So, What Is Relevant in the World of Music Therapy Research?

Yesterday, the most recent issue of Music Therapy Perspectives was stuffed into my mailbox. I got it this morning, and decided to look inside on this blog post. I open up the plastic covering and look at the table of contents. I tend to find MTP a bit more relevant to my life as a clinician than the Journal of Music Therapy, but it still doesn't have too much to do with my role in the world of music therapy.

This edition includes an article about adolescents' experiences of MT in inpatient treatment - this may have some sort of relevance to my students, but probably not - my students have chronic issues rather than need for stabilization in acute care. There is another one about adolescents and identity formation. That may be more relevant and more easily transferred into my particular clinical setting. We will see.

When I get into the mood to read research (and, to be completely honest with you, it doesn't happen often), I have a system! I'll talk about it more on Sunday since that is Systems Sunday, and I'm looking for a system to write about.

I know that research is one of the bones of the music therapy profession, but I think research is irrelevant without clear, clinical applications. I find this part of the profession to be missing. We have the research element going, but there is no good effort to make that research relevant to the day-to-day music therapy interactions happening in the trenches. Honestly, I'm not sure how that could happen, but there has to be a way, right?

I have spent time in an academic program where research and publication takes a high priority over clinical relationship. I was fortunate that the program where I spent time had dedicated faculty members who realized that you cannot just talk about music therapy, you have to have some sort of clinical interactions to understand what music actually does with human beings. So, my professors took time every week to work with actual clients in addition to doing their research tasks. There was still a disconnect, though, between what professors were doing in the community and the way they talked about what they were learning and studying.

We don't seem to talk much, as a community, about how to transfer the things that are going on in the research world into practical application. I usually find that the information published in music therapy journals is not as valuable to me as information in neurology articles and psychology publications. I find more value in reading music psychology textbooks than in music therapy articles. I tend to seek more about what is going on than building a case for music therapy treatment - the latter seems to be the focus of most of our publications. I need to know why my client responds in a particular manner - this is how I continue to be employed - being able to explain why my client responds to me and our music. All of that information has come from resources outside of the music therapy research world. That's a problem for me.

So, how do we change this?

I wonder if there is something in thinking about this a bit more...

What do you think?