Topic outline

  • General

  • Origin and development of music therapy


    • Hardly anyone can imagine a life without music.

      Music accompanies people from prenatal to deathbed. There have never been cultures without music. Finds from prehistory and early history, such as rattles, drums or flutes, show that music was made back then, certainly also for healing purposes.




    • Music in medicine


      Until the middle of the 20th century, all historical sources described two things: the effects of consciously listening to music and those of making music, be it alone or in a group. A third element, the conversation between therapist and patient We only found out about the feelings that the music triggered in German-speaking countries at the end of the 1950s. At that time, the subject "Music Medicine" was set up at the Musikhochschule in Vienna.


    • Frau mit Kopfhörer

    • Music therapy through the ages


      In the 1950s, Fengler assessed music therapy as an area of curative education; In contrast to the otherwise exclusive listening to music, he emphasized the self-creating aspect of making music, especially making music on the instrument and singing.



    • Trommel

    • Differentiation between music therapy and music education


      At the beginning of the eighties a broad discussion arose, in which it was a question of the clear distinction between music therapy and music education. The roots of the joint artistic training led to a forced relationship between music educators and music therapists. There was also an overlap in the target groups of socio-educational work, which were often the same who needed therapy, such as the handicapped, those with educational difficulties, behavioral disorders and drug addicts. The inclusion of the medical component was considered to be particularly important in this "delimitation discussion" because this area of ​​music education was missing and a clear separation was only possible with this consideration.


    • Lesson 1

      Above you can see an overview of the topic.

      Lesson 1 begins here, which you will now go through in individual steps.



  • Origin and development of children's music therapy


    • Music therapy in paediatrics


      In pediatrics, the music therapy used in children in earlier centuries always had to assume an extreme outsider position. This depends on the subordinate importance of paediatrics on the one hand and music therapy on the other within the history of medicine. Pediatrics, for example, was only able to establish itself at the end of the 19th century. Furthermore, it reflects the image of childhood, which actually only became independent in the course of the 20th century was awarded as a phase of life, as a result of which children were viewed not only as future adults, but as "persons in their own right".



    • Children's music therapy in child psychotherapy


      Empirical research in modern child psychology began towards the end of the 19th century, and under the influence of experimental psychology and pedagogy, it was not until the turn of the century that scientific interest in the world of life began of children one. Which is reflected, for example, in the proclamation of the "century of the child". This led to an increase in sociological, psychological and pedagogical knowledge about conducive developmental conditions for children, and at the same time a growing appreciation for children's play and creativity developed.


    • Forms of children's music therapy


      In the last 40 years, various forms or directions have emerged in children's music therapy, which Mahns (1998) classifies as follows:

      • Medical approaches (e.g. work with premature babies; prenatal and perinatal psychology and their relevance for music therapy)
      • Behavioral approaches (e.g. Hanser, 1999)
      • Humanistic-existentialistic approaches (e.g. Nordoff / Robbins music therapy (creative music therapy))
      • Psychoanalytic-psychodynamic approaches (e.g. Priestley, 1982)
      • Anthroposophical approaches (anthroposophical music therapy)
      • Morphological music therapy (e.g. Tüpker; morphological music therapy)
      • Combination / integrative approaches (integrative music therapy)


    • Forms used today in children's music therapy


      According to examinations from inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry, the majority of music therapists in this field feel obliged to follow a background based on psychoanalysis and depth psychology of systemic and gestalt psychological approaches, which are often used in combination and depending on the personal educational background, as well as regulative music therapy (Schwabe music therapy).


    • Kindermusiktherapie

    • Lesson 2

      Above you can see an overview of the topic.

      Lesson 2 "Development of children's music therapy" begins here, which you will now go through in individual steps.

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