Even Ruud

Community Music Therapy

A whole discourse called 'community music therapy' is evolving
gradually in the field of music therapy. Community music therapy is
a way of thinking and thinking about music therapy, and takes into account the
broader cultural, institutional, and social context. The approach involves a taking of
awareness of the system in which music therapists work means that the
music therapy not only targets the individual, but often seeks to change the
system that is sometimes part of the client's situation.

Researching the history of music therapy may reveal that this idea is not
completely new. In many countries, there has been a tradition for therapists
who work within community mental health systems, especially
since the seventies in the United States and in many European countries. In
Great Britain has also had a tradition among musicians of bringing art to
the community and give representations as a kind of social service. This has
is labeled as 'Community music' (see Ansdell 2002).

As Stige (2003: 124) also comments, it may happen that this idea is not
absolutely new. Examining the tradition of music therapy with a focus on
musical healing in indigenous cultures will reveal that often, all the
the community can be involved in the musical rituals related to the
healing (see Gouk 2000).

Some music therapists may then seek the new in this development, and
Maybe they only see the links to the traditional practice of music therapy. Others
you can notice how this community-oriented approach is transforming not
not only the objectives, the vocabulary, or the language of music therapy, but also
real practice. An approach to the use of music in therapy that is sensitive to
cultures and contexts speak more of acts of Solidarity and Social Change. It tells
music stories like Identity Construction, as a means to
Empower. A community music therapy discusses how to humanize
communities and institutions, it is concerned about the Promotion of Health and the
Mutual Care.
Definitions

Knneth Bruscia, in 'Defining Music Therapy' from 1998, aimed to describe

different areas of music therapy practice, included a chapter on
"Ecological practices". Bruscia writes that the main focus here is "to promote
health within and among the various layers of the sociocultural community and/or the
"physical environment" (Bruscia 1998: 229). Bruscia specifies further:

This includes all the work that focuses on family, the workplace, the community,
society, culture or the physical environment, whether because the health of the ecological unit is in
risk and therefore needs intervention or because the unit causes in some way or contributes
to the health problems of its members. Efforts to train are also included,
build or support communities through music therapy. Therefore, this area of practice
broaden the notion of 'client' to include a community, environment, ecological context, or individual
whose health problem is of an ecological nature. Therefore, helping the person to be more
health is not considered a separate enterprise from the improvement of health in the ecological context
in which the individual lives, but also helps to make the entire ecological context healthier.
A company separate from the health improvement of its members, and helping the individual and the
Ecology relating harmoniously makes both healthier.

Bruscia emphasizes how the so-called 'systems theory' is an influential philosophy.

in this area of practice. In the 20th century, as a result of the influences of the
The theory of information and communication was gradually understood.
how phenomena in the world or in a field of study are
interrelated. What has emerged under the label of System Theory is a
approach within science that is concerned with how we are
interacting with the world. System theory suggests an alternative to
traditional cause and effect model within science, that is, a model
circular to understand how phenomena interact. The systems theory was
influenced by cybernetics that concerns itself with regulation and control
(feedback) of movements within different types of systems. The
Influential scientists were Norbert Wiener and Ludwing von Bertalanffy. A
an important principle was formulated by the latter when he described how the whole
is bigger than the sum of its parts: When I see with my two eyes, I see more
twice as good as with just one eye. Also, I have depth perception
and I can judge the distance (see also Kenny 1989).
The traditional form

When music therapy was reinvented as a modern profession in the field.

In the last century, they affiliated with established institutions and ideologies. The
Music therapy was incorporated into university programs and the initiation of
research within the paradigm of natural sciences where the relationship
between a client and a therapist was focused within this established framework. The
therapy was carried out within medical or special educational frameworks and music
became a means to establish and regulate the basic therapeutic relationship.
For many years, music therapy seemed less concerned about the
larger social forces or cultural contexts. Music therapists
they insisted on the boundaries between their discipline and others, such as music education,
community musical practices or alternative healing medicines.

