Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy
Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy is an open access peer-reviewed journal inviting diverse perspectives on music therapy practice, profession and discipline. As an English-Greek publication, Approaches fosters interdisciplinary dialogue bridging local and global aspects of music, health and wellbeing.
Musical leadership: Reflections on a music therapy pilot project for students at a special school
This article details a service evaluation of a leadership project facilitated by a music therapist in a special school in London. Using principles of community music therapy and resource-oriented music therapy, a collaborative project was set up where older students in the school delivered music sessions to a younger class group. The music therapist, staff and parents were interviewed based on selected video clips and stills of the sessions. Their reflections were recorded, transcribed and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Analysis highlighted two core themes: 1) Improvements in confidence, focus, independence, leadership and life skills for the older students, and 2) Indications that the younger children may not have benefitted as much as the older students. Suggestions for similar future projects are also summarised. The findings highlight how a flexible and dynamic approach to music therapy can benefit a school community, as well as the challenges that present in supporting children of different ages and with different needs. Collaboration, participation and valuing of strengths and resources was at the core of this project.
Copyright (c) 2026 Emma Millard, Hannah Maillardet, Ergina Sampathianak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Arts therapies research and practice with persons on the autism spectrum: Colourful hatchlings (Aithal & Karkou, eds.)
This is a review of the book "Arts therapies research and practice with persons on the autism spectrum: Colourful hatchlings" edited by Supritha Aithal and Vicky Karkou. Title: Arts therapies research and practice with persons on the autism spectrum: Colourful hatchlings Editors: Supritha Aithal & Vicky Karkou Publication year: 2024 Publisher: Routledge Pages: 236 ISBN: 9781032063102
Copyright (c) 2026 Barfin Ayşe Ünügür, Thomas Bergmann https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Music, music therapy and refugees: Aspects of trauma (Alanne)
This is a review of the book "Music, music therapy and refugees: Aspects of trauma" authored by Sami Alanne. Title: Music, music therapy and refugees: Aspects of trauma Author: Sami Alanne Publication year: 2025 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pages: 281 ISBN: 3031947657, 9783031947650
Copyright (c) 2026 Marianne K Brown https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The handbook of music therapy (2nd ed.) (Bunt, Hoskyns & Swamy, eds.)
This is a review of the book "The handbook of music therapy (2nd ed.)" edited by Leslie Bunt, Sarah Hoskyns and Sangeeta Swamy. Title: The handbook of music therapy (2nd ed.) Editors: Leslie Bunt, Sarah Hoskyns & Sangeeta Swamy Publication year: 2024 Publisher: Routledge Pages: 434 ISBN: 9781138846166
Copyright (c) 2026 Emma Maclean https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Navigating landscapes of Dalcroze practice: Histories of music and movement
This is a review of the book "Navigating landscapes of Dalcroze practice: Histories of music and movement" edited by John Habron-James, Johanna Laakkonen and Selma Landen Odom. Title: Navigating landscapes of Dalcroze practice: Histories of music and movement Editors: John Habron-James, Johanna Laakkonen, Selma Landen Odom Publication year: 2025 Publisher: Boydell Press Pages: 284 ISBN: 978-1783277964
Copyright (c) 2026 Katja Sutela https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Exploring the complex intervention framework: A research pathway for increasing scientific understanding of music therapy interventions
Music therapy is often defined at the intersection of science, art, and humanity. Moreover, music therapy intervention research involves dynamic and complex interactions between music, client, and therapist in the transdisciplinary field, which makes it challenging to scientifically investigate. To help increase scientific understanding of music therapy interventions, the complex intervention framework (CIF) is explored. The CIF is a research framework suggested by the British Medical Research Counsel and offers distinct research phases that may be useful in developing intervention-based research in music therapy. In this paper, music therapy specific conceptual models that may be used in the intervention development phase of the CIF are explored. Additionally, examples of music therapy intervention studies that align with each phase of the CIF are provided. The implementation of carefully designed and thoughtfully crafted interventions in a developmental and systematic manner using a clear research pathway such as the CIF may help contribute to the development of more rigorous research in the field. It may also facilitate better understanding of the complex interactions between music, therapist, and client, and ultimately creation and implementation of impactful interventions that lead to optimal clinical outcomes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sekyung Jang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Mapping queer spaces in music therapy: A conceptual framework
Increasing clinical and academic attention has been given to music therapy with LGBTQ+ clients. As part of this process, we introduce the "Queer Spaces in Music Therapy" (QS-in-MT) framework, a conceptual roadmap designed to address therapeutic challenges encountered by LGBTQ+ individuals in music therapy. Based on previous research, two main themes were found to be typically challenging in LGBTQ+ therapy and were then orthogonally superimposed to form a two-dimensional framework. The first theme refers to the client’s queer vs. heteronormative perspectives and is delineated as the x-axis continuum. The second theme refers to the client’s feelings of belonging vs. loneliness and is delineated as the y-axis continuum. The framework and the four “queer spaces” that it forms, offer therapists ways to better understand, interpret, and subsequently support clients on their journey. A clinical case study is provided to demonstrate the practical implementation of the QS-in-MT framework. Different pivotal points from the clinical process are presented and then explained using the framework. It is shown how different musical interventions and activities, such as improvisation on various instruments, engagement with familiar and original songs, and vocal exploration, serve as vehicles of change in the clinical process, and how these changes are clearly presented and articulated using the framework. In the discussion, possible uses of the QS-in-MT framework are presented within different contexts, such as in supervision, with colleagues, and with the client. Limitations of the framework are also provided as well as possible directions to further develop it.
