Music therapy is a discipline and profession of mixed origins. This is often commented upon in the literature, directly or indirectly, as indicated by some of the recent columns and discussions in Voices. For example; Jane Edwards (2006) writes about thresholds between practice and research and elicits a response from Helen Shoemark (2006), while Leslie Bunt (2006) reflects upon the relevance of films, poetry, novels and the world of myth for our work as music therapists. Music therapy seems to be very much about the balancing of art and science, practice and theory, process and product. Each of these terms is in turn multifaceted; there are several forms of art, practice, and process and several types of science, theory, and product.
The last few days have reminded me about this fact. While I am writing this column, I am in the middle of a series of negotiations with the University of Bergen. The music therapy training course in Sandane will be moving to this University in the summer of 2006, and the negotiations include the planning of various collaborative projects, ranging from music therapy in prisons to music therapy in community music schools to music therapy in kindergartens to music therapy in geriatric institutions. The meaning of central terms such as "music," "client", and "therapy" are not necessarily very similar between these various contexts. I was thinking about this when a representative of the Communication & Media Centre of the University called me on the phone. He was about to inform the media about the University's decision of establishing music therapy as a new discipline and training course, and wanted a brief definition of music therapy "so simple that anyone would understand." I was tempted to respond something in the direction of "music therapy is the emergent convergence of all sorts of divergences."
Kenneth Bruscia (1989, 1998) has written with insight about the growing diversity and complexity of music therapy, and has advocated the need for specialization in various areas of practice (and I would add fields of study). While the development of specializations within a discipline always runs the risk of fragmenting it into various subfields that do not communicate with each other, it is hard to see other viable directions of development. Countermeasures must be taken then, to avoid fragmentation (theory development and international dialogue and debate could be two such strategies).
A brief look at a parody of the music therapy discourse could illuminate this point. The Scientific Music Therapy Society (see URL in the list of references) must certainly be a parody, while I am not sure how vicious it is meant to be. The society presents its name and headquarters like this:
The SCIENTIFIC MUSIC THERAPY SOCIETY
shall establish its headquarters
in the harmony laws
of the microcosm of music
in nature's laws of
harmony.
(The Scientific Music Therapy Society, 2006).
Not bad. I like that address. The ceremony and harmony of ivory and ebony must be a good place to be. The Society has a Constitution too, and § 8 begins like this:
The committees of the SCIENTIFIC MUSIC THERAPY SOCIETY are composed of public figures, universally educated and interdisciplinary qualified.
(The Scientific Music Therapy Society, 2006).
Well-educated people are certainly something music therapy needs, and much more could be done if the right committees are established:
The SCIENTIFIC MUSIC THERAPY SOCIETY forms committees for the following fields:
Music Therapy
Health
Medicine
Music Medicine
MusicologyScience
Sciences and Arts
Music
Sacred Music
Opera
Consciousness
Creativity
Harmony
PsychologySociology
Education
Philosophy
Cure of Souls
Mythology
Fairytale
Veda
Meditation
YogaEdda
Democracy
Human Dignity
Children
Youth
Justice
Culture
Rehabilitation
International UnderstandingWorld Peace
(The Scientific Music Therapy Society, 2006).
I would gladly join any of these committees. But would I join a society with such a strange mixture of committees? The parody, as I read it, is in the juxtaposition of fields or themes as diverse as medicine, opera, cure of souls, Edda, democracy, and world peace. I don't know who made this parody and with what intention (related parodies with titles such as Harmony World Society, Music Medicine Society, Music Therapy Society, and World Health Society also exist). It is probably not a good thing for the discipline that URLs such as musictherapysociety.com are in use for parodies. I will not take up that point here, but rather reflect upon what I and others could learn from the parody.
Personally I am a scholar with taste for broad interdisciplinary work, and I think music therapy is an interesting home for this kind of work. So why did I find the parody cited above so funny? Maybe because it offers an occasion for self-critique and reflection. I have often felt that the balancing acts that I mentioned in the beginning of this column are difficult exercises. When does multidimensional and multidisciplinary work turn into patchy work? I do not think there is one answer to that question, and I do not think that the solution is isolationist specialization. There must be some way out of here, towards a valuable hybridity where components are integrated in ways specific to music therapy?
Bruscia, Kenneth (1989). Defining Music Therapy. Spring City, PA: Spring House Books.
Bruscia, Kenneth (1998). Defining Music Therapy (Second Edition). Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
Bunt, Leslie (2006). On Inspiration from Different "Texts." Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.voices.no/columnist/colbunt130206.html
Edwards, Jane (2006). Thresholds Between Practice and Research—Thinking About Susan Melrose's Notion of the "Signature Practitioner." Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.voices.no/columnist/coledwards300106.html
Harmony World Society. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.harmonyworldsociety.com/index.php
Music Medicine Society. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.musicmedicinesociety.com/index.php
Music Therapy Society. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.musictherapysociety.com/index.php
Scientific Music Therapy Society. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.scientificmusictherapysociety.com/index.php
Shoemark, Helen (2006). Response to Jane Edwards column "Thresholds Between Practice and Research" [Contribution to Moderated Discussions] Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.voices.no/discussions/discm52_01.html
World Health Society. Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.worldhealthsociety.com/index.php
Stige, Brynjulf (2006). From Parody to High Quality Hybridity. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=colstige270206