Therefore, music therapy was conducted within the institution, in the 'space of
music therapy" (Music Therapy room). There were few links to the outside world; a
sometimes even other children, the parents and siblings did not take part in the therapy. The
the biomedical model of disease did not allow for questioning how the conditions
social and material, social networks or cultural contexts could be taken into account
account for setting therapeutic goals. Systemic thinking has not yet
developed within music therapy.

A 'new music therapy'

Little by little, music therapists have realized that poor health

and disabilities must be viewed in their entirety, as part of the systems
social and integrated into material processes. People get sick, sometimes not
due to physical processes, but because they become impotent due to ignorance and the
lack of understanding. Music therapists have come to see how their
tool, music, can be a unique tool to engage
other people, to empower and make visible those who due to
his poor health and disability have lost access to symbols and
significant expressions, so important in every culture. The
Music therapists are now on the path to using music to close the gap.
among people and communities, to create a space to make music and
share artistic and human values.
Music therapists are increasingly working with communities.
whole. They not only work with individual problems, but also focus on
systemic problems, how music can build networks, provide means
symbolic for disadvantaged people or use music to empower
subordinate groups. Music has to become a social resource again,
way to heal and strengthen communities, as well as individuals. The
music therapists will soon become health agents who can
teach people to take care of their own health needs through
music. Music! Therefore, it will be seen as a kind of 'behavior'
"immunological," that is to say, a healthy practice, in the same spirit as Pythagoras.
when he practiced his music at the root of Our culture.

Three examples from Norway

To illustrate some of the recent trends within music therapy

community, I will give three examples from Norway. First of all, it should be noted that
music therapy in Norway, since its inception in 1970, has always been concerned
for larger cultural issues. This was significant about how it
they conceived the concepts of health, illness, and therapy, and how music was
understood as a cultural concept (Ruud 1990).

First of all, music therapy was defined as 'the use of music to give to
new possibilities for action" (Ruud 1990). Then it was thought about how
the 'disease' not only referred to the biological situation of the individual, but also
it should be seen as a situation in which the location of the
people in society. Finally, it became important for music therapy in
Norway builds its practice on the prevailing musical codes in the
society. It was considered that basic communication was the need to use
music that resonates with the music therapist involved with the cultural group.
This meant, for example, that amateur musical activity, the bands of
rock or children's music often served as the starting point for the
popular music.

The first example, taken from Stige (2002, 2003), will illustrate how the music of
therapist can involve the community at large in their planning for the
music therapy. As early as the eighties, Stige initiated a music therapy project
that aimed to integrate people with mental disabilities into the
society. He noticed how people with such disabilities were segregated from
the communal musical life. They did not participate in the activity of the local band and,
therefore, they were unable to share the resources inherent to musical life that
they can provide full membership. In addition to providing these people
disability the necessary musical resources to participate in the activity
communal music, Stige also had to work on the attitudes and practices that
prevail in local musical groups. Installing performance projects to
short term that involved all groups, he managed to break some of
the limits that keep the mentally disabled isolated or segregated from
the general local life. In this case, working through the expression of music
The local music band became a central issue.

The other example involves music therapist Venja Ruud Nilsen, who through a
number of years has been working with female inmates in a women's prison.
Nilsen has been offering weekly band rehearsals with the inmates. This to
through the years it led to a rock band culture within this group,
what it means is that many of these women have now become quite
competent as musicians. Nilsen also offers participation in groups or
rock bands when the woman is released from prison. As we know from the
criminal care policy, this type of support activities are crucial for
survival and to keep people away from drugs and out of prisons
these people.

