Voices ResourcesA website for the worldwide community around the journal Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy

|Introduction| |Training| |Professional Status of Music Therapy
in Finland| |Organization| |Where and how are we working?| |Frameworks and Methods| |The influence of economic, cultural and social factors in the development
of Finnish music therapy| |The next European Congress of Music Therapy in 2004 will be held in
Finland!|

Introduction

In Finland, some mentions of music therapy can be found already in the
1950s, though the first professional activities date back to the 1970s.
as far as is known, Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins visited the Rinnekoti
- an institution for handicapped people near Helsinki, Finland - in the
early 1960s. In the late 1960s, music therapy trials were performed in
some psychiatric hospitals, but the official history of Finnish music therapy
started in 1973 when the Finnish association for Music Therapy was established.
In the same year, two Finnish books on music therapy were published, Musiikkiterapia
by Hannu Rauhala (1973) and - interestingly enough - Musiikkiterapia by
Petri Lehikoinen (Lehikoinen, 1973).

At first, Finnish music therapy developed relatively independently of
international impulses, but when the professional education system was
established in the 1980s, international communication also became more
frequent. Kimmo Lehtonen, who defended his doctoral thesis in 1986 (the
first Finnish dissertation on music therapy), was one of those - as well
as Petri Lehikoinen - who actively started to create international contacts.
as a consequence of these contacts, the 3rd Nordic Conference on Music
Therapy was held in Finland, at the University of Jyväskylä,
in 1997.

The end of the year 2001 was a shock to our community when we heard
that Petri Lehikoinen, our beloved music therapy pioneer and, according
to many, the father of Finnish music therapy, died suddenly in his home
on December 13, at the age of 61. His students were waiting for him at
the Sibelius-academy but he never came. It was a loss for the whole Finnish
music therapy community as well as to Physioacoustics - more about that
below - that he actively worked on until his death.

Photo: Petri Lehikoinen, the father of Finnish music therapy, 8.1.1940-13.12.2001

Training

Most of our professonal training programs are so-called general programs,
which do not concentrate on any single model or method. Instead, they aim
at giving a wide picture of music therapy and its different schools, models
and methods. It is not uncommon that a student does not find her/his own
way of working, including a particular theoretic framework, until having
some years of clinical experience. The diagram below demonstrates our present
education organization.

Diagram 1: Present education organisation

as shown, we have a three-stage education system from introductory courses
(level I) to professional studies (level II) and forward to master studies
(level III). The master studies in Jyväskylä are open for all
qualified clinicians (by passing a test) regardless of which of the four
programs they come from. after graduating (level III) they can continue
as Ph.D. students.

Professional Status of Music Therapy
in Finland

We have been working hard in order to get music therapy an official status.
at the moment we are living with the paradox in which music therapists
are well employed and our work has been widely accepted but music therapy
is, however, still not in the group of recognized health professions. Thus,
we have had to make special arrangements with various organizations when
trying to extend the scope.

In order to make an impact on the recognition process, the professional
music therapy programs have jointly established an organization called
SUMUKE in 1998. Its aim is to negotiate the common criteria for some of
the most essential principles of music therapy education as well as to
discuss the educational and professional issues with the decision makers.

Organization

Finnish association for Music Therapy (FaMT) is our umbrella organization.
It includes also members who are not full-time music therapists. The Guild
is an organization solely intended for professional music therapists. During
the last ten years, when our education system has become well established,
the amount of educated music therapists has quickly increased and it is
expected that in the next ten years we will have at least 200, maybe 300
qualified music therapists working full-time.

Diagram 2: Music therapy organisations

Where and how are we working?

Currently, most of the Finnish music therapists are working privately,
as entrepreneurs. We also have some offices, mostly in psychiatric hospitals
and institutions for handicapped people. Those who work privately usually
have an agreement with S.I.I.F. (The Social Insurance Institution, Finland),
which pays their salaries. In this system every therapy process is based
on the referral, usually written by a doctor, after which the S.I.I.F.
officers accept (or reject) the therapy process according to their norms.

During the last years, the diagnostic populations of music therapy have
increased quickly. Music therapy has been carried out with people having
for example:

- psychiatric problems (children, adolescents, adults)

- mental retardation

- neurological problems (learning disabilities, autism...)

- communication disorders or impairments

- hearing or visual impairments

- severe multiple disabilities

To some extent, music therapy has been carried out in medicine (e.g.
in physical rehabilitation and for individuals who are terminally ill)
as well as with elderly individuals.

Frameworks and Methods

Traditionally, psychodynamic and behavioristic (or learning theories) psychotherapeutic
models and the music therapy methods related to them have been dominant
in Finnish music therapy. Since the 1980s the humanistic model has been
favoured as well. Our first two music therapy dissertations, by Kimmo Lehtonen
(1986) and Jaakko Erkkilä (1997), were based mainly on psychodynamic
thinking and the practical adaptations of it. Thus, we have a strong tradition
in interpretative music therapy.

Improvisation

Our basic attitude to improvisation is relatively open and free, with
many influences from abroad as well as from Finland. In the following film,
an imagery-like improvisational method is demonstrated, where the improvisers:
1. create an improvisation together with two keyboards without any instructions
or a given topic, 2. speak out their images with the improvisation in the
backround (the improvisation was recorded on tape) - they do this phase
individually, without knowing anything about each others' stories. 

