Chapter Three: A Continuum of Music and Humanity

While I enjoy writing a bit of fiction now and then, I find myself getting caught up in details that are not necessarily part of the big picture but will inform my ideas about what should happen in my story. It's called character and plot development, right??

I'm at that place right now. 

 

I am thinking about the first course that I named in this thought experience - "A Continuum of Music and Humanity." In my post on Tuesday, my hero, Persephone, was sitting in her assigned seat in the auditorium, one of four thousand music therapy students (could you imagine a gathering of music therapy hopefuls THAT big??), getting ready to hear from the person in charge of it all, Dr. Licar. What would this course cover, do you think? I am fleshing it out in my head - writing a syllabus and doing some light internet research to find references and resources for a course titled something like this.

 

One of my favorite courses from my undergraduate days was "Sociocultural Influences on Musical Behavior." It was taught by my favorite professor (who was probably my favorite because of his office - it was wall-to-wall bookshelves! - but who was also a wonderful teacher) and it dabbled a bit in anthropology and sociology through a musical lens. We took that course in our junior year, and it was an opportunity to select topics that interested us and look into the role of music in a cultural and historic manner. That's what I imagine this course to be - a bit of "Sociocultural Influences" and a bit of "Introduction to Music Therapy" - after all, in my imaginary future world, music therapists would be entering a specialized program after earning a degree in Music Psychology. All of those folks would have completed undergraduate coursework in anthropology, sociology, psychology, biology, anatomy, physiology, as well as music theory, history, performance, and music group leadership. (Remember, this is my imaginary world!) All of this before starting official study of music therapy. Since it is my world, I am going to identify a couple of undergraduate courses that would offer my hero a glimpse into the world and role of music therapy BEFORE she starts her specialization training - an Introduction to Music Therapy course and an observation course - all through online learning...

So, what would a course like "Continuum" entail?

Obviously, there would be a historical aspect of this - the role of music in past cultures as well as the role music had in healing practices of various cultures and time frames. The history of music as a therapeutic modality would be discussed in the eras of the profession. There would be papers on cultural considerations when working with various groups of clientele, and, OOH, I could add in a project where the student would select a time frame, a culture, and a population and then generate several repertoire lists and therapeutic music experiences (TMEs - my world, I get to set the terminology!! EEEE - this is exciting!) to generate session strategies for small group simulations.

Now, it is time to figure out how this will work over a semester of time. Sixteen weeks of lecture, co-hort groups, and small group simulations to design and plan. Good thing I love this sort of stuff. I hope to have another chapter ready for printing tomorrow, but who knows. I may just immerse myself in my imaginary world for a bit more working through the details that are unimportant to everyone but me.

If nothing else, this is keeping me occupied during a time when the real world is unsettling.

What will Dr. Licar tell the class of 2050 in her first ever lecture? Will Persephone be excited? Overwhelmed? Terrified? Enthusiastic? So many options and possibilities to explore. I love this process. Something new and shiny to work on - I will spend some more time dreaming about "what-ifs."