Music Therapy Today - World Federation of Music Therapy

Welcome to a new issue of Music Therapy Today!
‘Art for art’s sake’, meaning that mutual reception and performance of
music has an end in itsself and that our actions do not need to be bound to
functionalistic means. When being asked what music therapy does for
our clients, it is sometimes as simple as that, doing music together makes
fun and fills up our senses.
Our next article on “ Dining rituals and music” comes from David Ald-
ridge and continues our article series on music and its function in healing
rituals. Dining rituals are important social forms in residential settings.
The regulation and maintenance of these forms are based upon structur-
ing events in time. Music is a traditional means of structuring ritual forms
in varying cultures and music can be used in residential settings to offer a
structural form for the dining experience. To do this, we need to be aware
of various musical interventions that we can make within such a dining
experience. That is why many societies have a form of opening prayer as
a ritualised form of introduction followed by welcoming songs. We know
from the research above that music can also be used during the dining
experience to reduce agitation and promote a soothing atmosphere. To
complete any ritual, we also need a musical intervention that signals that
that ritual is coming to an end and we can do this through music and
song.
The article “ Co-Therapists in Nordoff/Robbins Music Therapy”
from
Jörg Fachner is an empirical contribution to an academic analysis of co-
therapy in the Nordoff/Robbins approach of music therapy. Apart from
work that explored team relations in Nordoff/Robbins music therapy, and
some comments by Nordoff and Robbins themselves, the role of co-ther-
apists in music therapy according to the Nordoff/Robbins approach has
not been addressed. The focus has mainly been on the therapist in his
Editorial Music Therapy Today Vol. VIII, Issue 1 (Online 1st April 2007)
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