Copyright (c) 2026 Uri Aronoff, Avi Gilboa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Music Therapy for Older Adults, Promoting Wellbeing, Health Outcomes, and Cost Effectiveness
This is a review of the book - "Music Therapy for Older Adults, Promoting Wellbeing, Health Outcomes, and Cost Effectiveness" edited by Elsa Campbell, Thomas Wosch, and Jeanette Tamplin. Title: Music therapy for older adults, promoting wellbeing, health outcomes and cost effectiveness Editors: Elsa Campbell, Thomas Wosch & Jeanette Tamplin Publication year: 2025 Publisher: Reichert Verlag Pages: 200 ISBN: 9783752008876
Copyright (c) 2026 Ayelet Dassa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Reflecting on the growth of music therapy across a lifetime: Past, present and future insights
The development of music therapy as a profession varies significantly across global contexts, shaped by local education, clinical practice, and research initiatives. Understanding these national and international trajectories is critical to informing the profession’s ongoing evolution. This interview contributes to that understanding by exploring the career and perspectives of Alison Short, a leading Australian music therapy clinician, researcher, and educator. The timing of this interview is particularly significant, aligning with the 50th anniversary of the Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA) in 2025, a milestone that invites reflection on the profession’s growth and future directions in Australia. The semi-structured interview process of the paper captures Short’s written responses to a series of questions focusing on her diverse professional experiences. These responses were further explored through virtual meetings, enabling deeper discussion and critical reflection. The resulting narrative highlights key themes that have shaped Short’s contributions to music therapy, relating to clinical practice, academia, research, the evolution of music therapy education in Australia, and the broader professional challenges and achievements witnessed over several decades.By exploring and documenting Short’s reflections, this interview offers valuable insights into the development of music therapy in Australia and the interrelationship between individual career trajectories and broader professional growth. These insights are not only relevant for understanding the Australian context but also contribute to global conversations about sustaining and advancing music therapy as a dynamic, evidence-informed, and person-centred profession.
Copyright (c) 2025 Alison Short, Annie Heiderscheit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
‘How are you going, river?’ Moving through times of change together
I was delighted to join the Approaches team in January 2023, and the last three years have flown by. Working alongside Andeline, Giorgos and Lucy and being in contact with different authors, reviewers and readers has been a huge privilege. Thinking together about how to expand, shape and develop the journal further has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of this role. I have learned from each member of the editorial team and loved the open attitude and exploratory invitations to play together. When I was invited to apply for the role of associate editor, I took each of the letters of the word APPROACHES and used these as tiny catalysts for statements about how I might see myself working with the team and what I thought I could bring. Looking back at this, my words – Arts-based inquiry; Possibilities; Plus; Resonances; Open (access); Attitude; Creativity; Humour; Ethos; Supporting scholarship – still offer a generative introduction to the role of Approaches in the field of music therapy and beyond, and more broadly offer points for reflection around what I think a journal can do. As well as using this editorial to offer thanks to everyone I have worked with, my intention was to reflect a little on my time with Approaches and the role of being an associate editor. Through this process, I found myself revisiting ideas around our previous editorial (dos Santos et al., 2025) and thinking about questions well beyond my own role as associate editor with the journal. KNOWING FLOW In our arts-based exploration of thoughts and experiences of gatekeeping (dos Santos et al., 2025), the Approaches editors engaged in individual arts-based reflexive process. Collectively, these explorations led to threads which warrant further expansion. Re-reading Andeline dos Santos’ reflections on her early sense of being a new researcher separated from a more experienced researcher by a flowing river struck me as particularly vivid. Understanding different levels of experience as points of pause whilst looking across an expanse of knowing flow seemed, to me, to capture my own sense of knowing as an ever-emerging expansive process. Perhaps we do not just move between knowing and not knowing, jumping across the river as we come to know more, but move through knowing. In their recent article, Lewsley et al., (2025) articulate a feminist ethics of care through their co-creative storying of the health of a section of the Dyarubbin river in Western Australia. Through narrative inquiry they draw on their felt interactions with this river to trouble at experiences of “paternalistic, extractivist, and anthropocentric” (p. 525) ways of knowing that privilege normative temporalities and follow expected linearities in academic knowledge production. Engaging with the river in this way allowed them an embodied dialogue which moved beyond just a human knowledging and the river rivering. The authors’ communing with the river could be summed up by Donna Haraway’s (2015) idea of sympoeisis, or making-with. KNOWING THROUGH FLOWING Lewsley et al.’s (2025) point of departure was the question: ‘How are you going, river?’ I enjoyed this question and used it to catalyse an arts-based reflexive exploration of my own role as an associate editor over the last three years. I audio recorded a 6–7-minute solo improvisation using my violin and then drew freely while listening to the recording I had just made. Following this, I made some brief written reflections. I have referred to this elsewhere as thinking through improvisation (Haire, 2022). The drawing that emerged seemed to capture an expansive surge of watery energy. I have included a brief excerpt below along with the hand-drawn image. Repetition and bubbling-ness. Images of water flowing over rocks. Rapids, and changes in speed came to me... There was a lot of movement in my playing... less of a slow deep river feel.... I think I was caught in a stream. [See pdf for image.] The riverness of a river, to me, offers a generative notion of how knowing emerges and changes as time flows. THE FLOW OF A JOURNAL A dialogic ethos is something that drew me to apply for the role of an associate editor. The emphasis on critical reflexivity and dialogue is a strong aspect of my own work, and I know that many new authors, alongside more established researchers and practitioners submit their work to Approaches precisely due to the strong support for knowing as an emergent and ongoing process. Along with this, being a diamond open access journal supports a non-exclusive stance and helps foster non-linear nature of knowing. How are you going, journal? It is not just the work of the editors to find a way to cross a river, or construct points of rest on the bank. At their most alive, journals exist through authorship and readership, positioned somewhere between, offering a throughway for the exchange of knowing. This position is necessarily responsive to context and weather, so to speak, perhaps somewhat like Haraway’s (2015) idea of response-ability. In academic scholarship – such as that undertaken through Approaches – one could say that as a journal we are respons-able for taking care of a knowing flow. FLOWING ON Approaches is entering a period of transition as we move to a rolling publication model alongside changes in our editorial team as some colleagues move on and some colleagues join. This movement, whilst requiring considerable administrative organisation, also allows for a re-appraisal of how Approaches works and thinking around its ongoing development. Being a part of the editorial team at Approaches has offered me many things regarding scholarship and inquiry. The catalysts I used to generate a statement of intent when applying for the role of associate editor would be the same if I applied for the role tomorrow. I am sorry to leave, but also looking forward to re-establishing the flow of music therapy practice in my week. I feel excited about the reverberations of Approaches Plus and finding ways into the inbetween and ‘behind-the-scenes’ aspects of scholarship that we have been working to find a home for. There are so many hidden experiences as part of inquiry and research that are often left out of the distilled version of events. The stories untold feel, to me, as interesting and important as the ‘clean’ version of events that usually remain and offers one way to know with an author through dialogue about their process. Approaches continues to support the growth of a culture of inquiry and scholarship through its current sponsorship of the research talks at Queen Margaret University (QMU). Most recently, we welcomed Kat McFerran to QMU for a fascinating presentation about musical pleasure and treating anhedonia in music therapy. We are also very excited about our upcoming roundtable as a journal at the 18th World Congress of Music Therapy in Bologna: Bridges of recognition and epistemic justice: A dialogue with an open-access journal. I hope to see you there! REFERENCES dos Santos, A., Haire, N., Bolger, L., & Tsiris, G. (2024). Images of “gatekeeping”. Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy, 16(2), 158-163. https://doi.org/10.56883/aijmt.2024.569 Haire, N. (2022). “How can you have music therapy without humour?!”: A phenomenologically informed arts-based reflexive study exploring humour in music therapy with persons living with dementia. [Doctoral thesis, University of Edinburgh]. https://hdl.handle.net/1842/38803 Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. Lewsley, H., Vermeulen, B., Dollin, J., & Ryan, M. (2025). Storying the river: Toward a feminist ethics of care. Environmental Humanities, 17(2), 525-535. https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-11713430
Copyright (c) 2025 Nicky Haire https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Who listens? Experience, cognition, and musical meaning (Bourne)
This is a review of the book "Who listens? Experience, cognition, and musical meaning" authored by Janet Bourne. Title: Who listens? Experience, cognition and musical meaning. Author: Janet Bourne Publication year: 2025 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pages: 328 ISBN: 978-0197797174
Musical meaning; Analogy and cognition; Listener diversity; Narrative listening; Embodied music cognition; Event segmentation; Music-evoked thought types.
