How could Community Music Therapy be described and defined? What characteristics of human nature and late modern culture indicate the relevance of Community Music Therapy? What preliminary descriptors could be developed for Community Music Therapy practice? What are the implications for the discipline and profession of music therapy?

These are the questions addressed in this book, which uses reflective elaboration of practical examples and theoretical (re)sources – including insights from Culture-Centered Music Therapy (Stige, 2002) – in the pursuit of a notion of Community Music Therapy. After the introduction of topic (Chapter 1) and meta-methodological considerations (Chapter 2), a broad range of literature resources are examined as a foundation for the elaboration of a metatheoretical platform from which the history, importance, and significance of Community Music Therapy can be accounted for (Chapters 3 to 5). The case examples presented in Chapters 6 and 7 are analyzed from several interlocking perspectives, each time adding up to a further step in the overall theoretical project of the study. A Context-inclusive Model of Music Therapy Processes, which challenges conventional music therapy theories and practices, is developed in Chapter 8, before the final Chapters 9 and 10 synthesize the various perspectives and material taken in pursuit of provisional answers to the four research questions.

How could Community Music Therapy be described and defined? What characteristics of human nature and late modern culture indicate the relevance of Community Music Therapy? What preliminary descriptors could be developed for Community Music Therapy practice? What are the implications for the discipline and profession of music therapy?

These are the questions addressed in this book, which uses reflective elaboration of practical examples and theoretical (re)sources – including insights from Culture-Centered Music Therapy (Stige, 2002) – in the pursuit of a notion of Community Music Therapy. After the introduction of topic (Chapter 1) and meta-methodological considerations (Chapter 2), a broad range of literature resources are examined as a foundation for the elaboration of a metatheoretical platform from which the history, importance, and significance of Community Music Therapy can be accounted for (Chapters 3 to 5). The case examples presented in Chapters 6 and 7 are analyzed from several interlocking perspectives, each time adding up to a further step in the overall theoretical project of the study. A Context-inclusive Model of Music Therapy Processes, which challenges conventional music therapy theories and practices, is developed in Chapter 8, before the final Chapters 9 and 10 synthesize the various perspectives and material taken in pursuit of provisional answers to the four research questions.

This book provides the foundation for clinical practice in psychiatry, while also offering models and techniques of working with this population. 2002 (ISBN 1-89127833-9) 261 pages, $36.

The book is fundamentally practical in its orientation and focuses on the application of clinical musicianship throughout. The recordings communicate a music-centered approach and exemplify creative dynamics and dimensions in piano and vocal technique. Musical proficiencies are identified. The implementation and effects of a wide variety of musical resources and styles are explored. The authors present their work in five sections:

Part 1: The philosophy of their approach centering around the concept of the Music Child
Part 2: Comprehensive case studies tracing the developmental processes of five children demonstrating very different conditions, needs, and responses. The evolution of improvisational technique is described in detail in each case.
Part 3: Illustrations, descriptions, and discussions of clinical and musical technique broadly and in detail.
Part 4: Three scales of evaluation and assessment augment the understanding of processes in music therapy in the areas of the development of Relationship, Musical Communicativeness, and Musicing itself. The scales offer a taxonomy of interactive musical involvement.
Part 5: Improvisation exercises, techniques, and idiomatic styles and resources

The revision was made by Clive Robbins in collaboration with colleagues in the Nordoff-Robbins Centers in New York, London, and Australia. 2007 ( 516 pages plus 4 CDs).

Part 1 presents frameworks in which to view the integration of emotions, music, and the therapeutic process. There is a description of the architecture of emotions and an examination of the evolutionary and anthropological roots of music and emotions. Part 2 provides the psycho physiological foundations of music and emotions, considers how they operate in personality development, and draws implications for clinical practice. Part 3 present strategies for integrating an emotion focus in clinical music therapy. There is an exploration into the isomorphism of music and emotions and the use of aesthetic language and synesthesia to represent the sublime essence of affective experiences. The use of music therapy techniques to develop emotional intelligence is presented as well as an examination of major music therapy approaches (Creative Music Therapy; Analytically-Oriented Music Therapy, Guided Imagery & Music) from an emotional perspective. The last part of the book considers the professional identity of the music therapist and how knowledge of emotions research can be useful in communicating from a scientist-artist approach.