In the excerpt both stories can be heard simultaneously. Thus, a listener
is able to notice the similarities concerning expression (intensity, emotional
character, etc.) and the timing of the verbal reactions. (For those who
do not understand Finnish there is an English translation included in the
film). Needless to say, this way of working resembles some of the GIM principles...

Improvisational music therapy from Voices: A World Forum for Music on Vimeo.

Physioacoustics

The Physioacoustic chair is a reclining chair housing six speakers
and a computer. The computer creates and controls low frequency sinusoidal
sound waves, which are broadcast (within the range of 27 - 113 Hz) through
the speakers. The patients feel this as a sympathetic resonance within
muscles and other tissues. This can be experienced together with music,
either through the chair or headphones. 

Sixteen programmes, plus soft and intensive modes allow complete personalisation
to adjust to all individual needs. The Physioacoustic Chair has been developed
during the last 20 years by medical teams in Finland, led by Petri Lehikoinen,
Master of Education and Clinical Psychologist at Helsinki University.

The main achievements:

-Total body therapy focussing on the musculo-skeletal system, -It is
relaxing, reducing stress levels and tension through deep body massage
-It improves circulation, lowering blood pressure and reducing anxiety
and pain where applied. -It boosts the immune system and so promotes better
health. -a Non-Invasive Therapy, capable of working through clothes, cushions
and plaster casts -Can also be utilized in music psychotherapy due to its
effects on imagination -Suitable for all age groups

In the next film, a shortened demonstration of a typical physioacoustic
treatment setting is presented:

A typical physioacoustic treatment setting from Voices: A World Forum for Music on Vimeo.

For more information, please visit: www.siba.fi/Yksikot/Muka/tutkimus/physioacoustic.html

Functional Music Therapy

a Swedish method, The Functional Music Therapy (FMT), by Lasse Hjelm,
arrived in Finland at the beginning of the 1980s. Due to the extensive
education system in Finland, we have a large number of FMT-therapists today.
They have been working mainly with mentally and/or physically handicapped
people but currently the FMT-method has proved effective in the treatment
of neurological problems, especially language disorders, as well.

In the next film, an FMT-therapist (Päivi Jordan-Kilkki) is playing
with a man with severe language disorders. The case is a typical FMT-setting
where the music therapist is at the piano and the client on drums. as can
be seen, the client has major difficulties with playing, which is a consequence
of his neurological dysfunction. Clinical findings have shown that improvement
in playing (increased bodily control) contributes to speech development.

Functional Music Therapy from Voices: A World Forum for Music on Vimeo.

Figure Notes

The latest Finnish music therapy adaptation is the Figure Notes by
the music therapist Kaarlo Uusitalo. after struggling for many years with
finding solutions on how to get even severely retarded people involved
in playing, he found that the simple figures and the basic colors are the
most effective means here.

Photo: Figur Notes

First, the Figure Notes were used only with keyboards but now it is
possible to play also drums, guitars, and bass. The Figure Notes are used
currently also with mentally or physically handicapped people, elderly
people, people with afasia, young children (even under 3 years) etc. The
Figure Notes have been utilized even in music academies where students
have to play various instruments. according to students it is easier to
start playing for instance bass guitar - when piano is the main instrument
- by using Figure Notes, when compared with the difficulties often met
when using traditional notes with different instruments.

There is a current project in which very young children, 3 years or
so, are composing stories closely associated with aspects of their lives,
with the aid of the Figure Notes. In these groups there are children who
come from foreign cultures and whose early childhood has been very traumatic.
With the aid of the Figure Notes they have found a new means of self-expression.

The influence of economic, cultural and social factors in the development
of Finnish music therapy

at the turn of the 1990s, after many years of
economic growth, Finland met a deep recession. The recovering process is
still going on, albeit there are signs of a new prosperity again. To music
therapy, the recession meant a lot of things - for instance, new offices
were not established so often anymore. This led to a practice where music
therapists started to work privately by selling their services to institutions,
hospitals, S.I.I.F. etc. This also meant that the Finnish society, which
had been very liberal so far, started to tighten the norms concerning therapy
professionals. This was the first time when music therapy educators and
program leaders had to come together to seriously discuss the principles
of music therapy education and the music therapy profession in general.

a paradox was born as well: at the same time as the demands were going
up the funds were going down. How to cut down costs if there is nothing
more to cut?- has been the question in focus recently on our social and
health sector. at the moment several committees are discussing the future
of the psychotherapy education, including music therapy. as yet it is difficult
to predict what the consequences of this process will be to music therapy
education.

Due to its geographic location, Finland has been quite an isolated country
for a long time. Until now, the amount of foreigners has been relatively
small, but this is gradually changing. Our membership in the EU and the
overall globalisation process have finally opened the borders reciprocally.
We are facing the racial biases as well as various - and unfortunately
reciprocal - adaptation problems. Thus, Finnish music therapists are interested
in cross-cultural issues more than before.

The next European Congress of Music Therapy in 2004 will be held in
Finland!

We want to welcome music therapists from all around Europe to
Jyväskylä, Finland in 2004, where the next European congress
will be held. We will do our best to make it attractive, high-quality and
unforgettable! We hope to be able to share some more information about
the 2004 congress in the next World Congress, in Oxford, this summer.

How to cite this page

Erkkilä, Jaakko (2002). Music Therapy in Finland. Voices Resources. Retrieved January 11, 2015, from http://testvoices.uib.no/community/?q=country-of-the-month/2002-music-therapy-finland