Copyright (c) 2026 Caroline Curwen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Hear My Music Conference: ‘Embedding Equity: Inclusive by Design’
Title: Hear My Music Conference – ‘Embedding equity: Inclusive by design’ Dates: 7 June 2025 Organiser: Hear My Music Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom
Copyright (c) 2026 Stella Hadjineophytou https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Reflecting on the impulse to connect and the role of distinction
Making meaning of our practice as music therapists is a curious and multi-faceted process. Who we are trying to communicate our ideas to and our motivation for sharing and describing our work can profoundly impact the way we describe therapeutic practices and encounters, shaping the discourse of our field in important ways. With a breadth of influences and intended audiences informing the ideas emerging from our discipline, there is great scope for variety and diversity of thought and action in music therapy. This breadth of perspectives challenges us as a profession to witness and hold space for complexity, which can feel exciting and hopeful, uncertain and unclear, and downright uncomfortable on occasion – as complexity so often does. As I sat down to write this editorial, I noticed my own intention to find commonalities in the many perspectives on music therapy research and practice presented in this issue of Approaches. I felt my desire to seek a shared theme that would neatly ‘bring together’ the concepts presented the articles; to create a common thread between the authors’ ideas that I could present and discuss cohesively in the shared context of music therapy. It felt natural to seek these connections, and I found some. I identified, for example, the different perspectives on relationships explored theoretically by Hadar in their meta-analysis of dyadic improvisation, practically by Christensen and Gattino in their case study with a boy with Down Syndrome, and professionally by Krüger et al. in their reflection on relationship building with other disciplines during student place-based learning. I also noted a theme around novel practice approaches that encompassed the diverse use of sound and vibration in music therapy by both Gal and Elefant and Leandertz and Ala-Ruona, as well as Avery et al.’s and Knight and Blank’s evaluation of online practices with adolescent and early childhood groups respectively, and Margett’s study of a music therapy consultation model. It was satisfying to find these connections or ‘themes’, but deeper reflection prompted me to consider the loss of nuance and important novelty – so critical to a healthy discourse – that can occur when grouping papers in this way. Each of these papers has a unique positioning of ideas that is a novel contribution to our field, and each respond to a different question or perceived knowledge ‘gap’. Finding links that represent common foundations can be a satisfying way to demonstrate cohesion or clarity within our profession, but it is the new ideas that push at the edges, reframe, and sit outside the shared foundations of music therapy that continue to drive our discipline forward. I invite you all to read this issue of Approaches with an eye out for not only the ideas that resonate, but for the ideas that push at the edges of your thinking as well. Our move at Approaches towards a rolling model of publication in 2026 aligns with the notion of approaching each new article as a discrete and novel offering. I hope you enjoy this upcoming transition and the opportunities it presents for discrete and timely access to new knowledge and ideas.
Copyright (c) 2025 Lucy Bolger https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Trusting the uncertainty: Music therapy with young people who have experienced attachment trauma
Psychological trauma has recently received increased attention in music therapy, resulting in a dramatic increase in writings about this subject. However, the voice of clinicians and participants is not represented strongly in the literature. This paper is an attempt to begin to fill in this gap, providing examples from practice presented through narratives that illustrate music therapist’s perspective on the work, the clients’ expressions, and relationships. Following case vignettes taken from music therapy sessions, reflections on the work are integrated with relevant literature. The vignettes capture moments where key concepts of trauma-informed practice, such as trust and safety, are being challenged and questioned. They serve as a starting point for connecting theoretical knowledge with lived experiences and are intended to bring awareness to the reader in a way that is intuitive and emotional, as well as intellectual.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ludwika Konieczna-Nowak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Understanding the silences, not just the sounds: An exploration into music therapists’ meaning making of silence in improvisational music therapy
Silence is a common experience in music therapy, potentially rich in meaning, however there is limited literature available about silence within improvisational music therapy. This article draws connections between musicological, psychological, phenomenological, and music therapy literature on: typologies of silence, silence as an intersubjective phenomenon, and silence as a space for reflection and processing. The importance of meaning making and silence in improvisational music therapy is explored through semi-structured interview data and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The IPA interview analysis produced three superordinate themes, developed by the primary author and reviewed by the secondary author, comprised of ten subordinate themes: Anxiety and Tension In, and After, Silence; Silence as a Space; and Clinical Considerations of Silence. Connections are made between the analysis of participant interviews and existing phenomenological, musicological, psychotherapeutic and music therapy literature on silence. The discussion finds that the therapist’s perceived strength of the therapeutic relationship is key to the experience of silence in the therapy environment. It also outlines silence as a space of reflection and self-actualisation, and as a facilitative aspect of clients experiencing empowerment and authenticity. This paper also presents a theory, based on the interview data gathered, providing a grounded theory angle. The theory offers a model of the continuation and cyclical recontextualisation of meaning from the musical, into silence, and beyond. The study identifies implications for practice and further opportunities to solidify existing theory and develop concepts unique to silence within music therapy.
