Music Therapy Advances in Neuro-disability - Innovations in Research and Practice: Summary Report and Reflections on a Two-Day International Conference

Abstract

This article provides a summary of the oral papers presented during a two day international conference, which took place on 7th & 8th June 2013, at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN) in London. The summary texts detail innovative research projects and clinical developments across music therapy, music neuroscience and music psychology addressing the needs of those with acquired and degenerative neurological conditions. The diverse and evolving work in this field is reflected in the topics covered, including disorders of consciousness, dementia, stroke, and the use of modern neuro-imaging methods to measure the effects of music therapy at a cortical level. A discussion of the implications of these converging foci highlights the benefits of the cross-disciplinary dialogue that characterised the conference.

Editorial: Dialogues in Music Therapy and Music Neuroscience: Collaborative Understanding Driving Clinical Advances

“…This research topic developed as a consequence of the editors shared commitment to promoting fruitful dialogues between music therapists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and other medical professionals, at a time where these professions are increasingly sharing the same platforms at conferences (e.g., Luck and Brabant, 2013; Bigand and Tillmann, 2015; O'Kelly et al, 2014), and in collaborative research topics such as this, and its predecessor of a similar theme (Tervaniemi, 2014, for music and brain plasticity; Särkämö et al, 2016 for music in neurorehabilitation). Our research topic features the work of 115 authors in 18 papers across the titles Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and Frontiers in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience.…”