John Pellitteri, Ph.D. has many years of music therapy experience in various programs for children with disabilities. He holds licenses as a created art therapist and a psychologist in New York State. Dr. Pellitteri is currently an associate professor and the director of the graduate program in counseling at Queens College, City University of New York. His research and scholarly work focuses on emotional intelligence and has been presented at both regional and international conferences.

Part 1 presents frameworks in which to view the integration of emotions, music, and the therapeutic process. There is a description of the architecture of emotions and an examination of the evolutionary and anthropological roots of music and emotions. Part 2 provides the psycho physiological foundations of music and emotions, considers how they operate in personality development, and draws implications for clinical practice. Part 3 present strategies for integrating an emotion focus in clinical music therapy. There is an exploration into the isomorphism of music and emotions and the use of aesthetic language and synesthesia to represent the sublime essence of affective experiences. The use of music therapy techniques to develop emotional intelligence is presented as well as an examination of major music therapy approaches (Creative Music Therapy; Analytically-Oriented Music Therapy, Guided Imagery & Music) from an emotional perspective. The last part of the book considers the professional identity of the music therapist and how knowledge of emotions research can be useful in communicating from a scientist-artist approach.

John Pellitteri, Ph.D. has many years of music therapy experience in various programs for children with disabilities. He holds licenses as a created art therapist and a psychologist in New York State. Dr. Pellitteri is currently an associate professor and the director of the graduate program in counseling at Queens College, City University of New York. His research and scholarly work focuses on emotional intelligence and has been presented at both regional and international conferences.

The book is fundamentally practical in its orientation and focuses on the application of clinical musicianship throughout. The recordings communicate a music-centered approach and exemplify creative dynamics and dimensions in piano and vocal technique. Musical proficiencies are identified. The implementation and effects of a wide variety of musical resources and styles are explored. The authors present their work in five sections:

Part 1: The philosophy of their approach centering around the concept of the Music Child
Part 2: Comprehensive case studies tracing the developmental processes of five children demonstrating very different conditions, needs, and responses. The evolution of improvisational technique is described in detail in each case.
Part 3: Illustrations, descriptions, and discussions of clinical and musical technique broadly and in detail.
Part 4: Three scales of evaluation and assessment augment the understanding of processes in music therapy in the areas of the development of Relationship, Musical Communicativeness, and Musicing itself. The scales offer a taxonomy of interactive musical involvement.
Part 5: Improvisation exercises, techniques, and idiomatic styles and resources

The revision was made by Clive Robbins in collaboration with colleagues in the Nordoff-Robbins Centers in New York, London, and Australia. 2007 ( 516 pages plus 4 CDs).

This compelling story of the author’s life in music therapy is told with honesty, compassion, and insight and serves equally as a personal history and the history of creative music therapy. The story begins in Clive’s childhood as he describes the role of music in his life in the family bakery in which he was raised. We move through his adolescent years and his time in the British Royal Air Force during World War II and on to his life at Sunfield Children’s Home where his work with Paul Nordoff began. The narrative details their early discoveries, the inception of their creative approach, their subsequent travels throughout Europe, and the establishment of their work in the Philadelphia area. The book continues with Clive’s teamwork with his wife Carol in Australia, their groundbreaking work with the hearing-impaired, and their founding of the Nordoff-Robbins Center at New York University. The book concludes with an examination of the worldwide dissemination of this work and its intertwined role in the global development of music therapy. 2005 (ISBN 1-891278-31-2), 142 pages, $34.