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Whenever it comes to finding the right music for a music therapy session, music therapists find themselves overwhelmed by the numerous possible choises, though asking themselves which one is the most appropriate and with the best results. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of music on people, and to find ways of facing the challenge of choosing the right music for each individual. Starting with the fact that listening to music is predicting the personality, is increasing the creativity and is improving our motor and reasoning skills, being the centre of the therapeutic process, we find challenging the method of choosing the music although, nowadays, the new technology is of great help in making the choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music Therapy practices with premature and medically fragile infants and families have been widely researched and documented across the globe. Despite such a plethora of discourse, there remain many questions within the evidence base. In particular, exploring and understanding parents’ perceptions of musically engaging with their baby, the role of the music therapist when working with the infant-parent dyad and understanding where music therapy practice is best placed to intervene within such a multifaceted and acute health care continuum. This qualitative inquiry, adopting Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology explores how parent’s experience and perceive interactions with their baby through moments of singing and using their voice in a Neonatal Unit (NU). Findings emerged across four waves of analysis with recurrent themes including the intrinsic role of singing and voice to support the developing identity of parents and act as a fundamental bridge of connection to their premature baby; the powerfully supportive role of voice to meet the emotional needs of parents; and accessing voice as a self-soothing coping tool for parents. Moreover, the concept of time across differing stages of the acute neonatal journey and its influence on parents’ experiences and perceptions of voice inductively emerged across cases. Moreover, findings highlighted singing and voice interactions as a critical dialogical encounter of perceived connection and recognition that validated the parent’s developing relationship with their baby. Finally, the role of the music therapist was explored with dialogue emerging acknowledging the importance of this role in supportively educating and facilitating parents to find their voice and connect with their baby in the NU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following story is a written portrait (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) of Yuna, with particulars constructed and consolidated from data obtained from several of this study's participants. All had travelled to the US to study music therapy from a country in Asia. The form, themes, and shape of the story is taken directly from transcript data, while details have been fictionalized to create greater context for the reader's understanding of Asian students' lived experiences. The music excerpt that follows the story is offered as a way to further enhance our comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the need for theoretical markers in order to support the development of music psychotherapy and augment the dialogue between music therapy and psychotherapy in Canada. Faced with deficient notions of objectivity and subjectivity with regards to one's musical sense, the author shows that music played in a therapeutic context is essentially an intersubjective phenomenon which calls for an interpretive approach. When applied to music therapy, the theory of intersubjectivity offers guidelines to interpret the musical experience and understand its role withing therapeutic change. Music is not considered to have meaning in itself, but the meaning emerges progressively by convergent or divergent connections with other elements of the therapy. The patient is encouraged to experiment and discover various aspects of himself and their relationships through music. He is engaged with his therapist in the task of co-creating meaning. The uniqueness, as well as the mutual therapeutic relationship are recognized by the theory of intersubjectivity and allow the therapist to realize his own contribution to the process. Clinical vignettes are used to illustrate this point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive Family Music Therapy can have a unique role to play when working as part of a multidisciplinary team by demonstrating a capacity to surprise' a client/patient when they least expect it. It provides a positive shared experience that can add to multidisciplinary assessment and treatment planning. This article will illustrate the role Interactive Family Music Therapy has at Redbank House and includes case material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present article we describe a special project (Let's talk music) in which a multi-cultural group, including immigrants and Israeli-born students (Sabras), was formed. The group was designed according to recommended guidelines for successful contact between groups (Amir, 1969) and implemented music therapy techniques based on psychodynamic principles. Twelve immigrants and Sabras, themselves children of immigrants, met for 24 weekly sessions, conducted by a music therapist. Quantitative and qualitative research which accompanied the project showed that the group process enabled most students, immigrants as well as Sabras, to be more identified with their cultural roots as well as with the Israeli “host” culture. As a result of the group process, students could express more acceptance and openness towards the “other”. It was found that music was a key ingredient in these developments. Results are discussed in light of the common ingroup identity model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essential part of music education/therapy is selecting music that will be meaningful to clients and students in order to motivate engagement and success in music activities. This study explores the concept of meaningfulness of music by drawing from theoretical interpretations and investigating possible factors associated with the term. Based on the constructs of purpose, security/efficacy, worthiness/self-worth, and value/importance, 10 statements were developed to identify factors associated with the perception of meaningfulness in a music listening task. Thirty-three college students utilized music identified as meaningful and not particularly meaningful, rating agreement with the ten statements. Results indicated that certain factors appeared to be more associated with the perception of meaningfulness in music than others. Specifically, being moved by music, the occurrence of memories or associations to music, and considering music as valuable, important, or a reflection of personal identity were important factors associated with meaningfulness. Suggestions for further research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the role of intuition in music therapy as an undefined source of direct knowledge. The author worked as a music therapist for many years with neurologically impaired people which stimulated his interest in this direction. The concept of guided imagery in music therapy is also explored in the study which involves four functions of sensing, feeling, thinking and intuiting. The study was based on the intuitive experiences of six music therapists in their work.

This paper aims to establish a link between the felt quality in musical expression and the psycho-somatic structure of the person playing. This includes specific areas of the body, a corresponding set of emotions and thought patterns, as well as the deeper needs of the person. Discernment of felt quality is facilitated by using the symbolic reference system of the five Indian and Greek elements earth, water, fire, air and space. This framework not only enables the therapist to locate a client's limitations or blockages, but also a means of understanding how to work on them, thus ultimately improving their musicality and well-being. The findings are drawn from the author's work as a music-therapist with adult clients as well as with young autistic, psychotic and disharmonic children, aged 2-8 in a day clinic in central France. Within that work, strong evidence has been found for seven major neuro-musical thresholds, that, when worked on, can bring about substantial changes in a person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]