Music-centred music therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Kenneth Aigen · 2005

What it is

Music-centred music therapy is a theoretical orientation and set of rationales, not a manualised treatment. In Aigen's own phrase, being music-centred means "placing ideas about music at the core of music therapy theory". Aigen built it to explain and justify practice in which music and musical…

Format

• Aigen gives no fixed phase model, session count or manual, and the sources stress that music-centred practice is applied "in varying degrees and ways" across models. What follows is a working arc built from the processes Aigen documents in long-term case work: forms and structures, the will,…
• Format. Usually individual sessions, sometimes groups, typically weekly and often long-term. The Playin' in the Band case ran seven years. Sessions are mainly live improvisation, with improvised and pre-composed songs. Sessions are recorded for later musical analysis. Nordoff-Robbins work…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Sources: the content and chapter structure of Aigen 2005 (publisher page); the six-part content of Aigen 2014 (Lee's review); the abstract of the 2014 article; the Playin' in the Band description; and the UK and US credential routes (UK Regulated Professions Register; CBMT). The full text of either Aigen book and of the 2014 article (subscribers only) is not publicly available. The principles below are therefore…
• Professional frame. This is a music-therapy orientation. Use it as music therapy only if you hold music-therapy training and registration. UK: "music therapist" is a protected title, regulated by the HCPC under the Health Professions Order 2001. New professionals qualify through an approved MA Music Therapy, and those trained abroad apply through the HCPC international route. The UK professional body is BAMT. US:…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Talk that pulls the client out of the music, or over-interpretation.
• Dominant members, excluded members, noise. It is working when members listen and respond to each other.
• Repetition becoming rote. It is working when the client recognises the song, sings or plays along, asks for it, or changes it.
• Analysis that only counts behaviours and misses the musical quality. Storage of recordings must meet data-protection and consent rules.
• Sessions sliding into lessons that judge the client. It is working when skill increases the client's freedom and enjoyment in the music.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.