The last example is taken from the work of Trygve Aasgaard (Aasgaard 2000,
2002), who in her doctoral research has demonstrated how music can be
to apply within the hospital among children with severe illnesses to
establish a culture of creativity in the hospital rooms. He used the resource of
creation of songs with hospitalized children due to cancer. Then he studied how the
the life of these songs composed by the child and the therapist affected not only the
life and the child's situation, but all their relationship with the nursing staff, the
families and friends of the child at home. Organizing the songs for the choir
and the staff band, the medical staff could interact with the children with
another modality. Children not only regressed in their role as "sick," but
they were seen as small composers, able to express and communicate their
situation through artistic means.

In all these examples, we can witness how music therapists do not

they approach the individual in isolation, but also society as a whole
large or the institutional context may be involved in their work. All
They used well-established and known musical forms within the culture.
of the people they are working with. Their work also involves others
people in the client system: doctors, nurses, neighbors, parents or
friends. Their 'clients' are not just the individual involved, but extend to
larger units, such as local communities or hospital wards. The
music therapy does not stop in the music room, but measures are taken
concrete ways to build links to other people in the systems in which the
clients participate.

Cultural issues in music therapy

Ecological practices or community music therapy challenge the limits

traditional and definitions of music therapy. Take seriously how culture
informs our ways of perceiving therapeutic needs, seeks
develop new perspectives, role identities, and ways of doing
music therapy. In fact, this is vitalizing ideas for society.

Some of us who entered music therapy during the seventies,

We had the idea of how music can become an important factor in the
social change (see Ruud 1988). We saw music therapy as a direction
towards life, as a social movement, in addition to a profession of
treatment. Although we had no way to express this idea clearly, this
idea "dyed" our ways of doing and theorizing music therapy. Today we
We are witnessing how music therapists are crossing boundaries.
between 'therapy' and 'community music'. We can see how it is carried to the
music therapy the recovery of some of the original functions of music
in our culture.

Ethnomusicology has shown how music exists in one form or another in

All human cultures also seem to have music as an important role.
regulator in culture about the place of the individual in cosmology, in rituals
of healing, educational environments or in the building of relationships and networks. In the
contemporary society, although many of the previous functions of the
music may have become less obvious, music seems to serve a whole
series of functions that range from social control for maintenance
ideological within the institutions of religion, politics, and art. More and more,
sociologists and music psychologists also report on the power of music
every day to energize our lives, to prepare ourselves emotionally
to cope with the technologized world (DeNora 2000, Juslin and Sloboda
2001).
Although music always covered the everyday needs of our culture,
such needs and functions were gradually placed in the background. Since
From the 18th century onwards, we saw the establishment of a musical aesthetic that insisted
in the purity and uncontaminated contemplation of the musical artwork as
paradigmatic relationship with music. Music was taken out of life.
everyday and cultivated in concert halls and conservatories. The result
it has been a highly elitist form of art, ideologically separated from the
low culture through an aesthetic discourse where music is constructed
as autonomous and universal, complex and original.

Something was lost when music became a form of art within a

aesthetic that unravels from everyday life and separates into its own sphere.
Music became instrumental and does not intend to serve
no practical purpose in life. This process may have come to an end.
Within the postmodern climate, the process of differentiation and fragmentation, which
characterize modernity came together with a process of integration and a
search for integrity. We are witnessing how the arts are taken
in marketing and medicine.

The postmodern climate, which challenges musical education and public support for
arts, has led to a more inclusive attitude towards the value of musical forms
popular. The boundaries between high and low are no longer easily justified.

At the same time, music sociologists and music psychologists are

discovering how people use music to regulate and control their
emotional behavior (DeNora 2000) and they address their needs of
health through music (Ruud 2002). Music is used for the
construction of identity (Ruud 1997), relaxation, to cope with stress,
to relieve pain or to regulate sleep patterns. People bring their
own soundtracks in their personal stereo to regulate their moods
and care (Bull 2000).

