Creating an Apprenticeship Music Therapy Model Through Arts-Based Research

Authors

  • Guylaine Vaillancourt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v11i1.341

Keywords:

apprenticeship, music therapy model, arts-based researc, mentoring

Abstract

Newly graduated music therapists often feel isolated within their practices. They leave the university’s structured educational environment to be on their own. Some of them miss the time they were improvising together, supporting each other, and sharing their struggles and successes through classes and group supervision. This paper addresses some of these issues by proposing an apprenticeship model using arts-based research to support new music therapists entering the profession. This study reinforces the importance of mentoring apprentice music therapists to assure that the next generation will feel confident and well-prepared to enter into and develop the field. A group of five music therapy interns and I participated in a co-researcher group using phenomenological arts-based research (ABR) and participatory action research (PAR) in order to explore principles and foundations for a future apprenticeship model. The findings show that an immediate need of apprentice music therapists in their direct experiences and lifeworlds is to identify support for their work through meaningful, trusting relationships among peers and with mentors.

Author Biography

Guylaine Vaillancourt

Guylaine Vaillancourt, PhD, MTA Assistant Professor in Music Therapy Concordia University, Montreal. Canada       Guylaine Vaillancourt is an assistant professor in the department of creative arts therapies at Concordia University in Montreal. She is trained in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM) and is a fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery (FAMI). She has worked in Switzerland, Venezuela, and the United States and has taught in Cuba and Martinique. She serves on the editorial board of Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy (www.voices.no) as North American co-editor and is a member of the Global Crisis Intervention Commission of the World Federation of Music Therapy. She is the author of Musique, musicothérapie et développement de l’enfant and currently serves as president of the Canadian Association for Music Therapy. Her research interests relate to mentoring, peace and social justice issues, arts-based research, and participatory action research.

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Published

2011-01-24

How to Cite

Vaillancourt, G. (2011). Creating an Apprenticeship Music Therapy Model Through Arts-Based Research. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v11i1.341

Issue

Section

Perspectives on Practice