Music Medicine: Books

Music, whether performed or heard, has been seen as therapeutic in the history of many cultures. How have its therapeutic properties been conceptualized and explained? Which cultures have used music therapy? What were their aims and techniques, and how much continuity is there between ancient, medieval and modern practice? These are the questions addressed by the essays in this volume. They focus on the place of music therapy in European intellectual, medical and musical traditions, from their classical roots to the development of the music therapy profession since the Second World War. Chapters covering the Judaic, Islamic, Indian and South-East Asian traditions add global, comparative perspectives.Music as Medicine is the first book to establish the whole shape of the history of music therapy in a systematic and scholarly way. It addresses the problem of defining what music therapy has meant in different cultures and periods, and sets the agenda for future research in the subject. It will appeal to a diverse readership of historians, musicologists, anthropologists, and practitioners.

This book brings together the professional experiences of eminent analytical music therapists from Europe and the USA. The book examines the origins and theory of AMT (including a contribution on the subject from Mary Priestley), before exploring its uses in various contexts. Chapters cover AMT in counselling and rehabilitation, with adults and children and with nonverbal clients. A concluding section discusses aspects of the training of music therapy students.Written by experienced and highly regarded analytic music therapists, and edited by Johannes Th. Eschen, one of the first ever AMT students, this book will be of interest to practitioners in many branches of music therapy and related disciplines.