Copyright (c) 2025 Garrick Wareham, Luke Annesley https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A Review of Concetta Tomaino’s Music Has Power: Applications of Music Therapy in Elderly Care
This is a review of the book "Music has power® in senior wellness and healthcare: Best practices from music therapy" by ConcettaTomaino. Title: Music has power® in senior wellness and healthcare: Best practices from music therapy Author: Concetta Tomaino Publication year: 2023 Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Pages: 288 ISBN: 978-1805010647
Copyright (c) 2026 Behnam Khodarahmi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A commentary on “An analysis of caregiver perceptions of early childhood music therapy telehealth groups” (Knight & Blank)
A commentary on “An analysis of caregiver perceptions of early childhood music therapy telehealth groups” (Knight & Blank).
Copyright (c) 2025 Eugenia Hernandez-Ruiz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The definition of a therapeutic discipline provides an important demarcation and offers guidance for patients, interested parties, and professional actors in health care. The definition of music therapy serves to portray the therapeutic profession both to music therapists and to others within the public health care system. Thus, it contributes decisively to the profession’s political profiling. A definition of music therapy must incorporate a wide range of approaches and methodologies. It must be valid for the fields of psychotherapy and remedial/special education, as well as more physiological forms of therapy such as neonatology and neuro-rehabilitation. In this article, different definitions are presented and critically questioned. This was carried out by using the grammatical and semantic units for defining music therapy that were introduced by Bruscia. Against the background of new developments within music therapy, the necessity for a new definition is shown. A new definition of music therapy is presented, and its conceptual components are explained.
Copyright (c) 2025 Stefan Mainka, Eckhard Weymann https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Responsive practice and responsive publishing
I am writing this editorial as I return to South Africa after having been lucky enough to attend the 2025 European Music Therapy Conference in Hamburg, Germany. I witnessed a range of presentations on music therapy practice in many spaces and with diverse groups of people, from children in palliative care to groups of refugees, students with mental health struggles, people with disabilities, and youth from opposing sides within conflict situations, as a few examples. Such conferences in our field are certainly celebrations of what music therapy offers and the transformation that it can bring. Whilst I held the value of this meaningful work, I also kept hearing a question bubbling up in my mind. In 2017, on the podcast Music Therapy Conversations, Luke Annesley interviewed the late Mercédès Pavlicevic, who was an influential lecturer and mentor for me when I trained as a music therapist at the University of Pretoria. In response to a question about what led her to become a music therapist, Mercédès reflected on her training during the time of Apartheid protests. She said, What led me to music therapy was living in South Africa during the riots. I was at university and the military were on the campus. My sister was very politicised and ended up in prison along with other people, and I kept thinking, ‘What am I doing playing Bach while this place is blowing up?’ And at the same time, I knew it was really important to be playing Bach. But the two caused me enormous anguish. I couldn’t put the two together. So right from the start, there was a social-political conundrum around what’s the role of music in this place at this time with these people? Through Mercédès’ career, she found ways of integrating these concerns, especially through Community Music Therapy (Pavlicevic & Ansdell, 2004; Stige et al., 2017). At the European Music Therapy Conference, I was aware of deep concerns amongst delegates about how the world is “blowing up” in many ways, especially related to ongoing wars and conflicts. I wondered what Mercédès would say about how we are engaging in music therapy whilst this is happening, and whether and how our work speaks not only to individual suffering, but to larger socio-political change? Did we shift from playing Bach in a music practice room while the world blew up, to making “nice” music with clients as it burns? Clearly this is not a binary issue, and we can work with multiple facets at once. Sometimes, as the fable goes, we are throwing one starfish back into the sea at a time, and that’s all we can do. In other words, our focus is necessarily on attending to the small terrain that is ours to care for. However, a case could also be made that we are not engaging enough. There is much more room for collective music making that fosters conflict transformation, partnerships with social activists, collaboration with local healers, curriculum transformation, and research that is more fully collaborative (dos Santos, 2025). I wish I could write an editorial that lays out the answers to these complex questions and issues. For now, my invitation is for us to continue to grapple with these matters intentionally and urgently. Without rushing along to the next point within this piece, but with a pause, space, and the openness to continue this grappling, I would like to shift into a discussion of a notable change we are making here at Approaches. The era of print publishing imposed particular constraints on academic journals, from strict length limits to fixed publication schedules. Many of these conventions have carried over into the digital age, such as the tradition of grouping articles into periodic issues. The online landscape where we now commonly engage with one another offers far greater freedom. At Approaches, we recognise the value of engaging in ongoing consideration of how we can best serve our authors and readers in this evolving publishing