Memories from the World Congress of Music Therapy 1976
This is how I got to go to the 2nd World Congress: In 1975 Angela Fenwick (a British music therapist) invited me to Birmingham Hospital for a summer to exchange our music therapy ideas and methods. We had a very rewarding summer. When Dr. R. Benenzon (from Argentina) called her, he was going to organize the 2nd World Congress for Music Therapy in 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and asked if she knew any music therapist from the USA who would like to go to the congress. So Angela recommended me. When Dr. Benenzon contacted me I promised to give a speech on "Music Therapy in the USA" and to participate in a round table discussion on "curriculum requirements," I did not have any official duty. However, I did report to Dr. Richard Graham, who was the president of NAMT at that time. This was the only time I attended a world congress.
At that time to become a music therapist in Argentina was not easy. They had to be a MD and then, a psychotherapist, then to have some music therapy training to become a music therapist. The methods they used consisted more of a "sound therapy" and were very heavy on psychoanalysis.
A lady from the American embassy came to see me and gave me their phone number, in case I needed any help. She also gave me some pointers about going out, she said it was dangerous. That was the year Argentina’s political situation wasnÂ’t very stable. The taxi had been stopped and searched several times, from the airport to the city and out. Other than that, Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. People are quite friendly. There were more than 200 people who attended the congress. I met several music therapists from other countries besides Angela Fenwick. I met Serafina Poch from Spain, we became friends and a few years after the congress she came to Winchester (Virginia) to visit my family and the school (Shenandoah University).
There was another music therapist from the USA (New York), Alexander Reichman, he worked at a nursing home. He is in one of the pictures. There was also a music therapist from Puerto Rico who worked as a music therapist but was not registered through NAMT. I cannot remember his name.
