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Dr. Simon Gilbertson
Regional Liaison for Europe
Contact: europe@wfmt.info[/caption]
During the success of the VIII European Music Therapy Congress in Cadiz in May this summer, the music therapist, educator and researcher, Dr. Hanne Mette Ridder was announced as the incoming President of the European Music Therapy Confederation following on from Dr. Jos de Backer. Dr Ridder is Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University in Denmark and is joined by Dr Adrienne Lerner (Secretary General) and Prof. Ferdinando Suvini (Treasurer) along with the region co-ordinators and country representatives in the delegacy. The European Music Therapy Confederation (often referred to as the âEMTCâ) is a confederation of professional music therapy associations and is highly significant for Europe within a global context and a significant partner for the World Federation of Music Therapy. The EMTC hosts the European Music Therapy Conferences every three years which is coordinated with the timing of the World Congress of Music Therapy, for details see the web links below). The EMTC also provides core infrastructures including ethical codes for practice of music therapy and comprehensive information on music therapy in the 25 member countries. The EMTC is continuing to build on the highly significant and extensive work of the past EMTC board members. On their web page (the address is listed below) you can read more about the Europe Music Therapist Register (EMTR) which âdefines the qualifying standards of a trained graduate music therapistâ taking into account the differences between, and diversity found within each of their member countries. To read more about the European Music Therapy Confederation direct your browser to: http://www.emtc-eu.com/
On a completely different noteâŠ
On the 17th July 1990, a Presidential Proclamation (6158) in the Unites States of America, announced that the ten years between January 1st 1990 and 2000 be designated as the âDecade of the Brainâ. In this proclamation, President Bush called âupon all public officials and the people of the United States to observe that decade with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activitiesâ (Federal Register, 1990). Of course throughout the World, studies on and of the brain have occupied the minds of many scientists, clinicians and, indeed, music therapists for many decades as documented in research studies, clinical reports and handbooks on music therapy and illnesses and diseases of the brain.
Worldwide, music therapists have generated and elicited therapeutic strategies that are informed by much of the research carried out on music and the brain since the early 1990s (one example of this work is the BRAMS International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (www.brams.org). Particularly during the past decade, which has been referred to as the âDecade of (Climate) Changeâ (John Roach, National Geographic, 2009), the topic music and the brain received much attention and (fortunately) the necessary research funding. But how much change has taken place during the past two decades in the rationale and application of music in therapy in consideration of music and the brain?
To explore this, educational courses include more and more studies of this areas and courses specifically designed to approach this area have been developed in the many places in the World including Europe (as an example of this please visithttp://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/msc-music-mind-brain/). Conferences have also provided the opportunity to reflect and gather contemporary and historical perspectives on the topic. In Australia, last monthsâ National Conference was titled âWith music in mindâ, here in Europe there will be two fantastic opportunities to convene on the topic: the Mozart & Science 3rd International Congress for the interdisciplinary research on the effects and the experiences of music will take place in Krems, Austria, in November 2010, and next June the âNeurosciences and Music (IV) conference will convene in Edinburgh, Scotland (9-12 June 2011).
It seems that the next decade, which I suggest might be designated the âDecade of Human Natureâ, promises the potential of much change. This, itself, is human nature. What actually happens is up to us.
With my best wishes,
Dr Simon Gilbertson
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