Elaborations Toward a Notion of Community Music Therapy

  • Elaborations Toward a Notion of Community Music Therapy
  • Author: Stige, Brynjulf
  • E-ISBN: 9781937440121


This book is an edited version of Brynjulf Stige’s doctoral dissertation from 2003 with a new foreword added in 2011.

How could Community Music Therapy be described and defined? What characteristics of human nature and late modern culture indicate the relevance of Community Music Therapy? What preliminary descriptors could be developed for Community Music Therapy practice? What are the implications for the discipline and profession of music therapy?

These are the questions addressed in this book, which uses reflective elaboration of practical examples and theoretical (re)sources – including insights from Culture-Centered Music Therapy (Stige, 2002) – in the pursuit of a notion of Community Music Therapy. After the introduction of topic (Chapter 1) and meta-methodological considerations (Chapter 2), a broad range of literature resources are examined as a foundation for the elaboration of a metatheoretical platform from which the history, importance, and significance of Community Music Therapy can be accounted for (Chapters 3 to 5). The case examples presented in Chapters 6 and 7 are analyzed from several interlocking perspectives, each time adding up to a further step in the overall theoretical project of the study. A Context-inclusive Model of Music Therapy Processes, which challenges conventional music therapy theories and practices, is developed in Chapter 8, before the final Chapters 9 and 10 synthesize the various perspectives and material taken in pursuit of provisional answers to the four research questions.

 


 

Table of Contents

Foreword.

Acknowledgements.

 Part I: Introduction. 1

Chapter 1: Focus and Purpose of Research. 3

Personal Context 4

Professional Context 9

Focus and Purpose of Research. 14

Preunderstanding of the Notion. 16

Music Therapy, Culture, and Community. 18

Conclusion and Outline of the Dissertation. 21

Notes: Chapter 1. 24

 

Chapter 2: Metamethodological Considerations. 27

Metamethodology. 28

Culture, Society, and Modernity. 30

A Culture-Centered Perspective. 34

Abductive Reasoning as a Strategy of Discovery. 35

Social Research and Hermeneutics. 40

The Legacy of Critical Theory. 43

Critical Theory in Late Modernity. 45

The Problem of Representation. 47

Writing as Dialogic Aspect-Seeing. 49

Proposed Criteria for Evaluation of this Study. 50

Conclusion and Implications for the Inquiry. 54

Notes: Chapter 2. 57

 

Part II: Roots and Routes. 63

Chapter 3: Music Therapy, Community, and Society, a Literature Review.. 65

Selection of Literature. 66

German Literature. 68

Norwegian Literature. 78

British Literature. 88

North American Literature. 101

Pleasure and Performance, Solidarity and Struggle. 116

Conclusion: An Emerging Practice and Discourse. 119

Notes: Chapter 3. 121

 

Chapter 4: Musicking, Human Nature, and Music Culture. 126

Music in Modern Music Therapy. 127

Nature and Nurture. 132

Toward an Integrative Concept of Humankind?. 135

The Evolution of the Human Species (Phylogeny) 137

Human Cultural History. 140

Human Individual Development (Ontogeny) 144

Humankind and Music. 147

Protomusicality and Phylogeny. 148

Musics in Cultural History. 154

Ontogeny, Cultivated Capacities, and Perceived Affordances. 158

Music as Performance of Relationships. 160

Musicking, Nature, and Culture. 164

Conclusion: Toward an Inclusive Notion of Music. 170

Notes: Chapter 4. 174

 

Chapter 5: Culture, Community, Health, and Music Therapy in Late Modernity. 179

Modernity and Music Therapy. 180

Ideas of Culture. 183

“Culture” Defined for Music Therapy. 186

Community in Context 189

“Community” Defined for Music Therapy. 193

Health as Qualification for Participation. 196

Health and Music Therapy in Late Modernity. 198

Implications for the Concept of Music Therapy. 202

Conceptual Levels in Defining Music Therapy. 207

The Field of Music and Health. 210

Music Therapy as Discipline. 213

Music Therapy as Profession. 217

Music Therapy as Professional Practice. 221

Areas and Arenas of Music Therapy Practice. 224

Conclusion: A Modernization of Modern Music Therapy?. 227

Notes: Chapter 5. 229

 

Part III: Fieldwork. 235

Chapter 6: The Ecology of Community Relationships: Reflections on a Case Report 237

Context 238

The Initial Dilemma. 239

Cycles of Reflection-Action: Some Notes on Method. 241

The Applied Model of the Reflection-Action Process. 243

Problems of Participation. 248

Interaction Through Improvisation. 250

With Longing, Life, and Song! 251

Go Down, Moses. 255

First Afterthought: Levels of Analysis. 256

Second Afterthought: Modern Challenges to Social Networks. 257

Third Afterthought: An Ecological Perspective. 261

Fourth Afterthought: Music Therapy as Aesthetic Practice. 265

Fifth Afterthought: Working with Local Links. 271

Conclusion: Music Therapy as Giving Voice. 274

Notes: Chapter 6. 278

 

Chapter 7: Hypertextuality in Music Therapy: An Instrumental Case Study. 283

Context 284

An Ethnographic Perspective. 286

Methodological Implications. 290

Participant Observation. 292

Semistructured Qualitative Interviews. 295

Synopsis of Ramona’s Music Therapy Process. 303

Ramona’s First Description of the Music Therapy Process. 311

Hypertextuality as a Metametaphor 314

Ramona Looking Back on her Music Therapy Process. 321

Private and Public Aspects of Music Therapy. 326

Conclusion: The Doors and Windows of the Dressing Room.. 331

Notes: Chapter 7. 335

 

Chapter 8: A Context-Inclusive Model of Music Therapy Processes. 343

Music Therapy Processes. 344

Context-Inclusive Processes. 345

Health Affordances. 348

An Overview of the Context-Inclusive Model 355

Time Dimensions of Music Therapy Processes. 359

Roles and Relationships. 361

Rituals and Rationales. 364

Communitas in Context 367

Reflexivity in Action. 372

Conclusion: Evolving Affordances. 375

Notes: Chapter 8. 381

 

Part IV: Toward a Notion of Community Music Therapy. 384

Chapter 9: Community Music Therapy, an Outline. 386

Revisiting the Research Focus. 387

Cultural and Interdisciplinary Context 388

Roots of Community Music Therapy, a Review.. 395

Theoretical Routes. 403

Principles of Practice. 410

Values in Action. 420

Implications for the Discipline. 423

Implications for the Profession. 427

Limitations and Dilemmas. 436

Conclusion: Redescribing Community Music Therapy. 439

Notes: Chapter 9. 445

 

Chapter 10: Conclusions, Critique, and Future Directions. 449

Conclusion of the Dissertation. 450

Reviewing the Research Process. 453

Critique of the Study. 455

Suggestions for Future Research. 458

Epilogue. 460

Notes: Chapter 10. 461

References. 462

Notes on References. 485

Index. 486