Music Technology in Therapeutic and Health Settings

Wendy Magee

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780857005700
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy
• Index: Psychology

There is a rapidly emerging and developing area of music therapy practice that uses electronic music technologies in a range of therapeutic and clinical settings to help clients with complex needs. This edited volume explains cutting edge technologies and how to apply these tools in practice.

With contributions from leading experts in the field, the book takes the reader through the equipment that is available including computer-based software; electronic devices which produce musical sounds with minimal movement or skill; assistive devices such as switches and sensors; and recording and listening equipment. Clinical case studies are then offered that show these technologies being used successfully with a broad range of child and adult populations, including those with visual impairments, autism spectrum disorders, medical needs, physical challenges, and mental health issues, and within a variety of settings, including a neonatal intensive care unit, schools, hospital environments, and palliative care settings. The final section looks toward the future and examines philosophical and theoretical perspectives on the use of technology and its relationship to aesthetics, gender and identity.

This book will be a key resource for all music therapists, special needs educators, and professionals from the field of assistive technology, as well as allied health professionals such as occupational therapists and speech and language therapists.

PART 1

Background and Overview
to Technology and Its Use in
Therapeutic Contexts

Chapter 1

Setting the Scene

An Overview of the Use of Music Technology in Practice

Susan Hadley, Nicole Hahna, Vern Miller, and Michelle Bonaventura1

The Historical Context

In this chapter, we will describe the rapid expansion and availability of digital technologies, and the current uses of and attitudes towards music technology in music therapy primarily in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US. This will provide a framework for the chapters that follow.

This chapter is based on the results of an international survey of music therapists that was part of a collaborative undergraduate student–faculty research study. The students, who were interested in learning about innovative ways to use music technology in the clinical setting, were the catalyst for this study. Given that the students had more experience in the use of music technology than the faculty, and given that the faculty had more experience in clinical applications and research strategies, this collaborative environment was one in which all parties were teachers and students, allowing for new knowledge, growth, and insight for all of the authors. Interestingly, Cevasco and Hong (2011) similarly found that while music therapy students and interns had greater access to music technology than their professional counterparts, “they [were] not using these devices as much for clinical use” which “might be due to the maturational process of acquiring skills in the clinical setting” (p. 71). Therefore, collaboration between music therapists (or music therapy faculty members with clinical experience) and students with music technology experience might be a promising model for clinical training.

This collaborative approach to learning (Wenger, 1998) is especially useful when one considers the exponential growth over the past few decades in digital technology in general and music technology in particular (Holmes, 2008; Williams and Webster, 2008). By music technology, we are referring to the activation of, playing of, amplification of, recording of, and transcription of music through electronic/digital means. Over the past 30 years, we have seen music technology become digital (Leider, 2004), more robust (Holmes, 2008), and more compact (Hosken, 2011). Developments in computer technology, such as personal computers and the use of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) (Huber, 2007; Williams and Webster, 2008), have assisted music technology in becoming much more portable and accessible in homes (Huber, 2007) and in clinical settings (Cevasco and Hong, 2011; Krout, 1994).

The rapid growth in digital technology has had a variety of effects. On the one hand, this growth has meant that instead of being accessible to only “an elite few, [it is] now infused into many aspects of our contemporary society…[including] on our desks, laps, wrists, belts, and even in our pockets” (Nagler, 1998, p.41). On the other hand, due to the rate at which digital technologies progress, it seems as though no sooner does a new digital technology come on the market than it becomes obsolete (Hosken, 2011). Given the rapid growth in music technology, it is no wonder that some music therapists do not feel that they have the skills to incorporate newer forms of music technology into their practice. Furthermore, given the fact that many music therapy educators to date may not have grown up immersed in the digital age, it is not surprising that, in general, music therapists have not been adequately prepared in terms of using digital music technology in clinical practice (Magee, 2006).

In order to understand the wide variety of ways that technology has been used in music therapy to date, we examined the music therapy literature in order to ascertain the variety of ways that technology has been employed in music therapy clinical practice, research, and education. We chose to focus our literature review on the most commonly used forms of music technology, as described by the participants of the study, including digital and electronic music technology. We will begin this section with a brief overview of uses of music technology within the field of music therapy.

