Introduction to the Interview for the 9th World Congress of Music Therapy
By Barbara L. Wheeler
- 1st International Music Therapy Congress, Paris 1974.
- 2nd World Congress of Music Therapy , Buenos Aires 1976.
- 3rd World Scientific Congress of Music Therapy , Puerto Rico 1981.
- 4th World Congresses of Music Therapy, Paris, 1983.
- 5th World Congresses of Music Therapy, Genoa, 1985.
- 6th World Congresses of Music Therapy, Rio De Janeiro, 1990.
- 7th World Congresses of Music Therapy, Vitoria Gasteiz, 1993.
- 8th World Congresses of Music Therapy, Hamburg, 1996.
The Series of Interviews on World Congresses of Music Therapy
I am pleased to introduce the interview series on the World Congress of Music Therapy that was held in Washington, DC, in 1999. This congress was hosted by our U.S. music therapy association, the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). This was a major event for our newly united association, formed by the unification of the American Association for Music Therapy and the National Association for Music Therapy.
This congress was exciting for many of those who attended. It was a large conference with a wide range of presentations. I know that many people were glad for the opportunity to visit Washington, DC, and the U.S. I remember a number of people who took advantage of the opportunity to travel within the U.S. after the conference.
One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation of “Five International Models of Music Therapy Practice.” We have a special section of this interview series about the models.
I hope that you will enjoy reading what some of the conference organizers have written. Mary Adamek, Conference Chair; Kenneth Aigen, Scientific Chair; Al Bumanis, AMTA Director of Communications and Conferences; and Anne Lipe, Local Committee Co-Chair, have written about their experiences in planning various aspects of the conference. We also have two interviews of presidents of the World Federation, one of Tony Wigram who was completing his term as President during this conference, and one of Denise Grocke, who began her Presidency at the end of the conference.
I appreciate those who have shared their memories and photographs. I would like to give a special thank you to Natalia Johanna and Doug Keith for helping me get copies of the conference program (pdf 15MB) and to the AMTA staff for help with several aspects of the series, including providing pictures from the conference.
Of course, all of the world congresses that have been held since the founding of the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT) in 1985 have been under its sponsorship. More information on WFMT can be found at http://www.wfmt.info/WFMT/Home.html. A number of papers from this conference can be found as a link from the WFMT site .
I hope that you enjoy reading about the 9th World Congress of Music Therapy and that it brings back memories for many of you.
