Authors:Carolyn May Shaw Abstract: This paper describes my journey in developing Post-Ableist Music Therapy and offers vignettes of its use in practice. In the style of an autoethnography, it recounts the way I began actively to address the ableism that was uncovered during the analysis process of my PhD research: ‘Developing Post-Ableist Music Therapy: An autoethnography exploring the counterpoint of a therapist experiencing illness/disability’(Shaw, 2019). I set about developing an ethic for practice that would address ableism by using the Foucauldian tool of creating the self as a work of art. I engaged in a creative process as a way to defamiliarise and reconceptualise practice. Post-Ableist Music Therapy was developed and extended the relational ethic beyond what was present in the practice studied, by drawing on aspects of posthumanism (valuing interdependence; Braidotti, 2013), agonistic pluralism (Chambers, 2001; Cloyes, 2002; Mouffe, 2016), and increasing the incorporation of disability studies. Posthumanism was used as a foundation for PAMT (due to the ableist tendencies of humanism), which differs to current music therapy orientations. Therefore, PAMT is offered as an alternative lens in the critical orientations’ apparatus: a social justice practice that is not based on empowerment and humanism, but instead on agonism and posthumanism. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3314 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Aviya Riabzev, Ayelet Dassa, Ehud Bodner Abstract: Background: Vocal improvisation is known as beneficial in promoting well-being, yet not much is known about using vocal improvisation with healthy older adults. While the emphasis in music therapy on studying interventions with clinical populations of older adults is important, the challenges and stressors facing healthy older adults require more investigation. Methods: This qualitative study analyzed the experiences of 54 older adults, ranging between 60 and 93 years (M=71.07), who participated in 12 weekly vocal improvisation group meetings that incorporated various voice improvisation techniques. Data was gathered using qualitative semi-structured group interviews with 12 focus groups (pre- and post-intervention). Results: A qualitative content analysis revealed that the vocal improvisations created the sense of an open space where participants could express and explore their own voices. The intervention has changed their attitudes regarding their own voices and led to meaningful personal experiences and new self-discoveries. The participants described experiencing a significant emotional process during the group work and reported experiencing self-exploration, and improvements in their self-beliefs, attitudes regarding their own voices, and their well-being. Conclusions: Vocal improvisation group intervention was experienced as beneficial for the well-being of healthy community-dwelling older adults. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3125 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Lorna E. Segall, Olivia S. Yinger Abstract: Although the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and music therapy has existed in U.S. correctional facilities for almost a century, little is known about music therapists who provide services to people who are incarcerated. Exploration in this area is important as it could help inform clinical practice, music therapy curriculum, and potentially influence policy in the treatment of inmates. This study explores the philosophy, practices, and protocols of music therapists working in the U.S. corrections system. Board-certified music therapists ( N = 542) completed an online survey in which they indicated their reasons for working or not working in corrections. Participants who worked in corrections (n = 52) answered additional questions about their religious beliefs and political affiliation, music therapy practices in corrections, and protocols at their facility related to provision of music therapy services. The results of this survey revealed differences in demographic variables for music therapists who worked in prisons, who were significantly more likely to be men, χ2 (1) = 6.57, p = .015, or under-represented racial minorities, χ2 (1) = 5.82, p = .021, than music therapists who did not work in prisons, who were representative of music therapists in the U.S. (almost 90% white women). The majority of respondents who worked in corrections reported they were Democrats and more than half reported that their religious and/or spiritual views did not influence their decision to work in corrections. Music therapists most frequently addressed emotional awareness, impulse control, and self-awareness through music listening, discussion, and playing instruments. We discuss results in the context of current efforts to improve rehabilitation and treatment services within the U.S. correctional system. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.2872 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Anthony Meadows, Lillian Eyre, Audra Gollenberg Abstract: This survey research examined the work lives of music therapists in the United States. With the inclusion of data on salary, workplace and job satisfaction, stress, burnout, and happiness, a comprehensive picture of the working lives of music therapists emerges. On the whole, music therapists appear to be generally happy with their workplace and job conditions and to experience moderate stress and low burnout. Data regarding salaries reveal a complex economic landscape. Although the average full-time salary of a music therapist was $51,099.69, salaries varied widely, with newly credentialed music therapists and those with less than six years of experience reporting lower average salaries. Variations in salaries, stress, burnout, and happiness were also evident across workplaces. Implications for the profession, including advocacy efforts, support for early-career professionals, and additional support for career development, invite further discussion. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3366 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Anthony Meadows; PhD, MT-BC, Lillian Eyre, PhD, MT-BC, Audra Gollenberg, PhD Abstract: This mixed methods study reports levels of work satisfaction of music therapists working in the United States. A total of 1,154 board-certified music therapists completed a 28-question survey focused on their workplace, work, and professional development experiences, along with their levels of stress, burnout, and happiness. Two open-ended questions asked respondents to reflect on their identities as music therapists. Composite work satisfaction scores were subsequently divided into quartiles, characterizing high, moderate, and low work satisfaction groups. Music therapists reporting high work satisfaction indicated significantly higher levels of positive agreement with questions regarding work satisfaction than did music therapists reporting moderate or low work satisfaction. Work satisfaction was also significantly associated with stress, burnout, and happiness. The profiles of music therapists reporting high, moderate, and low work satisfaction were further connected to their identities as music therapists, illuminating the characteristics of music therapists who are thriving, those who are moderately satisfied at work, and those who are struggling. These profiles provide insights into the occupational wellbeing of the profession. