Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Lived Experience Of Music Therapists As Musician-Therapists, Kotoe Suzuki

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

The dissertation research explored the lived experiences of music therapists who are performing musicians. A conceptual foundation of music therapists as musicians, a “musician-therapist” who is deeply versed in the unique properties of music can be identified in the literature (Ansdell & Verney, 2008; Nordoff & Robbins, 1973). The objectives of this study were to explore three topics: 1) deeper understandings of music therapists’ musical improvisation both in clinical and nonclinical settings, 2) the connection between music therapists’ personal and professional musical growth, and 3) identity formation. A qualitative method was chosen for this research including reflexive/embodied/interpretative phenomenology, and arts-based …

How Dance And Music Stimulate Therapeutic Change In A Personal Movement Ritual, Cassidy Bingham

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis investigates the therapeutic effects of the researcher’s own arts practice or personal movement ritual, which is based in her tacit knowledge and intuition. The researcher is also the participant of this study. Her personal movement ritual, which was formalized as the method, was conducted before the literature review in order to prioritize tacit knowledge before introducing the influence of other scholars. In the literature review, Ellen Dissanayake’s and other scholars’ rationale for the emotional and cognitive changes that take place during rituals through music and dance are explained. These rationales, or the five constructs of entrainment, “ …

Multicultural Orientations In Music Therapy Education, Debra Jelinek Gombert

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined music therapists’ experiences with, education regarding, and attitudes about music therapy with people who have multiple intersectional cultural perspectives. In the first phase, a survey created by the researcher was used to gathered information about participants’ (n = 474) education, training, attitudes, and skills regarding culture. In the second phase, 7 individuals were interviewed to learn about their experiences regarding multicultural education.

Survey data was analyzed to compare the attitudes/skills of participants. On average, participants were more confident in their ability to work with adults and people with disability than they were in their ability …