Jealousy and the World Congress
My Facebook news feed is exploding with Music Therapy friends' posts about Vienna and the upcoming World Congress of Music Therapy. I am simultaneously really happy for them and extremely jealous at the same exact time. I would have loved to be traveling to Krems to meet with music therapists from everywhere in the world. Unfortunately, I was not able to do so.
Having been to two World Congresses (one in Washington DC and the other in Brisbane, Australia), I can state with absolute certainty that my friends have a wonderful experience before them. They will hear so many different ideas of the power of music therapy, be challenged by the philosophies and treatment styles, and feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that is put in front of them. The sheer quantity of information present is amazing. We music therapists are doing so many different things in so many different places in the world that when we get together we spend lots of time trying to explain to each other what we do.
One of the biggest challenges, however, is that of language. Now, I'm not talking about the differences between English and German. I'm talking about the lack of consistency within our profession. We have so many different ways to talk about what we do with our clients that one person may be talking about things that I do on a daily basis, but I don't realize it since the terminology itself is radically different. Talking and listening to music therapists from other countries and philosophies is enlightening, but it takes energy to translate all the information into my own lexicon.
One of the things that I have really treasured over the past several years has been my involvement with the Online Conference for Music Therapy. If you've never heard of it, check out the website here. It is an online conference, held over 24 hours in early February, and is run by an international team of music therapists (I am one of them). We spend time with music therapists from around the world in a virtual interaction, offering opportunities for us to learn from one another. We are building a common lexicon - I have the luxury of asking a therapist in South America what she calls it when clients synchronize their chants to an external rhythm source. We can talk to a therapist from Taiwan to see what term she uses, and then the folks from Scandinavia chime in with their own definitions. We build a common language from the bottom up.
I wish I could be getting ready for the World Congress, complaining about jet lag and being overwhelmed by the new experiences and situations that are upcoming, but I can't. If you are in Austria right now, please know that I am watching your news feeds carefully and am soaking up every dribble of information that you are sharing. Enjoy.
Maybe in three years?
Having been to two World Congresses (one in Washington DC and the other in Brisbane, Australia), I can state with absolute certainty that my friends have a wonderful experience before them. They will hear so many different ideas of the power of music therapy, be challenged by the philosophies and treatment styles, and feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that is put in front of them. The sheer quantity of information present is amazing. We music therapists are doing so many different things in so many different places in the world that when we get together we spend lots of time trying to explain to each other what we do.
One of the biggest challenges, however, is that of language. Now, I'm not talking about the differences between English and German. I'm talking about the lack of consistency within our profession. We have so many different ways to talk about what we do with our clients that one person may be talking about things that I do on a daily basis, but I don't realize it since the terminology itself is radically different. Talking and listening to music therapists from other countries and philosophies is enlightening, but it takes energy to translate all the information into my own lexicon.
One of the things that I have really treasured over the past several years has been my involvement with the Online Conference for Music Therapy. If you've never heard of it, check out the website here. It is an online conference, held over 24 hours in early February, and is run by an international team of music therapists (I am one of them). We spend time with music therapists from around the world in a virtual interaction, offering opportunities for us to learn from one another. We are building a common lexicon - I have the luxury of asking a therapist in South America what she calls it when clients synchronize their chants to an external rhythm source. We can talk to a therapist from Taiwan to see what term she uses, and then the folks from Scandinavia chime in with their own definitions. We build a common language from the bottom up.
I wish I could be getting ready for the World Congress, complaining about jet lag and being overwhelmed by the new experiences and situations that are upcoming, but I can't. If you are in Austria right now, please know that I am watching your news feeds carefully and am soaking up every dribble of information that you are sharing. Enjoy.
Maybe in three years?
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