E-Book of Articles - World Federation of Music Therapy

Wheeler, Barbara: WMFT Proceedings of the Education Symposium
German Models of Training
Mechtild Jahn-Langenberg, Prof.Dr.,Dipl.Musiktherapeutin
University of the Arts, Berlin
The politics of the German music therapy societies was to establish
Music Therapy Trainings in Public/Governmental Universities. I, as a
representative of these developments, focus in this presentation on the
eight German public models. There are also many different private courses
and institutes which follow their own guidelines.
The AMA Group, a working group of directors of music therapy
trainings at governmental universities, meets every year in November. One
delegate of the private courses SAMT Group is included in this meeting, as
well as a delegate of the Kasseler Konferenz, another working group of all
German music therapy societies. The aim is to discuss professional quality
standards and develop guidelines as orientation for the programs.
The years 1978 - 1980 were important for German music therapy
when the postgraduate development of a program started in the
Mentorenkurs Herdecke, led by Konrad Schily and Johannes Th. Eschen, was
recognized by the government. The curricula that were developed by these
pioneers; the students, who all had a university degree in music,
musicology, psychology, or pedagogics; and their professors, are basic to the
postgraduate programs today on a Diploma (Masters) level. After this start,
Hamburg was the first University of the Arts that took over these curricula
of the pioneer group.
The starter in Herdecke was a two year, full-time course, bilingual
(German and English), with an international staff of professors. The two
main strands of methods were the Analytical Music Therapy, initiated and
primarily trained by Mary Priestley, and the Nordoff/Robbins approach,
primarily trained by Clive and Carol Robbins.
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