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3367 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Sekyung Jang Abstract: Various forms of reflective practice, including journal writing and self-experiences, have been explored in music therapy. However, there is limited literature on practical methodologies that articulate how to reflect on sessions. The author introduces a practical methodology that guides the process of reflective practice in music therapy clinical training. The methodology includes self-observation through video-recorded sessions, a set of questions designed for self-assessment, evaluation of clinical situations of trainee identified areas, and identification of strengths, weaknesses, and future action plans. This framework has implications in music therapy education and training in that it (a) supports students and practicum supervisors with practical guidelines about how to reflect on sessions; (b) may facilitate student growth and development through self-directed learning and acknowledgement of strengths and working points; and (c) provides a cognitive framework that may help develop metacognition skills which are crucial components of learning during and post clinical training. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3364 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Hiroko Miyake; 三宅 博子 Abstract: In this paper shares and discusses questions that arose from music therapy sessions with an adolescent with severe multiple disabilities, with people not directly involved in the case. In the early sessions with this client, I wondered, “How can I make music with this client'” I intuitively felt that this question was not confined to the dyadic relationship between the client and myself as therapist, but was connected to the larger social structure and the various values and relationships within it. To share this question with those not directly involved in the case, I organized a small dialogue event using the Philosophy Cafe method. Through this, participants got a taste of each other's differing views and discovered new viewpoints together, thus enabling them to create a shared image of the word. This could serve as an example of how clinical music therapy practice can connect with the community surrounding it, and open up the case to society. Such dialogue also enables careful examination of the words and concepts used in the field of music therapy. This could lead to a review of the use of these words and concepts which had been developed from a modern, Western-centric perspective. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.2635 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Nsamu Urgent Moonga Abstract: Each culture appears to have the phenomenon of storytelling. In some cultures, storytelling has taken the form of writing. While writing is an amiable enterprise, freely spoken stories have an import that cannot be capture in words on a piece of paper with ink. In most traditional Africa, we are faced with a clash of cultures, evidently resulting from the continent's colonisation. We sit with the push for literary advancement. Academic advancement has added permanence to some of our folklore. What we lose in such progress is the plasticity of artful storytelling. While Africa is as such striding towards physical archiving of stories in books partly due to rapid urbanisation and social changes, most of the continental culture continue to gather around a fire for tales that answer mystical questions of origin why we are here. The purpose of this paper is to honour those stories and story holders. Apart from situating myth and story, this paper is a pure celebration of my heritage. I am celebrating the interrelation of music and musical tales. My early initiation into musical legends influences how I encounter music therapy as folklore. If music therapy were folklorist in Africa and similar cultures, participants would benefit from more than the medicalisation of music, but the imaginal's swell provides sound grounding for all being. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3261 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Zsófia Fekete, Fanni Eckhardt; MS Abstract: Aphasia choirs have been gaining more and more attention for the last decade. The operation of these are based on two pillars: the therapeutic effect of singing with aphasia and decreasing the social isolation of clients with a verbal language disorder. The aim of this article is to draw attention to the international community of these choirs, with special focus on the Hungarian Aphasia Choir, and show their challenges resulting from the restrictions imposed by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The Hungarian Aphasia Choir has had their therapeutic rehearsals online for seven months. The participants’ experiences and their coping methods regarding online and offline choir sessions were examined by an online survey of five questions completed by thirteen choir members living with aphasia as well as some of their caregivers. The responses clearly show the choir members’ general desire to carry on offline rehearsals, while the results also demonstrate that online rehearsals are effective in decreasing social isolation. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3337 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Martin J Lawes Abstract: Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) can be considered a specialism in which qualified music therapists may train, along with mental health practitioners from other professional backgrounds including psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. For this latter group of practitioners, identifying themselves as music therapists, or implying this when describing GIM as a music therapy method in advertising their services, is controversial. It may indeed even be unlawful in countries where music therapy training and practice are regulated by the state. The situation is a complex and inherently confusing one. This is because on the one hand GIM is an acknowledged international model of music therapy. On the other hand, as a specialism, GIM is distinct from music therapy in both training and practice, with GIM practitioners having various professional backgrounds. It is proposed that international collaboration and discussion are needed, with recommendations made to foster public confidence based on a clear understanding of who is and is not a qualified music therapist and member of the music therapy profession, and who is qualified to practice what safely and effectively. The article aims to illuminate the issues that may need to be taken into consideration in developing a consensus position. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3448 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Nuria Inés Alicia Marsimian Abstract: There will be a review of the book Essentials of Music Therapy Assessment by the author Dr. Gustavo Schulz Gattino, published for the first time in Portuguese in 2020. The parts of the book and some fundamental concepts addressed in each one will be examined. Relevant topics that were of interest to the reviewer will be highlighted, as well as a possible practical application of some content. It will provide a general notion of the context in which the book was written and disseminated in the music therapy community and its relevance to the discipline today. PubDate: 2022-03-01 DOI: 10.15845/voices.v22i1.3381 Issue No:Vol. 22, No. 1 (2022)
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