Re-reading Those Old Textbooks
So, I make my interns read chapters from different textbooks of mine to illustrate specific ideas. These books are not always the most up-to-date, but they do exemplify specific ideas of music therapy.
One of my favorites is Bruscia's Defining Music Therapy. I was sitting in the only consistently air-conditioned spot in the other part of our school (my office doesn't have a vent, so no A/C there) reading the second edition of this textbook. I was sitting there, waiting for kids to leave for the day, reading this text and marveling at the fact that I get so much more from this text now that I've been a therapist for a long time than when I was in my undergraduate training. We read the first edition (yep, that's how old I am) way back in the olden days. It was interesting, gave me lots of things to think about, and formed the major part of our senior year discussions. Since then, I've read it about every five years. Each time gives me more insight into my life as a music therapist, as a musician, and as an internship director.
Today's chapters were about a definition of music therapy. Bruscia and I share the view that all three members of the therapeutic triad have to be present for music therapy to occur. I recently spoke about this to a group of interns who did not seem to agree with my ideas that the therapist, the client, and the music have to be interacting in order for music therapy to happen. I feel that they will eventually come around, but we shall see.
I think this may be some of the problems that we music therapists have with all of the people out there who claim to be doing "music therapy" but who are simply playing music in the vicinity of a person or who are claiming to be able to prescribe specific sounds to affect specific symptoms. I think we feel that the role of the therapist is essential to the actual practice of music therapy.
Thank you, Ken Bruscia, for writing Defining Music Therapy. I will buy edition 3 if it ever shows up!
One of my favorites is Bruscia's Defining Music Therapy. I was sitting in the only consistently air-conditioned spot in the other part of our school (my office doesn't have a vent, so no A/C there) reading the second edition of this textbook. I was sitting there, waiting for kids to leave for the day, reading this text and marveling at the fact that I get so much more from this text now that I've been a therapist for a long time than when I was in my undergraduate training. We read the first edition (yep, that's how old I am) way back in the olden days. It was interesting, gave me lots of things to think about, and formed the major part of our senior year discussions. Since then, I've read it about every five years. Each time gives me more insight into my life as a music therapist, as a musician, and as an internship director.
Today's chapters were about a definition of music therapy. Bruscia and I share the view that all three members of the therapeutic triad have to be present for music therapy to occur. I recently spoke about this to a group of interns who did not seem to agree with my ideas that the therapist, the client, and the music have to be interacting in order for music therapy to happen. I feel that they will eventually come around, but we shall see.
I think this may be some of the problems that we music therapists have with all of the people out there who claim to be doing "music therapy" but who are simply playing music in the vicinity of a person or who are claiming to be able to prescribe specific sounds to affect specific symptoms. I think we feel that the role of the therapist is essential to the actual practice of music therapy.
Thank you, Ken Bruscia, for writing Defining Music Therapy. I will buy edition 3 if it ever shows up!
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