Juliette Alvin: Her Legacy for Music Therapy in Japan

Abstract

This historical study explored the contributions of Juliette Alvin to the early development of Japanese music therapy. Alvin visited Japan twice, once in 1967 and once in 1969. Despite the brevity of her stays, Alvin presented Japanese music therapy pioneers with a vivid picture of music therapy profession and clinical practice. Professional associations were launched, catalyzed by her visit. Alvin's clinical demonstrations inspired one of the music therapy pioneers to explore not only his own philosophy but a comprehensive view of the future direction of Japanese music therapy. A young musician, who worked as an assistant in Alvin's sessions, adopted her approach and became a leader in Japanese music therapy. Information about Alvin were obtained from letters, books, newspapers, journal articles, interviews with Japanese music therapy pioneers, and Alvin's own reports on her practice in Japan. Implications of Alvin's approach are also discussed for the role that music therapy today can play in addressing the needs of clients.

‘Through music and into music’, through music and into well-being: Dalcroze eurhythmics as music therapy

“…Some historians have argued that music therapy, in the USA at least, developed mainly as a response to World War II, when musicians often performed to large groups of wounded soldiers (Rorke 1996, Sullivan 2007). In the post-war era some of the most significant individuals who developed music's potential as a therapy include Juliette Alvin (Haneishi 2005), Ira Altshuler (Davis 2003), and Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins (Aigen 1998, Kim 2004. In the UK, music therapists began to professionalise during the late 1950s (Barrington-Hill 2005), a decade or so after their American counterparts, and in many countries music therapy is now a registered allied health profession.…”