traditionally this has focused on developing listening and improvisation skills on a range ofinstruments, including voice and keyboard, as well as repertoire and music facilitation skills.Developments in the practice of music therapy such as growth of new fields of work (e.g. neuro-rehabilitation, hospices) and new models of work (e.g. community music therapy) have implications forthe training of music therapists, potentially increasing the range and kind of musical (and other) skillsrequired of music therapists. This has led some practitioners reasonably to question whether currentmusic therapy trainings are fit for purpose (e.g. Hartley 2008).

This workshop aims to address this question in relation to the musical training of music therapists. Thepresenters are tutors on the GSMD Music therapy training and will present an overview of the content ofmusical training on this programme, and their approach to teaching. This will then lead on to an opendiscussion with all participants on what is, or should be, current ‘best practice’ in the teaching ofmusical skills on music therapy programmes in the UK. The experience of practitioners and teachersalike will be considered, including both recent and more experienced therapists. Was the training theyreceived adequate to their needs? What are the priorities in training? Is improvisation still central tomusic therapy practice and training in the UK?

The presenters will welcome the participation of teachers on other music therapy programmes, as wellas practitioners, in presenting this workshop.

References

Hartley, N. 2008 ‘Is music therapy fit for purpose?’ BJMT 2008/2

Biography

Donald Wetherick is a tutor in music therapy at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He also works as a music therapistand tutor at the Nordoff Robbins London Centre. He has worked in special and mainstream education and with adultsaffected by HIV or other long term illnesses and has a special interest in the teaching of musical improvisation. He haswritten and presented regularly on music therapy in the UK.

Gail Brand is a professional trombonist, music therapist and lecturer. A former student at Middlesex University and theGuildhall School of Music and Drama, she is a commissioned composer and has performed and recorded on the internationaljazz and improvised music scene since the early 1990s. As a music therapist, Gail works in special needs education and haspreviously worked in the areas of adult mental health, learning difficulties and older adults services. Gail is a professor at theGuildhall School of Music and Drama on the Music Therapy MA course, and is mentor to undergraduate 1st year musicstudents for the ‘Performance Matters’ programme.

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Anglia Ruskin UniversityEast RoadCambridgeCB1 1PT

Click: www.anglia.ac.uk/musicofmusictherapyCall: 0845 196 3333

Finding your way around the Cambridge Campus

Walking to Anglia Ruskin University

Media

Services4

652/0

2.1

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music therapy conference brochure

Documents

amelia oldfield paperpage

karen gold paperpage

john strange paperpage

general music therapy

marieke degryse paperpage

carol chambers paperpage

susanne metzner paperpage

matina karastatira paperpage