British Journal of Music Therapy

MTUK (Music Therapy United Kingdom) – a perspective. This article was first presented as a keynote speech at the inaugural conferences of the British Association of Music Therapy in February 2014. It presents ideas about historical divisions and different approaches, and how these might be broached and mended, informed by the author's own experience of practising and being supervised within different approaches. The paper traces some of the history of MTUK and suggests possible future developments.

When Alexia founded Music as Therapy International, the music therapy profession seemed very different. Who has changed? The author or the profession? Or both? The author will present her experiences of being a threat, a novelty and now a welcome contributor to practice, and consider the changing professional context against which (and within which) her work has unfolded.

The article will trace the development of Music as Therapy International's work in Romania, as the country's care system has progressed through dramatic reforms following the crisis in care revealed after the fall of Communism in 1989. The author will explore how the consequent portfolio of activities devised by the charity has since proven relevant in other countries and has become increasingly influential in the UK. Specific relevant projects will be presented, including the six-week introductory training project model (international), the distance learning programme (Romania), the training DVD (Rwanda), the UK continuing professional development seminars and interactive music-making (a university credit-rated course for UK practitioners working with under-5s). The paper will also refer to responses to these projects from the profession and the relevant practice of others over the years.

This case study describes work with an 89-year-old woman of Jewish origin from the Czech/German border, with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. It relates how we explored issues connected with memory, the Holocaust, loss and her arrival in England, aged 16. I will also describe how my own ethnic background and experiences informed the work and the role of the music as a way of expressing and affirming identity. I will be focusing mainly on sessions 1–17.

This essay examines the institutional commonalities among several schools in which I have worked as a music therapist, illustrating how thinking about my role as an outsider has informed my therapeutic approach. I refer to the broader concept of the outsider as it relates to both fictional and historical figures and in particular to Sherly Williams's article ‘The Therapist as Outsider: The Truth of the Stranger‘ (1999) in which she compares the therapist to the archetypal figures of the fool and the seer. Finally, I link these ideas to Winnicott's concept of play, presenting the music therapist's role in school as that of an advocate for fostering creative impulses, which can at times be at odds with (or perhaps complementary to) the central educational aims of the school.