Music as a cultural immunogen

It may sound trivial to claim that music is a type of technology, a medium of
to achieve something beyond oneself, in this case, better health. DeNora applies the
the concept of 'affordance' to argue how music can allow certain
types of uses or interpretations. The term 'affordance' is used according to the
Gibson's ecological approach to perception. In relation to music therapy,
we could say that music has a phenomenological profile (Sloboda and Juslin
2001) that allows the effect to emerge (see Clarke 2003, DeNora 2000). This
It may again be due to the launch of partnerships or references.
externally made by music, or our structural expectations within the
the same music. This emotional impact of music can be used in various
contexts related to the promotion and maintenance of health.

When music sociologists began to talk to people,

in addition to theorizing about the relationship between music and society, it was made
It is evident that music serves the entire spectrum of daily needs. As
the British music sociologist Tia DeNora, with psychology researchers
musical and cultural studies, observes that music is present in a
variety of social and personal contexts where the mood is
regulated, attention is focused and energy is channeled (DeNora, 2000). The
music creates an emotional and cognitive context that is conducive to a feeling
of well-being, a state of alertness or relaxation according to needs
of the situation. Sociologically speaking, to music is a way of regulating the
relationship between the person and the situation, between our psychological state and the
demands that come from our environment.

Arguing along this line, we could say that music plays a role in
our lives like other behaviors or habits prescribed by the
health authorities and the media in order to regulate
our lives towards better health. Of course, when it comes to promotion
health, the greatest attention is directed towards physical exercise, food, drugs,
alcohol habits or sexual behavior (Taylor, 1995; Ogden, 2000). Inside
from the emerging field of health psychology, the study of
health behavior sometimes focuses on behaviors that
can protect health, called 'immunogenic behavior'
(Matarazzo, 1984, in Ogden, 2000: 13). I can see no reason why
we could not conceive music as a form of behavioral immunogen or
cultural along with other behavioral immunogens such as brushing our teeth, the
use of seat belts, good sleep habits, etc.
If we link this cultural practice with the practice of music therapy.
community-based, could argue that music therapy, as a field of study,
has the responsibility to point out how music can be a part
important for the planning and promotion of health, both for the individual
like for society in general.

I believe these ideas should be incorporated into the training that the
Music therapists provide society with information about the effects
harmful effects of sound, such as environmental noise pollution and its effects
damaging due to excessively high volume.

Health and quality of life

It seems that there are two main conceptions of 'health' within the discourse.
common. In a biomedical context, being in a state of health is understood as
live without illness. Many people, however, when asked
about your personal understanding of the concept, they relate this concept to health
in the vacuum (Ogden, 2000: 43). Likewise, people tend to think of 'health'
as a state of being that implies a certain surplus of energy, a state of
positive wellbeing, not a state of absence of disease.

This more positive sense of health tends to equate "health" with "quality of
"life," which is also a concept quite poorly defined in the field of
medicine and psychological health. (For a discussion, see Ogden, 2000, Chapter 14).
As I have argued elsewhere (Ruud, 1998, Chapter 4; Ruud, 2001)
our perception of the quality of life has many subjective dimensions and
is open to the values projected from various professions. The orientation
The ethics of each profession is based on different sets of fundamental values.
and these values are what stand out when we face problems
related to quality of life. Doctors value and protect the body and the
In life, social workers are concerned about democratic distribution.
of welfare goods, while psychologists are fundamentally
worried about human rights and dignity.

Similarly, I would suggest that music has value in relation to our

quality of life. This has to do with music such as:

a) provider of vitality, that is, stimulation and emotional expression,

b) tool to develop agency and empowerment,
c) resource in the construction of social networks,
d) way of providing meaning and coherence in life (see Ruud, 1998).

A future Music Therapy/A future for Music Therapy

Perhaps this is the moment when music therapy steps out of its marginal position.
to assume a more central role in society. Music therapy can
to occupy the same political space as other groups, like the new ones
social movements, youth subcultures and the identities associated with
New Age that has come to articulate alternative futures for society
It could be that music therapy, by aligning with others
music-making practices could vitalize healing functions,
empowerment and self-regulation of music. Thus, music therapy could
recovering music back into everyday life, as a central force in
humanize culture.
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