Technology for Assessment and Evaluation

In music therapy, digital technology has been used in assessment and evaluation, treatment, and research. In terms of assessment and evaluation, the literature shows a trend from using computers merely to organize and analyze quantitative data towards the development of tools designed by music therapists to meet the specific needs of clinicians who collect, organize, and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data sources. In the early 1980s, music therapists were using computers to organize data, that is, to collect and analyze behavioral interactions that were observed in clinical treatment (Hasselbring and Duffus, 1981). During the 1980s, music therapists began using computer-assisted charting programs that were not developed by music therapists, such as SCRIBE, AIMSTAR, and EMTEK (Hasselbring and Duffus, 1981; Crowe and Rio, 2004; Streeter, 2010). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lee (2000) utilized computer notation software in order to transcribe music therapy improvisations for the purpose of analysing the musical elements of client–therapist interactions. By the mid 1990s, CAMTAS, a computer-aided music therapy analysis system that organizes data collected from audio and video recordings of music created on electronic and acoustic instruments electronically linked to a central computer, was developed in order to track the physical activity of clients engaging in musical improvisation over a selected time interval and then to compare progress over sessions (Hunt et al., 2000; Verity, 2003).

At the turn of the century, Gallagher and Steele (2001) described the development and use of a computerized database for the purpose of evaluating music therapy clinical treatment with 90 palliative care patients. By 2010, there were several new software programs that had been were developed by music therapists: The Individual Music Therapy Assessment Profile (IMTAP), which is a software program designed to collect and manage data from music therapy assessments with pediatric and adolescent clients (Baxter et al., 2007); the Music Therapy Toolbox, which is an open-source software program designed to analyse MIDI recordings in music therapy (Erkkilä, 2007); the MAWii music therapy system, which is an open-source software program that analyses data collected from virtual instruments that are accessed through the use of Wiimotes (Benveniste, Jouvelot, and Michel, 2009a, Benveniste et al., 2009b); the Music-therapy Analyzing Partitura (MAP), a software program designed to describe music therapy events qualitatively (Gilboa, 2007); and the Music Therapy Logbook, a prototype developed with the purpose of collecting and storing data from music recordings of both acoustic and MIDI instruments and for performing both quantitative and qualitative analyses of this data (Streeter, 2010).

Music Technologies Used in Treatment

Music technology has been used in all the methods of music therapy treatment: receptive, recreative, movement, compositional, and improvisational. In terms of receptive methods, music technology has been utilized to aid in song selection in work with a woman diagnosed with Rett syndrome (Miller, 2010), to stimulate non-nutritive sucking in premature infants (Standley and Whipple, 2003b), and in vibroacoustic therapy (Skille, 1989; Wigram, 1997). In terms of recreative methods, assistive devices such as switches and control devices have been utilized with people with physical disabilities (Benveniste, et al., 2009a, 2009b; Corrêa et al., 2009; Hunt and Kirk, 1997; Magee and Burland, 2008; Nagler, 1998). Music technology has also been utilized in order to promote movement and greater range of motion (Paul and Ramsey, 1998; Ramsey, 2011; Tam et al., 2007). In terms of compositional methods, music technology has been utilized in composing music/rap (Hadley and Yancy, 2011; Lightstone, 2011; MacDonald and Viega, 2011) and for creating audio-visual biographies (Hadley and Miller, 2009). In order to help people with physical disabilities gain greater freedom in clinical improvisation, music therapists have developed ways of mapping MIDI controllers to such programs as MIDIgrid and Ableton Live (Hunt and Kirk, 1997; Miller, 2010). Music technology has been used clinically in terms of improvising rap (Lightstone, 2004). Medical technology has also been utilized by music therapists to measure physiological responses such as heart rate, respiration rate, galvanic skin response, oxygenation levels, and blood pressure since the 1930s in clinical work (Crowe and Rio, 2004; Go, 2007; Standley and Whipple, 2003a).

Music Technology and its Place in Music Therapy Training

In terms of music therapy education, there has been very little to date in the literature about training students in the use of technology. Crowe and Rio (2004) state that most music schools now offer music and technology courses, which most music therapy students take as part of their degree requirements. These courses are designed to teach music writing, music arranging, MIDI applications, music recording, and computer-aided music instruction. Some music therapy educators do integrate music technology into the music therapy curriculum, but there is little in the literature about this. Crowe and Rio (2004) state that music therapy education should address seven areas of technology: (1) adapted musical instruments; (2) music recording technology; (3) electric/electronic musical instruments; (4) music technology software programs; (5) medical technology; (6) assistive technology for people with disabilities; and (7) technology based music/sound healing practices. Furthermore, they advocate for greater consistency in educational programs in terms of “what is taught and how music therapy students…acquire skills in these areas” (Crowe and Rio, 2004, p. 305).

In 2006, Magee surveyed music therapists in the UK to determine their attitudes towards and experiences with music technology in their clinical work. Of the respondents, only 30 percent of music therapists said that they had us...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Of Related Interest
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword by Dr David W. Ramsey
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Part 1 Background and Overview to Technology and Its Use in Therapeutic Contexts
• Part 2 Music Technology in Therapeutic Contexts with Children and Adolescents
• Part 3 Music Technology in Therapeutic Contexts with Adults
• Part 4 Theory, Research, and Practice: Future Directions for Music Technology in Therapeutic Contexts
• Contributors