Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Research Publications
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ItemHidden diversity in the conservatoire: A qualitative enquiry into the experiences of higher education music students with disability(SAGE Publications, 2024)Students undertaking higher education music degrees represent a rich tapestry of experiences, cultures and needs. However, equity and inclusion issues related to music students with disability in higher education are frequently addressed in generic ways, and without consultation or consideration of their unique requirements. With limited research available, this qualitative study within an Australian Conservatorium of Music analysed the experiential and situated reflections of 18 music students with disability. Based on our reflexive thematic analysis, we propose that issues related to equity and inclusion for music students in higher education are multi-faceted and interrelated. By foregrounding the participants’ voice, the qualitative themes suggest that enhancements related to disclosure processes, quality of communication and reliability of resources, would fortify equity and inclusion. The findings span the need for reforms at the institutional level, as well as specific professional development for educators and awareness raising amongst the student cohort. Informed by the participants’ lived experience, the findings call for music educators, professional staff and institutional leaders to effectively apply features of inclusive, caring, professional practices so that music students with disability can thrive in higher education.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableFamily-centered music therapy in the home environment: Promoting interpersonal engagement between children with autism spectrum disorder and their parents(Oxford University Press, 2012-01-01)Family-centered practice is a widespread approach guiding how early intervention services support families with children with special needs such as autism spectrum disorder. An important feature of this support is its provision in natural settings such as the home environment. Ultimately, family-centered practitioners endeavor to embed therapeutic approaches into the child's daily routines so that they can be facilitated in part by the family. This approach is particularly useful with young children with autism spectrum disorder as a way of promoting interpersonal engagement and therefore the development of early social and communication skills. A model for applying family-centered practice to music therapy methods is discussed through reflections on practice and case examples.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA survey of parent's use of music in the home with their child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for building the capacity of families(GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen), 2014)Preschool aged children with disabilities including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) typically receive early childhood intervention services that adopt a family-centred approach to supporting child and family outcomes. Family-centred approaches aim to build the capacity of parents to support their child’s development immediately and into the future, and therefore offer parents a variety of resources. One indication of whether these resources have been relevant and useful to the family is to consider how well they have been incorporated into everyday life. This study surveyed 11 families of children with ASD aged 3- 6 years who were receiving music therapy as part of a broader study, and asked them to keep a journal of their use of the music experiences modelled within the sessions during their typical week. It is the first study to ask parents of children with ASD to quantify the time spent in music experiences. Results showed that families can and do use music to engage with their child with ASD, with a total median time of 2.8 hours per week recorded. The total average time comprised four categories of music experiences, including singing, singing and playing instruments, improvising with instruments, and listening to music. Of these, singing and listening to music were the most popular (37% each of the total time) and were best maintained at follow up. These results provide preliminary support demonstrating that music therapy could be a successful way to support capacity building in families by encouraging them to embed therapeutic music experiences into their daily life. Further and more detailed research is needed to investigate this central tenet of family-centred practice, particularly in regards to how families’ use of music experiences change over time.
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ItemNo Preview Available"We've got a special connection": qualitative analysis of descriptions of change in the parent-child relationship by mothers of young children with autism spectrum disorder(GRIEG ACADEMY, 2015-01-02)Young children with autism spectrum disorder face many developmental challenges, most notably in the area of reciprocal social interactions with family and peers. Collaborating with the families of these children in therapy sessions is fast becoming best practice in many countries. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 mothers who participated in family-centred music therapy sessions along with their child. The interview questions focussed on changes to the nature of the parent–child relationship. Analysis of the interviews identified three aspects of positive change to the parent–child relationship, namely: the quality of the relationship; the parents’ perception of the child and the parents’ response to the child. The changes in the relationship with their child were valued and cherished by all of the mothers, and understanding the impact a family-centred approach might have on the nature of the parent–child relationship needs further exploration.
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ItemMusic Therapy and the NDIS: Understanding music therapy as a reasonable and necessary support service for people with disability(Australian Music Therapy Association, 2016)This document results from the findings of a small scoping study conducted to develop a better understanding of the needs, perspectives, and goals of all stakeholders in the provision of music-based services within the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Interviews were conducted with 10 consenting participants (Registered Music Therapists, NDIS Plan Support Coordinators and a Parent of a Participant of the Scheme) with the content of these interviews forming the data used for analysis. With the study strongly highlighting a lack of community and sector understanding of music therapy, this document looks to stimulate discussion and solutions to broadening knowledge of the profession, particularly in relation to its existing implementation and future potential for people with disability under the NDIS, and as such is prepared on behalf of the Australian Music Therapy Association Inc. It is intended as a document of reference for the NDIA, Registered Music Therapists, Participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, their parents, carers and support workers.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableWorking with Families: Emerging Characteristics(Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableMusic in everyday life by parents with their children with autism(Taylor and Francis Group, 2016)Abstract of the 10th European Music Therapy Conference. Background: Music therapy has a long history in working with children with autism in both traditional settings and those which include working with the parents. Recent studies show that music therapy programs aimed at supporting parent–child interaction have resulted in significant gains in social communication skills of children with autism, and improved parental competency perception. However, little is known about the amount or type of musical play that parents engage in with their child with autism, or whether parents use music as a facilitator in certain daily situations. Objective: The Music in Everyday Life (MEL) assessment, developed by Gottfried and Thompson, was confirmed with evidences of validity to assess the use of music in everyday life by parents with their children with autism, and was used within a large multisite research project (TIME-A) in four countries. Discussion: This round table brings together four expert clinicians and researchers from four countries, who will present the research and clinical applications of the MEL assessment, focusing on Music-Oriented Counselling, Family-centred MT, MT-based DIR parent coaching, and using musical-play in parent counselling.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableMusic Therapy with Families: Therapeutic Approaches and Theoretical Perspectives(Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016-09-21)This comprehensive book describes well-defined models of music therapy for working with families in different clinical areas, ranging from families with special needs children or dying family members through to families in psychiatric or paediatric hospital settings.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableOptimising visual attention in children with autism spectrum disorder: a comparison of fixation distributions viewing singing and speech(Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, 2017-06-01)Purpose : Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk of social isolation and limited social development due to difficulties with gaze and visual attention to people. Studies have shown that children with ASD may prefer music to other stimuli. We hypothesised that a short video of a singer would elicit more attention to the performer, particularly to her face, than a video of her reading a story and that the child’s familiarity with the song and story would enhance attention. Methods : 16 children aged 7-10 (14 M, 2 F) with ASD took part. Stimuli were 4 videos 1 minute long. Content was a favourite song or story of the child, along with a song and story which were the same for all children. The performer, her clothing, lighting and sound level were the same across tasks. Props were a pair of drums for the songs and a storybook of similar size for the stories. Eye movements were recorded with an Eyelink 1000; areas of interest (AOIs) were defined for the face, prop and body. 3-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to examine the proportion of total dwell time, the proportion of total fixations and pupil area for each AOI in each trial. Results : For dwell time proportion, a significant interaction was found for familiarity*AOI (F=7.45, p=.004), with gaze time to the face being increased for familiar trials (Table 1). Similarly, medium*AOI was significant (F=6.01, p=.013), with increased gaze time to the face and body and decreased time to the prop for the songs (Table 2). The same patterns were seen for proportion of fixation counts to the AOIs (familiarity*AOI F=4.97, p =.016; medium*AOI F=10.33, p=.001). For the pupil, only familiarity and AOI were significant; pupils were larger for familiar stimuli (F=16.70, p=.001) and for the face and prop (F=6.8, p=.015), with the body eliciting less dilation. Conclusions : As hypothesised, the videos of singing attracted children's gaze to the performer more than did those of her reading a story. Familiarity with the material being performed also attracted more attention to her face. Familiarity and gaze to the face also increased arousal, as indexed by pupil dilation. Observation by children with ASD of a singer, particularly one performing their favourite songs, may be a useful intervention for improving their social engagement skills.
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ItemThe impact of blended learning on professional identity formation for post-graduate music therapy students(Australian Music Therapy Association, 2018)The expansion of technology use in higher education creates new opportunities to access music therapy training for people living in the vast country of Australia. The emergence of the blended learning (BL) study modality (an integration of online digital media and intensive face-to-face teaching) at the University of Melbourne offers the Master of Music Therapy course to students living in rural and interstate locations. While BL study has existed in healthcare training and education for several years, there is a scarcity of literature exploring the benefits and challenges of this mode of training for music therapy. This study aimed to identify and examine the impact of the BL program on professional identity formation of new music therapy graduates. A comparative study design exploring differences between the experiences of BL and traditional on-campus (OC) alumni was conducted. Forty-two music therapy graduates from the University of Melbourne completed a survey examining the impact of their study experiences on early professional identity formation. Survey results indicate no statistically significant differences between BL and OC graduates in the formation of early professional identity. Recommendations for researchers and educators are provided regarding areas of focus in professional identity formation in the BL mode for music therapy students.