Music Therapy

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how music has been used in healing, ritual, and shamanic activities in cultures throughout the world and the connection between these uses of music and music therapy. The paper further examines whether ritual is a form of therapy, and whether music therapists are analogous to modern-days shamans, or whether there are fundamental differences of culture and values. The writer concludes with ways that therapists in contemporary society can learn from the way that other societies have used, and continue to use, music.

From the Paper:

"In therapy, however, the therapist attempts to provide not the voice of a past culture, but of the present state of the patient. Listening or making music can be one tool in helping explore the patient's view of his or her past and future. The therapist helps the patient see his or her personal past anew, and to move into the future with a clearer vision of his or her ego. However, rather than entering a trance, the patient tries to see the world as it is, and hopefully grow more articulate about what is troubling his or her mind."

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