environment. Until now, Approaches has followed a biannual publication schedule. Our "First View" section (https://journals.qmu.ac.uk/approaches/issue/view/2) ensures that papers are accessible to readers as soon as they have been reviewed and accepted for publication. Then, papers from the First View are gathered and assigned into two issues per year. The growth of Approaches as a leading journal in the field internationally has led to an increased number of manuscripts published in recent years and a ‘backlog’ of paper in First View. At the same time, we are aware that readers commonly seek out individual papers rather than full journal issues. Bearing in mind these considerations, we are excited to announce that Approaches will transition to a rolling publication model. In this model, accepted articles are published online as soon as they are ready, without then waiting to be assigned to a specific issue. Accepted manuscripts will be published with their own citation details (including page numbers and doi numbers). This shift reflects our commitment to efficient dissemination of knowledge, flexibility, timeliness, and the evolving needs of our community – included improved author and reader experience, and simplified workflows. The model of rolling publications is gaining momentum in open-access publishing because of its efficiency and responsiveness (Bowdoin, 2013), however, to our knowledge, Approaches is the first journal within music therapy to adopt such model. To ensure a smooth transition, we will publish four issues in 2025. This will enable us to assign all current First View publications to an issue before shifting to a rolling model in 2026. Thematic groupings (such as we currently provide through special issues) will remain valuable when needed, but the traditional issue-based model no longer needs to dictate our workflow. This also gives us the freedom to publish editorials responsively as important topics arise. We believe that this strategy will enable us to continue supporting meaningful dialogue in music therapy with greater agility. REFERENCES Cirasella, J., & Bowdoin, S. (2013). Just roll with it? Rolling volumes vs. discrete issues in open access library and information science journals. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 1(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.1086 dos Santos, A. (2025). What research questions are we asking in English-language music therapy journals? A descriptive analysis. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 1-27 Pavlicevic, M. (2017, August 2). Music Therapy Conversations - Episode 5 [Audio podcast]. British Association for Music Therapy, https://www.bamt.org/DB/podcasts-2/prof-mercds-pavlicevic?ps=gzsRqwArqW6GeOPCk_g3Ez7Py1xYxX Pavlicevic, M., & Ansdell, G. (Eds.). (2004). Community music therapy. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Stige, B., Ansdell, G., Cochavit, E., & Pavlicevic, M. (2017). Where music helps: Community music therapy in action and reflection. Routledge.
Copyright (c) 2025 Andeline dos Santos https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Musicking at GiGi’s Playhouse: Development and implementation of a telehealth family-based music therapy program for children with Down syndrome
In this small-scale observational study, we examined the feasibility and potential therapeutic benefits of delivering a synchronous, telehealth-based, family-based music therapy program for children with Down syndrome and their caregivers. In collaboration with a community partner, we developed and implemented a 10-week program during the COVID-19 pandemic as both a service initiative and a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE; Bangera & Brownell, 2014). Two parent–child dyads completed the intervention, participating in themed, music-based experiences designed to promote positive parent–child interactions. Observational data collected using a modified version of the 6-Item Observational Checklist (Nicholson et al., 2008; Williams et al., 2012) indicated consistent achievement of parent and child behavioural objectives. Specifically, we documented increases in positive affect, responsiveness, and engagement across sessions. Parents effectively modelled participation strategies and adapted to the format of music therapy delivered synchronously in real time through videoconferencing (telehealth), while children demonstrated active involvement through verbal, musical, and movement responses. Results suggest that telehealth delivery of family-based music therapy is procedurally feasible and can support bi-directional parent–child interactions for families of children with Down syndrome. Recommendations for future research include expanding sample size, incorporating standardised outcome measures, and comparing in-person versus telehealth formats.
Copyright (c) 2026 Varvara Pasiali, Yenchun Ko, Gabrielle Frens, Molli Smith https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Exploring Music Therapists' Perspectives on Clinical Goals, Practices, and Outcomes Across Different Settings in Cancer Care
This study investigates the effectiveness of music therapy for cancer patients by exploring the perspectives of experienced music therapists. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with music therapists who work or have worked with cancer patients across various clinical settings and stages of illness. The identified themes in the interviews focused on the clinical goals set by the therapists, the music therapy practices used in sessions, the benefits they observed, and the challenges they encountered. The analysis of the interviews provided an in-depth understanding of participants’ experiences, highlighting the importance of tailoring music therapy practices to meet the unique needs of cancer patients across different stages of illness and in diverse settings.
Copyright (c) 2026 Vasiliki Tsakiridou, Esa Ala-Ruona https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Work-Integrated Learning in university music therapy centres: A global survey of benefits, challenges and opportunities.
Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) is a core component of music therapy training programs internationally. However, the implementation and impact of WIL within university music therapy centres remains underexplored. This study investigates current university music therapy centres worldwide, including their structures, approaches to supervision, and their perceived impact on student learning. A global survey of staff at these international centres was conducted, with 17 programs from five countries responding to the survey. Findings revealed a range of centre models that demonstrate the ability of university music therapy centres to bridge theory and practice in a scaffolded and structured way. However, challenges such as resource constraints, operational limitations, and balancing multiple stakeholder needs were also identified. Despite these challenges, university music therapy centres provide intensive Work-Integrated Learning experiences for students, creating opportunities for integrating research and contributing to local communities. Further to this, avenues to ensure the sustainability of university music therapy centres are discussed. This study highlights the potential of these centres to enhance music therapy training through Work-Integrated Learning and calls for further research to explore supervisor perspectives and evaluate student learning outcomes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Lauren M. Bortolazzo, Alison E. Short, Allison M. Fuller https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A 360-degree video analysis of musical engagement in musictherapy in paediatric palliative care in hospital-at-home
This study explores the use of 360-degree video analysis to understand how musical engagement arises and develops in music therapy. New technology presents both challenges and advantages for this field while prompting ethical reflection. The research question we aim to answer is: How can 360-degree video analysis elucidate musical engagement during hospital-at-home music therapy sessions in paediatric palliative care? The research method employed is video based, and the procedure used for the analysis is Interpretative Phenomenological Video Analysis (IPVA). A case from a music therapy session with a young girl highlights moments of musical engagement recorded with a 360-degree camera. The analysis demonstrates that the product of such a camera, via in-depth analysis, can provide new insight into the occurrence, unfolding and development of shared musical engagement in paediatric palliative care. The patient’s intentional engagement and the recognition of family members clearly enhance her sense of autonomy during the session. The discussion addresses the concept of shared musical engagement, which encompasses joint improvisation, emotional connection, and intentional bodily and musical interaction. The findings suggest that advanced technology offers new possibilities for capturing nuanced therapeutic dynamics. The study concludes by arguing that video analysis can reveal the patient’s own resources, highlighting their autonomy and capacity to engage in a musical dialogue.
Video Analysis, 360-Degree Camera, Music Therapy, Paediatric Palliative Care, Musical Engagement
Copyright (c) 2026 Monika Overå, Gro Trondalen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Imagining windmills: Trust, truth, and the unknown in the arts therapies (Cao, Hougham & Scoble, eds.)
This is a review of the book "Trust, truth, and the unknown in the arts therapies" edited by Marián Cao, Richard Hougham & Sarah Scoble. Title: Imagining windmills: Trust, truth, and the unknown in the arts therapies Editors: Marián Cao, Richard Hougham & Sarah Scoble Publication Year: 2022 Publisher: Routledge Pages: 250 ISBN: 9780367626693
Copyright (c) 2025 Bridget Grant https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
This is a review of the book "Ethical musicality" authored by Gro Trondalen. Title: Ethical musicality Author: Gro Trondalen Publication year: 2023 Publisher: Routledge Pages: 106 ISBN: 978-1032111261
Copyright (c) 2025 Taru-Anneli Koivisto https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Ethics Online Conversations: A new interactive approach to encourage and facilitate ethical discourse in music therapy
Societal changes, economic challenges, and multiple global crises require reorienting and repositioning in relation to ethical questions. The need to deal and cope with these challenging circumstances also applies to music therapists and the field of music therapy. To address such ethical issues in music therapy and to provide a forum for exchange and discussion, we started organising online meetings open for music therapists and music therapy students in June 2020. Each meeting is dedicated to a topic or question illustrated by case vignettes. In some cases, experts with specialised knowledge in music therapy or related fields are also invited as discussants to speak on specific topics. So far, the following topics have been covered: (1) ethical issues in times of the pandemic, (2) ethical aspects of listening, (3) facts and opinions: What to do when "conspiracy theories" emerge in music therapy sessions?, (4) the virtuous music therapist, (5) decision-making models, (6) confidentiality, (7) music therapy with people affected by migration or those forced to flee, (8) dealing with the history of colonialism in songs in music therapy, (9) the art of confidence in times of crisis, and (10) ethical implications of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in music therapy. In this report, we describe the advantages and challenges of this new online format as a case example for developing an open space for ethical discourse. Connecting ethical theories to questions arising from clinical work in music therapy is at the core of this approach. We consider this new format an essential add-on for teaching ethics in music therapy and for continued professional development.
continued professional development (CPD)
Copyright (c) 2025 Thomas Stegemann, Eckhard Weymann https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Noise, doubt, empathy or surprise? A qualitative collective self-study exploring the phenomenon of disruption in clinical trials
Disruptions, i.e. things or events that interrupt the normal or expected, may be experienced as something positive, but also as something negative. They are an integral part of clinical trials, often representing ethical challenges. As researchers, we are the agents of disruption: we intervene in participants’ lives by implementing interventions and collecting data; we engage stakeholders and ask colleagues for support. How do these disruptions affect the researchers themselves? In this study, we explore disruptions from a researcher’s perspective in a qualitative self-study of our experiences while working together on an international randomised controlled trial. The data comprises qualitative interviews with us, the music therapy research team in the Norwegian partner institution of the trial. The interviews were analysed using a collaborative reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes, representing different types of disruption and qualities in our experiences of them, were identified: background noise, rejection, empathic disruption, and disruptive dissonance. These themes share the characteristics of being relational, sometimes ambiguous, and influencing each other, requiring interpretation in context. This complexity makes them challenging to define and navigate. We argue that continuous reflection on different disruptions and negotiation of their boundaries are vital to ensure high ethical research standards and to support researchers’ self-care.
