Increased interest in, and demand for, music therapy provision for persons with dementia prompted this study's exploration of music therapists' strategies for creating musical communities in dementia care settings, considering the needs and resources of people affected by dementia. Focus group discussions and detailed iterative study of improvisational music therapy work by six experienced practitioners clarify the contextual immediacy and socio-musical complexities of music therapy in dementia care homes. Music therapy's 'ripple effect', with resonances from micro (person-to-person musicking), to meso (musicking beyond 'session time') and macro level (within the care home and beyond), implies that all who are part of the dementia care ecology need opportunities for flourishing, shared participation, and for expanded self-identities; beyond 'staff', 'residents', or 'being in distress'. On such basis, managers and funders might consider an extended brief for music therapists' roles, to include generating and maintaining musical wellbeing throughout residential care settings.
In 2011 Joseph Straus published the book Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music. Adopting a sociocultural approach, Straus explores the relationship between disability and music by focusing on how music not only reflects, but also constructs different disability narratives. After providing an overview of the book content and themes, this article focuses on what I perceive as being Straus’s misunderstood guest, that is, music therapy. Writing from my own perspective as a music therapy practitioner-researcher, and in relation to Straus’s characterization of music therapy as a ‘ghetto’, I respond to certain ideas developed in the book and offer some different perspectives regarding music therapy as well as its contribution to the study of disability in music. These perspectives are drawn from practices and theories emerging from music- and culture-centred, as well as resource-oriented and community approaches to music therapy. This response article aims to instigate interdisciplinary exchange and dialogue between different music-related disciplines within the wider field of disability studies.
The therapeutic power of music and arts is widely acknowledged and documented within the field of palliative and bereavement care. Research shows the effectiveness of music and arts as clinical therapeutic interventions offering psychosocial, emotional and spiritual support to dying people and their bereaved families (eg, Hilliard, 2005; O’Kelly & Koffman, 2007). However, the potential role of music and arts in promoting public awareness and healthier attitudes towards death and dying is still an under-developed area. This presentation focuses on the St Christopher's Health Promotion Project; arts-based collaborative projects which link the hospice with other local community groups. The aim of the Project is to introduce the hospice and its work to community groups in a creative and non-threatening way and to promote healthier attitudes towards death and dying. The St Christopher's Health Promotion Project started in 2005 (initially as a Schools Project), but over the last years it has been expanded into other community groups (church groups, pubs, etc) and it has been rolled out to care-homes (Hartley 2011, Tsiris et al, 2011). The St Christopher's Health Promotion Project has been considered as innovative, with significant benefits not only to patients and families, but also to the local communities, and has been influential at policy level (see DoH 2008). The cost effectiveness of the project, as well as its transferability has inspired the development of similar projects in many hospices, as well as other healthcare institutions, both nationally and internationally. This presentation provides an overview of St Christopher's Health Promotion Project, its philosophy and aims, as well as its outcomes and future prospects. Also, some preliminary findings from a formal evaluation of the Project are presented and questions regarding the potential impact of music and arts on the development of sustainable healthcare policies and practices are outlined.
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