This column is based on the text of the speech made by Jane Edwards at the 10 year celebration of the MA in Music Therapy in November 2008.
The MA in Music Therapy at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance is celebrating its 10th birthday. In a moment of inspiration this anniversary has been titled "reflecting the vision." This moniker gives the perfect opportunity to consider the contribution of the music therapy training programme to the wider context of the university, and in general to the country in which it was founded and resides. It has also been a wonderful chance to invite alumni back to the campus for a celebration. I was delighted to see so many people back with us in November, with each student cohort represented at the event.
Sited at the University of Limerick in the west of the Republic of Ireland this MA programme is currently the only way that a person can qualify as music therapist in a university on the island of Ireland. The course is full-time over two years with studies covering a) course work, including studying clinical improvisation, assessment, treatment methods, and evaluation, b) supervised fieldwork, and c) research study. See further at http://www.ul.ie/~iwmc/programmes/mamt/index.html
The course was founded from the development of ideas of its possibility by the Director of the Irish World Academy Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01RI02N_N48&feature=related and Dr Helen Phelan. They gathered an expert team to develop the course which included Professor Tony Wigram, Professor Leslie Bunt, and Professor Kaja Jensen.
I became the Course Director in 1999. I took over from Dr Wendy Magee who was the inaugural course director. Between the time she was offered and then was able to begin in her new post, Dr Kaja Jensen from the US taught the Autumn semester for the first intake of the programme in 1998. I still feel the resonances and strengths of all that Kaja and Wendy did in that first stage to get the programme up and running in its first year, particularly with regard to the fieldwork placements, the establishment of the modules, and the development of links in the university and wider community. I feel also that the first student cohort was so lucky to be exposed to the breadth of practices of the three of us in their studies.
At the time of the start up of the course, the resources only allowed an intake every two years. However, since 2007 we have had an intake each year. This has allowed a further academic staff appointment, and it has been wonderful to welcome Dr Simon Gilbertson to the academic team.
Over the years I have taken breaks for various reasons. In the third year the programme was offered, I went back to Australia for the Autumn semester. Bent Jensen took the lead with Anne Steen Møller. For one year I was involved in developing new courses in Speech and Language Therapy, and Occupational Therapy. This work required the formation of two new departments in the university. While I was working on this project, Jeanette Kennelly taught the Autumn semester, and Dr Kat McFerran taught the Spring semester. When I had finished my year of start up work for what is now known as the ‘Clinical Therapies’ at UL, I successfully applied for a year sabbatical. I started in Berlin at the UdK hosted by Professor Jahn Langenberg, and then went to the University of Cambridge as a by-fellow of Churchill College and a visiting member of the Faculty of Music. While I was away from the programme, Vicky Abad came in as course director. In 2008 I was granted one semester of sabbatical and Dr Simon Gilbertson came in as my replacement. Alison Ledger was also appointed for that semester in a teaching capacity.
While the Masters programme has changed over the ten years in aspects of its structure and its conception, reflecting changes in the profession here in Ireland and internationally, it remains centred at an Academy of wide ranging vision, inspiration and opportunity. The other programmes offered at MA level are in traditional Irish music performance, contemporary dance, classical strings, ritual chant and song, traditional Irish dance performance, community music, music education, ethnomusicology, and ethnochoreology. This rich intellectual and arts practice environment offers students a unique current and future network of colleagues and scholars with whom to create community in a ‘creating the arts’ environment. Support for the development and refinement of the programme has also been given by the external examiners, first Professor Tony Wigram, then Professor Barbara Wheeler, and currently Professor Susanne Metzner.
The research and PhD programmes have been developed alongside the MA. Three PhD students currently study with me; Alison Ledger, who is the Health Research Board Music Therapy Research Fellow, Andrea Intveen, who is the wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin at the UdK, and I co-supervise Arlene McCurtin from the Department of Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Limerick. If you can make it to Alison Ledger’s seminar on March 11th 2009 from 2.30pm in the Basement of the Foundation Building at the University of Limerick, you would be most welcome.
We have links throughout the university. For example, there is a music therapy module taught to final year nursing students, the BA in Irish Music and Dance Performance students study some aspects of music therapy in fourth year of their degree, and we have ongoing links with the new Graduate Medical School. We are co-hosting the inaugural meeting of the International Association for Music and Medicine in June. There will be a conference day on June 6th. The local airport is Shannon. See http://web.mac.com/nordoff_robbins/iWeb/IAMM/Home.html for further information.
The history and work in developing this programme belongs to so many different people for whom we owe a debt of gratitude, sharing and in partnership; the early developers, the visionaries of its eventual architecture, the students, graduates, and general university support structures, and the academic staff and fieldwork supervisors. The music therapy community of Ireland has grown and been strengthened by the contribution of graduates to the professional association, and in the schools, hospitals, and community programmes where they work. The ever enlarging ripples from the small stone dropped in the pond over a decade ago provide the reflection of this original vision over and over. There are so many people to thank, and so much to be grateful for. Let’s celebrate!
Edwards, Jane (2009). "Reflecting the vision": Ten Years of Music Therapy Studies at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 09, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=coledwards230209