Copyright (c) 2025 Kjersti Johansson, Tone Kvamme, Kristi Stedje, Runa Bosnes Engen, Unni Johns, Solgunn E. Knardal, Anette Moltubak, Hanne Cecilie Webb Aamod, Karette Annie Stensæth https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Breathing war, dreaming connection: Dialogue as an ethical foundation for collaborative work of Palestinian and Jewish music therapists in Israel
A collective of six Palestinian-Arab and Jewish music therapists, researchers and educators, and citizens of Israel convened to explore and foster the specific needs of Arab music therapists in Israel. As a primary ethical step, we embarked on a participatory study, delving into our personal and professional experiences as music therapists in a country deeply affected by long-term trauma and conflict. All group members participated in a 90-minute focus group designed as a semi-structured interview, with one member acting as an interviewer and another as a translator. The interview was recorded and transcribed. It was analysed by three group members, Jewish and Arab, to afford triangulation. Following three successive rounds of thematic analysis, a 90-minute Zoom consultation solidified the emergence of five key themes: (1) blurred boundaries challenge ethical thinking; (2) shaped by war; (3) fragmented identities; (4) cultural loneliness; and (5) music in therapy – between polarisation and shared identity. Several themes also had subthemes. The findings were shared with all group members, who provided additional input. The discussion highlights the profound implications of cultural division and hierarchy on all group members, the lack of authentic and culture-based professional growth, and a gap in culturally-sensitive professional ethics for Palestinian-Arab participants. We grappled with the ethical challenge of holding multiple truths as Israeli music therapists, while embracing the hopeful notion that music can serve as a unifying medium, bridge cultural divides, and foster a pluralistic approach to music therapy.
Copyright (c) 2025 Efrat Roginsky, Tamar Hadar, Nihal Midhat-Najami, Buran Saada, Rozan Khoury, Maimounah Hebi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The role of pluralism in fostering an ethic of social justice: Policy recommendations for music therapy education and training
Recent social justice-focused and anti-oppressive scholarship has called for broader and more intentional inclusion of critical analyses and constructivist epistemological frames to promote equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and decolonisation in music therapy education and training. The recent expansion of social justice content in the revised code of ethics of the Canadian Association of Music Therapists (CAMT) is a step in the right direction. It requires certified music therapists to actively identify, understand, and eliminate implicit biases and discriminatory practices and to cultivate awareness of the harms that have been exacted by oppressive practices within and beyond the profession. We argue, here, that preparing music therapy students to meet professional standards of practice and adhere to the social justice-focused ethical principles articulated in the code of ethics requires Canadian music therapy education programs to intentionally integrate dissension as a key aspect of social justice work throughout their curriculum. In this critical contemplation, we posit that mobilising a commitment to social justice education must first and foremost be grounded in a pluralistic ethos, which values diverse ways of being, thinking, learning and knowing. We then explore the critical integration of lived knowledge, the notions of dignity safety and intellectual insecurity in educational spaces, and arts-based social pedagogies as potentially transformative practices in socially-just music therapy education.
Copyright (c) 2025 Annabelle Brault, Cynthia Bruce, Vivek Venkatesh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
How much glass can I break before they fire me? Negotiating ethically-constructive education in a fractured political landscape
Amid the myriad of political disagreements that arise among collective identity groups vying for space within the educational curriculum, we offer in this article a theoretical framework through which we argue that schools are uniquely positioned to serve as spaces in which students can negotiate the ethical and moral selves of their choosing. Drawing upon the work from educational philosopher Maxine Greene (1988) and ethics philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah (2005), we suggest that 1) the development or ‘becoming’ of one’s identity is an ethical endeavour, 2) negotiating identity space in both education and society at large is a moral endeavour, 3) acting upon both the ethical and moral dimensions of identity construction requires that individuals hold a form of socially-contextualised personal freedom, and 4) that practices and policies in education which privilege or marginalise individuals with particular identities ought to be questioned and potentially disrupted. Throughout our articulation of this central argument, we weave in contextualised examples from scholarly literature, recent current events in U.S. news and politics, and autoethnographic reflections. To tailor these ideas more specifically for the music education-focused reader, we draw upon a variety of sources from international music education journals that emphasise settings in which students are prompted to explore and construct aspects of their identities through music.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mya Scarlato, Katie Kelly https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0