Well-Being

Music Therapy

The discipline of music therapy has a long history of research, dating back to the early part of the 20th century. The profession of music therapy within a modern context has been developing practice and producing research for nearly 100 years, and this work has had a significant impact. A key element of music therapy process is an emphasis on the therapeutic relationship between clinicians and clients. The focus is on positive psychological and/or physiological benefits for the participants, and interventions are delivered by qualified music therapists. Thus, music interventions that fall under the music therapy category tend not to have musical developments in terms of increasing technical skills as a primary objective, nor are they primarily concerned with a general increase in artistic activities within the musical domain.

Recent advances in music therapy have developed new models of practice that incorporate community-based activities. In particular, community music therapy is one example and the related concept of health musicking also broadens the music therapy approach to include a multitude of activities with the conventional clinical context. Thus, there are fundamental features of music therapy practice that are distinctive from all other interventions, and there are areas of overlap as represented by the model.

One example is a series of studies that investigated the relationship between community music and music therapy, in which patients at a cancer hospice received group music therapy focused on improvisation. The analysis revealed a variety of social and psychological benefits related to the experience of music therapy, such as the facilitation of peer support and group interaction, an increase in self-confidence and relaxation, the generation of positive feelings, stress relief, and feelings of enhanced communication through music. There was also an emphasis on the importance of social interaction and communication.

Community Music

Community music often has increased access to musical activities outside of conventional institutional settings, rather than therapeutic effects, as a primary concern. Community choirs and community percussion classes are good examples of community music interventions. Also, one objective may be to provide an opportunity for creative expression in informal settings, and there may not be an emphasis on the development of discreet technical skills.

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