Songwriting: Methods, Techniques and Clinical Applications for Music Therapy Clinicians, Educators and Students - Paperback

by Felicity Baker (Editor), Tony Wigram (Editor)

This comprehensive and groundbreaking book describes the effective use of songwriting in music therapy with a variety of client populations, from children with cancer and adolescents in secondary school to people with traumatic brain injury and mental health problems.

The authors explain the specific considerations to bear in mind when working with particular client groups to achieve the best clinical outcomes. All the contributors are experienced music therapy clinicians and researchers. They provide many case examples from clinical practice to illustrate the therapeutic methods being used, together with notated examples of songs produced in therapy. Particular emphasis is placed on how lyrics and music are created, including the theoretical approaches underpinning this process.

This practical book will prove indispensable to students, clinical therapists, music therapists, educators, teachers and musicians.

Author Biography

Felicity Baker qualified as a music therapist at the University of Melbourne in 1992. She has since completed a research Masters (1999, Melbourne University) and a PhD (2004, Aalborg University). She has many years of experience providing music therapy programmes for people with traumatic brain injury and is widely published in this area. She is currently head of the music therapy training programme at the University of Queensland, Australia, and editorial board member of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. Tony Wigram was Professor and Head of PhD Studies in Music Therapy at the University of Aalborg, Denmark, Honorary Research Fellow in the Faculty of Music at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Reader in Music Therapy at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. He was Associate Editor of the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, and a former President of both the European Music Therapy Confederation and the World Federation of Music Therapy. He was also Head Music Therapist at the Harper Children's Service in Hertfordshire, UK, and Research Advisor to Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Trust.