Favorite Things Friday - Bruscia
One of my favorite music therapy authors is Kenneth Bruscia. I have three different editions of his book, Defining Music Therapy, and I enjoy reading them all. I just received the last edition - and he swears it will be the last edition coming from him - right before conference, and I read bits and pieces of it throughout the conference. As a result, I am thinking quite a bit about the things that he writes about in his books.
For me, one of the best things about this text is Bruscia's description of how he approached the writing process for this new edition. He essentially recruited a bunch of music therapy professors and clinicians to go through the past two editions and start to talk and discuss what we music therapists use as a definition. My second favorite part of the book is the list of definitions of music therapy from all around the world and history of music therapy.
Most of the time, I find Bruscia really easy to read, but not always so easy to understand. I struggle with some of the concepts presented in editions one and two - the whole music in therapy and music as therapy thing confuses me. I am constantly swapping the Bruscia meanings and thinking of things in ways that Bruscia does NOT. This is a function of my brain rather than Bruscia being obscure, but I still need to read what Bruscia says about the topic when National Roster Internship philosophy statements arrive in my inbox. The concept still confuses me, even though I know what Bruscia is saying - I just get the two ideas flip-flopped in my brain.
The last two chapters are the ones I have read the most at this moment. I encourage you to check them out. The book is more than worth the $42.00 price tag (for the hardbound version - I can't do electronic things yet).
I'm off to read some more of my current Favorite Friday Thing - Defining Music Therapy by Kenneth Bruscia and distributed through Barcelona Publishing. Check it out.
For me, one of the best things about this text is Bruscia's description of how he approached the writing process for this new edition. He essentially recruited a bunch of music therapy professors and clinicians to go through the past two editions and start to talk and discuss what we music therapists use as a definition. My second favorite part of the book is the list of definitions of music therapy from all around the world and history of music therapy.
Most of the time, I find Bruscia really easy to read, but not always so easy to understand. I struggle with some of the concepts presented in editions one and two - the whole music in therapy and music as therapy thing confuses me. I am constantly swapping the Bruscia meanings and thinking of things in ways that Bruscia does NOT. This is a function of my brain rather than Bruscia being obscure, but I still need to read what Bruscia says about the topic when National Roster Internship philosophy statements arrive in my inbox. The concept still confuses me, even though I know what Bruscia is saying - I just get the two ideas flip-flopped in my brain.
The last two chapters are the ones I have read the most at this moment. I encourage you to check them out. The book is more than worth the $42.00 price tag (for the hardbound version - I can't do electronic things yet).
I'm off to read some more of my current Favorite Friday Thing - Defining Music Therapy by Kenneth Bruscia and distributed through Barcelona Publishing. Check it out.
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