Radford University Music Therapy Symposium 2018
Elizabeth K. Schwartz, MA, LCAT, MT-BC
Musical Development through the Life Span:
Giving Voice to Intrinsic Music Responses in Music Therapy Practice
Musical Development through the Life Span
Music, as with language or cognition, develops naturally in infancy and childhood. For young children who are provided with a supportive music environment, intrinsic responses to music are generally acquired in an anticipated sequence. A detailed understanding of these intrinsic music responses gives music therapists a window into their client’s developmental growth. Later in life, these same natural responses can be tapped within therapy to help when a person’s core self has been changed due to trauma, illness, mental health challenges or age-related decline.
This presentation will guide participants to a deeper appreciation of the music inherent in human experience through a detailed examination of developmental music responses. The emphasis will be on placing music as a valued component in overall development of self. The connection between specific musicing and the creation or rehabilitation of ‘self’ will be organized within a proposed Musical Developmental Framework (Schwartz, 2008) useful for practice. This knowledge will lead toward an examination of music-centered way of thinking within clinical practice that uses the music and its elements as the intervention. A 2014 article by Aigen on music-centered practice within the Nordoff/Robbins model of music therapy helps to define what it means to be music-centered by explaining that “…mechanisms of music therapy process are located in the forces, experiences, processes, and structures of music.”
The theoretical and practice foundations of this approach will be clearly demonstrated in the most natural form of human music expression – the voice. Participants will explore and examine clinical use of the voice to discover and practice a variety of vocal techniques including singing, chanting, rhythmic speaking, vocal percussion and sound exploration. Emphasis will be on creating a rich musical environment using only the voice and the body. While pitch and melody are clearly elements connected to the voice, this course will also teach participants methods for creating timbre, rhythm, meter, structure, dynamic, tempo and even harmonic elements through vocalization. Next participants will examine how to use the vocal tools that have been learned as therapeutic strategies and interventions to create therapeutic relationships; build trust; establish boundaries; provide acknowledgement and reflection; increase communication; develop reciprocity; encourage initiation; expand interaction; improve motor skills; decrease anxiety; integrate sensory responses; and internalize vocalization as a means of self-expression.
Aigen, K. (2014). Music-centered dimensions of nordoff-robbins music therapy. Music Therapy Perspectives, 32(1), 18-29.
Schwartz, E. (2008). Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.
Course Objectives:
- Participants will identify 5 developmental music-centered goals and objectives for use in music therapy.
- Participants will learn and participate in 5 music experiences/interventions designed to reflect developmental music-centered outcomes.
- Participants will develop and practice therapeutic vocal techniques to be used with a variety of clinical populations.
- Participants will learn how to use the voice to meet therapeutic needs and address clinical goals.
