Building Bridges with Music

A Qualitative Analysis Exploring the Use of Music and Music Therapy in Peacebuilding from Different Perspectives

Abstract

Background: The use of music in a peacebuilding context has increasingly gained popularity among peacebuilders, musicians, music educators, community musicians, and music therapists alike. Recent studies show that music can be a valuable tool to help facilitate peacebuilding.

Objective: Music in peacebuilding engages professionals from many different backgrounds. The aim of this study was to gather different perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of whether and how music can be used to enhance and facilitate peacebuilding. Special attention was paid to the use of music therapy.

Method: Semi-structured interviews (N = 8) were conducted with peacebuilders (N = 3), music therapists (N = 2), musicians (N = 1), and music educators (N = 2). Thematic analysis was applied to analyse the data. Findings: Three themes were analysed in detail: (1) aims of using music in peacebuilding, (2) musical frameworks, and (3) music therapy.

Discussion: Peacebuilders, music therapists, community musicians, music educators, and musicians all contributed to this research by sharing their expertise. Interestingly, the experts had similar views on how to approach the use of music in peacebuilding. Conclusion: Experts within the field should collaborate and exchange their knowledge to gain a better and broader understanding of the use and application of music in a peacebuilding setting.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the interview participants for their time and patience—their knowledge provided so much colour and valuable insights into the field of music and peacebuilding that I tried to portray as good as I could in this paper. I would also like to thank my supervisors, lecturers, mentor, and fellow students from ArtEZ Enschede for their support and inspiration throughout my studies.