Internationalization vs. Globalization of Music Therapy
It is exciting to see how music therapy is developing globally and internationally, and how each country is establishing their own characteristics of music therapy in both academia and profession.
Speaking with many musicians and health related practitioners throughout the countries of Asia, many had some concerns regarding authentic use of cultural and musical resource in the process of music therapy development. These discourses trigger subject matter regarding both internationalization and globalization of music therapy.
All countries have their own musical identity and heritage which represent their own nationality. At the same time, these cultures are challenged in further developing their resources into a valid music therapy practice.
Internationalization is what occurs among the countries through the exchange of what is “theirs” to the other parts of the world. Internationalization of music therapy involves two processes: firstly, the identification of what is “their’s” and validating the therapeutic essence in their music, taking advantage of the opportunity to further research what derives the healing or therapeutic component in their own music. Secondly, comes the exchange of resources.
On the other hand, globalization is about a common understanding, acceptance, sharing, and owning various music repertoires, harnessing its therapeutic power at the global level. Music is a viable and universal resource, therefore, it is important for music therapists to collect more repertoires from various cultures, to understand the application and to use it effectively in the process of intervention.
For some Asian countries, the use of Western music should no longer be a concern just because it is not authentic to their culture. Understanding the therapeutic properties of western music can serve to be a useful knowledge for the music therapist. At the same time, what has to be identified is the country’s own music resource which can be known to other countries (internationalization) and be able to share them for therapeutic purposes (globalization).
For example in Korea, Sori (means Voicing) is a form of singing which has psychotherapeutic depth in the experience itself. This particular form of music was not applied from the psychotherapeutic perspective before. But the launch of music therapy offered the opportunity to realize what kind of precious resources there was at hand; Sori can be used as a “working” intervention. It was only then that Sori was researched for its therapeutic application for other populations other than Sori singers. Sori-singers and music therapists have communicated Sori’s unique cultural characteristics in order to impart it’s properties with other countries (internationalization) and then bring about global “sharing” of the approach and application (globalization).
How to cite this page
Chong, Hyun Ju (2010). Internationalization vs. Globalization of Music Therapy. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=colchong030510
