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“I am a psychotherapeutically oriented music therapist”: theory construction and its influence on professional identity formation under the example of the Viennese School of Music Therapy

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 20; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/08098131003768115

1944-8260

Karin Mössler,

Neuroscience and Music Perception

Abstract Music therapists provide a variety of definitions about what music therapy is and how it is used, dependent on its development of theory construction, and the paradigms of the therapeutic community. Within the Viennese School of Music Therapy a psychotherapeutic approach is the leading paradigm, which has been determining the music therapeutic working modes, reflexions and terminology of the School since the 1980s. Two surveys have shown that the psychotherapeutic paradigm is able to strengthen as well as weaken concurrently one's music therapeutic identity. This author assumes that the upcoming obstructive effect on the professional identity formation can be referred to a missing reflexion of the musical frame of references in music therapy, and their connections to the psychotherapeutic mindsets within the present generation of music therapists. Accordingly, this article aims to define correlating paradigms between the musical background theories and the psychotherapeutic orientation within the Viennese music therapy due to a historical analysis of those theory constructions serving as main identification models within the last 50 years. Five correlating paradigms that link musical and psychotherapeutic backgrounds are going to be itemized. They are able to show essential mindsets in relationship-oriented music therapy. Keywords: Viennese School of Music Therapytheory constructionidentity formationpsychotherapeutic paradigmrelationship-orientationimpact of music Acknowledgments I would like to thank Monika Smetana, Eva Phan Quoc, Katharina Fuchs, Christian Gold, Leif Edvard Aaro, Mark Kramer, and Tor Olav Heldal for their feedback on an earlier version of this article. Notes 1Three generations of music therapists can be described for the Viennese School of Music Therapy: Pioneer Generation (1957–1980), Second Generation (1980–1992), Third Generation (1992–now) (Mössler, Citation2007). 2The self-experience part within the Viennese training consists of 90 hours individual training music therapy ("Einzellehrmusiktherapie") and 180 hours group training music therapy ("Gruppenlehrmusiktherapie"). Additional self-experience subjects are body self-experience ("Körperselbsterfahrung"), receptive music therapy ("Rezeptive Musiktherapie"). Supervision is a separate part of the training and not merged with the self-experience subjects. 3Quotation translated by Norbert Hartkamp. All other quotations from German-written references as well as the interview data are translated by the author. 4The main elements of the theory construction of each pioneer are always italicized. The described contents of the particular theory construction are dependent on the available crude data. Some of the pioneers couldn't be interviewed; some of them didn't publish a lot about their work. Thus, the reader will find descriptions of theory constructions being different in regard to their profundity. 5All pioneers, except Koffer-Ullrich, absolved their music therapy training in Vienna between 1959 and 1965. The course lasted six semesters, including a six-month clinical internship afterwards. 6In twentieth century Europe changes within art, philosophy, education, science, and society took place especially influencing the life and social structures within urban culture. Many of these changes were subsumed under the term reform movements (Fitzthum, 2003). For this article those changes within the reform movements related to music pedagogics are important and therefore specified.