Abstract
We are over half way between the 2018 and 2020 British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) national conferences. BAMT has recently announced that the venue of the next conference will be Queen’s University, Belfast, in April 2020. These conferences are invaluable as a source of support and community and I welcome the opportunity to be challenged and inspired.
The articles that are published in this edition provide similar opportunities. There is a spirit of generosity as the authors are sharing what they have learnt from their own research projects and clinical journeys. This ‘pay it forward’ attitude enables professionals to build on what has been achieved so far in the field. Julie Sutton (2008) puts it well when she writes, Our pioneers gravitated to teamwork: for professional and emotional support and acceptance, to experience belonging when working in isolation, and to educate and inform. This heavy burden can still be part of today’s working experience where next-generation pioneers develop a service. (p. 9)
The generosity of sharing information within the music therapy profession is seen clearly in the first article The MusiQual treatment manual for music therapy in a palliative care inpatient setting. As Kirkwood explains, the manual ‘… might prove to be of interest or use to Music Therapists working in palliative care to use as a reference and potentially support their work in this field’ (p. x). This manual is a very accessible piece of work: it doesn’t offer a one size fits all approach, rather it retains a sensitivity towards the needs of each individual. It provides music therapy principles which can be generalised to other clinical settings too: relationship building, shared creative experience, and facilitating communication and expression.
The second article, Mindsong, music therapy and dementia care: collaborative working to support people with dementia and family carers at home, focusses on a clinical arena which is growing in significance for our profession. As Justine Schneider noted in her recent article, by 2025, it is expected that there will be 1 million people with dementia in the United Kingdom (Schneider, 2018). While the clinical work is inspiring and moving in and of itself, this article also describes the collaborative nature of work between the different agencies. While Schneider’s research noted that GPs are the professionals who are least likely to liaise with Music Therapists, Melhuish’s article here provides a lovely example that bucks that trend.
The third article, by Maybelle Swaney, considers another clinical setting and, similar to the first two articles, the clients are dealing with life changing issues. Towards a State of Play: A case study exploring insight-oriented musical experiences with a woman with severe brain injury describes clinical work which is challenging: ‘… therapists, knowing that [the clinical issues are] largely irreversible, can fear being engulfed by the chronicity and magnitude of the patient’s … needs’ (Swaney, citing Ball, cited in Lewis, 1991: 23).
Swaney writes about the importance of supervision and is generous in describing the vulnerability felt working as a Music Therapist. I perceive two types of vulnerability in this work. First, working with vulnerable clients which ‘… invites the therapist to boldly step towards a state of unknowing, all the while being prepared to look into the mirror’ (quote taken from the end of Swaney’s article) and second, to work in interdisciplinary teams where it might be necessary to ‘educate and inform’ (Sutton, 2008).
The final article in this edition describes a very different clinical approach. Blichfeldt-Ærø’s article, Facilitated music listening: music therapy in an invasive cardiac procedure, focusses on a medical music therapy approach to support the reduction of patients’ stress and pain levels. A clear definition of the approach is given and the article highlights a balance between providing replicable procedures and respecting the needs of each patient. The music therapy is conducted within a primarily medical-oriented environment and Blichfeldt-Ærø wonders whether ‘… the music therapy intervention was thought to be an integrated part of the patient treatment or a parallel service of sorts’ (p. x).
The four articles presented in this edition focus on different clinical settings. Guidelines and even standardisation are considered and yet, at the same time, they provide what Helen Odell-Miller (2018) calls ‘individualised personal care through music, adapted in the moment for the person’s needs and their family/carers’ (p. 71).
There are two book reviews included within this edition: Rhythms of Relating in Children’s Therapies: Connecting Creatively with Vulnerable Children, Ed. Stuart Daniel and Colwyn Trevarthen, and Collaborations within and between Dramatherapy and Music Therapy: Experiences, Challenges and Opportunities in Clinical and Training Contexts, Ed. Amelia Oldfield and Mandy Carr. The multitude of authors included within these books offer a vast expanse of experience. Within her book review, French recognises the ‘sense of generosity shown by the contributors, their desire to share, and to learn from each other, and in many cases, from the service users’. In the spirit of all the authors in this issue, we are delighted to share these insights with you.