Five Latest Fortnightly Columns

Creativity - Education – Therapy
Krzysztof Stachyra
14. May 2012

With each passing year I see more clearly the importance of creativity in human life. I have become convinced that it is an integral part of our personality and functioning. Every person is born creative. And yet I have been surprised to note how, in practice, these issues are ignored by the education system and how little of what goes on at school, despite its focus on forming the young person in the modern world, is focused on the development of creativity. I speak mainly about the education situation in Poland, but I think that what I write applies to many other places on Earth.

Surprise!! From a Daily Life Experience to the Importance of Basic Affects in the Music Therapeutic Context
Susanne Bauer
30. April 2012

This time I would like to share with you a very recent interpersonal experience which caused an impact on me and an authentic reaction materialized by the exclamation “really?” I suppose that the impact was a real moment of surprise.

Some Reflections About Representativity
Diego Schapira
02. April 2012

By writing these words, I intend to open a forum for dialogue and exchange about the new definition of Music Therapy introduced by the World Federation of Music Therapy, which is inadequate and not entirely appropriate from my point of view.

As I already stated in a previous column (Schapira Diego (2005) I am convinced that the individual and daily work of each music therapist anywhere in the world represents the work of the entire professional community. I confirm this every time I have the chance to speak to professionals from other disciplines (psychologists, occupational therapists, doctors, psychomotor skills specialists, etc.) that are in contact with a music therapist, or with someone that has known the work of a colleague. Each one of the music therapists carry out the changing in the vision of our profession in the social imaginary, according to the rigor and ethics that we apply to our professional activity.

Algunas Reflexiones Acerca de la Representatividad
Diego Schapira
02. April 2012

Es mi intención al escribir estas palabras que podamos abrir una instancia de diálogo e intercambio acerca de la nueva definición de Musicoterapia que ha presentado la Federación Mundial de Musicoterapia, que desde mi punto de vista es insuficiente e inadecuada.

Como ya manifesté en una columna anterior (Schapira Diego (2005) estoy convencido de que el trabajo individual y cotidiano de cada uno de los musicoterapeutas, en cualquier lugar del planeta, representa al trabajo de toda la comunidad de profesionales. Lo corroboro cada vez que me toca hablar con profesionales de otras disciplinas (psicólogos, terapistas ocupacionales, médicos, psicomotricistas, etc.) que están en contacto con algún musicoterapeuta, o con alguien que ha conocido el trabajo de algún colega. La modificación de la visión de nuestra profesión en el imaginario social la realizamos cada uno de los musicoterapeutas, de acuerdo con la rigurosidad y ética con que nos desempeñamos.

Reflections on Tony Wigram’s contribution to Nordic music therapy
Brynjulf Stige
05. March 2012

The present text is a revised version of a paper presented at “Commemorative Seminar. The Academic Life of Professor Tony Wigram” arranged at Aalborg University November 5, 2011. I was invited to talk about Tony Wigram’s academic contribution to the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy (NJMT) and to the Nordic music therapy research community more generally. Since Tony was such an important figure in international music therapy and since NJMT is a “sister journal” of Voices, I find it pertinent to present these reflections as a Voices column: