Music therapists have described the importance of working collaboratively with family members in various populations throughout the history of the profession. Despite the growing amount of literature, not enough is known regarding the scope of theoretical perspectives and therapeutic approaches that guide family centered music therapy. The aim of this international survey study was to better understand the professional perspectives and approaches of music therapists who work with families around the world. This article presents the results of the survey where a total of 125 responses were analysed. Participants’ responses indicated that music therapy with families is well established as an important field of practice that includes a large range of populations across the life span. Music therapists working with families emphasise that the work is holistic and flexible, both in terms of the theoretical approaches that inform their work and the methods/techniques that are included in sessions. The participants in this study advocated for more continuing professional development opportunities to further deepen and develop their practice. In addition, the survey data offers priorities and recommendations for future research.

Purpose. This paper reports findings from a project that sought to develop accessible guidelines for including people with dementia in qualitative interviews in a music therapy study, based on experience from people previously involved in qualitative music therapy research. Method. People with previous experience of qualitative music therapy research were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews about how the interview process could be made more accessible. Participants included four family-caregivers and three music therapy-researchers. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings were used to develop guidelines for a subsequent study; reflections on the implementation of these guidelines are provided. Results. Five themes were identified: (a) motivators and barriers to participating in interviews; (b) pragmatic elements that impact interview participation; (c) relationship dynamics may impact the interview; (d) familiarity fosters comfort, enables preparation and support and (e) broader considerations for accessible research design. Conclusions. Themes identified align with reports from the extant literature. Reflections on implementation of the guidelines reveal the need for more clarity around the ethics of building rapport in qualitative research. Implications about future uses of the guidelines, including the use of music as a research tool are discussed.

This chapter presents a survey of research on the development and validation of a measure to assess instrumentalists’ ability to improvise music. It begins by framing efforts to distinguish between visual, aural, and creative forms of music performance, and the types of assessment tasks required to evaluate music performance improvisation. The chapter surveys a range of related measures that have been used to assess improvisational abilities in young developing musicians and provides a detailed description of the author’s own Test of Ability to Improvise (TAI) that he has used with beginning, intermediate, and advanced level school instrumentalists. Included also are examples of the instrumentalists’ improvisations and a discussion of the implications of the research findings for conceptions of musical development and practical applications within music education.

Sigman, M. and Kasari, C. (1995) 'Joint Attention Across Contexts in Normal and Autistic Children. ... Thompson, G. (2014) 'A survey of parent's use of music in the home with their child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for building the capacity of families. ... 5 Music-Oriented Counselling Model for Parents of Childen with Autism FAMILIES WITH PRESCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH ASD 115.

Introduction: This reflective paper offers a perspective on music therapy practice that explores how shared music experiences may provide opportunities for highly verbal children on the autism spectrum to expand their engagement in social play. Methods: Relevant literature from the fields of music therapy, child development, and the neurodiversity movement are discussed alongside the authors’ reflections on their work with children who bring verbal and gestural motifs into music therapy sessions. The case examples highlight moments where the music therapist transformed the child’s verbal and gestural material into interactive music-based games. Results: This paper proposes practice considerations for music therapists working with highly verbal children that centre around the therapist’s intention to support the child to interact with freedom and joy through musical play and foster relationships with others. These intersubjective moments within creative musical play experiences may create conditions for the child to explore different ways of being, interacting and communicating. Discussion: Musical games within the context of music therapy emphasise the relational value of a mutually created and shared world of meaning between the therapist and the child. The child’s verbal strengths are not simply acknowledged; they become the foundation for musical-play experiences that aim to expand their repertoire of social and relational experiences.

Everyday stressors—the irritating and disturbing events that happen in the context of everyday life—are common. The present research examined the relationship between everyday stressors and the use of music listening as a coping mechanism. In particular, it examined the use of music listening to cope with different types of everyday stressor and examined the relationship between this usage and listener characteristics, including demographics and music engagement style. Participants in the USA, Australia, and Malaysia ( N =553) completed an online survey. A factor analysis was used to identify five types of everyday stressor: Social, Financial, Performance Responsibilities, Work-related, and Daily Displeasures. Individuals listened to music significantly more often to cope with social and work-related stressors than performance responsibilities and daily displeasures. Moreover, individuals who demonstrated a stronger affective listening style and those who reported listening to music for emotion/problem-orientated and avoidance/disengagement reasons were found to listen to music most often to cope with everyday stressors. These findings have implications, for both listeners and health professionals, when considering how music listening can be used as a self-administered tool for coping with everyday stressors.

Background: This scoping review analyzed research about how music activities may affect participants' health and well-being. Primary outcomes were measures of health (including symptoms and health behaviors) and well-being. Secondary measures included a range of psychosocial processes such as arousal, mood, social connection, physical activation or relaxation, cognitive functions, and identity. Diverse music activities were considered: receptive and intentional music listening; sharing music; instrument playing; group singing; lyrics and rapping; movement and dance; and songwriting, composition, and improvisation. Methods: Nine databases were searched with terms related to the eight music activities and the psychosocial variables of interest. Sixty-three papers met selection criteria, representing 6,975 participants of all ages, nationalities, and contexts. Results: Receptive and intentional music listening were found to reduce pain through changes in physiological arousal in some studies but not others. Shared music listening (e.g., concerts or radio programs) enhanced social connections and mood in older adults and in hospital patients. Music listening and carer singing decreased agitation and improved posture, movement, and well-being of people with dementia. Group singing supported cognitive health and well-being of older adults and those with mental health problems, lung disease, stroke, and dementia through its effects on cognitive functions, mood, and social connections. Playing a musical instrument was associated with improved cognitive health and well-being in school students, older adults, and people with mild brain injuries via effects on motor, cognitive and social processes. Dance and movement with music programs were associated with improved health and well-being in people with dementia, women with postnatal depression, and sedentary women with obesity through various cognitive, physical, and social processes. Rapping, songwriting, and composition helped the well-being of marginalized people through effects on social and cultural inclusion and connection, self-esteem and empowerment. Discussion: Music activities offer a rich and underutilized resource for health and well-being to participants of diverse ages, backgrounds, and settings. The review provides preliminary evidence that particular music activities may be recommended for specific psychosocial purposes and for specific health conditions.

Mehrabian and Russell’s Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance model states that people’s interactions and interpretation of their surroundings result from variations in three factors – pleasure, arousal, and dominance. Applied to music, pleasure has been operationalized as how much a person likes the music heard, arousal as how arousing the person considers the music to be, and dominance as the person’s control over the music heard. However, conceptualizing dominance broadly as control means that the construct is not well defined. This research aimed to define the elements related to a listener’s desire for control over music encountered in everyday life. Participants residing in Australia and USA ( N = 590) completed an online questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis of the quantitative items identified five components defining control over music listening: “being personally in charge”, “selection by other people”, “contextual control”, “playback variety”, and “no need for control”. A thematic analysis of open-ended responses indicated additional facets of control including mood regulation, emotional investment, and identity. While the quantitative findings reaffirm previous research, the qualitative findings indicate previous conceptualizations of the control dimension have been limited. These results contribute to our understanding of the model’s dominance component with regard to explaining everyday music listening.

This chapter examines how Germany and China’s changed relationship after World War I and Germany’s forced decolonization affected representations of China in German opera through analysis of two operas. The first, Eugen d’Albert and M. Karlev’s Mister Wu (1930–1932), reconfigured the tropes of the Yellow Peril, reflecting the social upheavals experienced by Germany after the war and Germany’s new relationship with its former colonies. The second, Ernst Toch and Ferdinand Lion’s Der Fächer (The Fan, 1927–1930), transported a Chinese fairy tale to present-day Shanghai. Modern China becomes an allegorical site whose similarities to Germany are a means of exploring Germany’s new postwar identity. However, this portrayal also subtly positioned Germany in a dominant role, anticipating post-World War II neocolonialism.

This exploratory study engages with eight case studies of music performances broadcast online to investigate the role of music in facilitating social cohesion, intercultural understanding and community resilience during a time of social distancing and concomitant heightened racial tensions. Using an online ethnographic approach and thematic analysis of video comments, the nature of audience engagement with music performances broadcast via YouTube during COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 is explored through the lens of ritual engagement with media events and models of social capital. The eight case studies featured virtual choirs, orchestras and music collaborations of various genres, including classical, pop and fusion styles drawing from European, Asia Minor, South African, West African, North African, Arabic, South Asian, and East Asian cultural origins. Five overarching themes resulted from thematic analysis of video comments, including Interaction, Unity, Resilience, Identity, and Emotion. The paper contributes important theorisation that ritual engagement and social learning fosters intercultural understanding through engaging with music both cognitively and emotionally, which can in turn shape both individual and collective identity. Online platforms provide scope for both bonding and bridging opportunities. Community resilience is supported through the sharing of knowledge, sustaining music practice during social distancing, as well as emotional support shared among audience participants, with potential wellbeing outcomes.