The Future of Technology in Music Therapy: Towards Collaborative Models of Practice

Abstract

"There is a growing interest in the field of music therapy and the use of technologies. The books, Music Technology in Therapeutic and Health settings (Magee, 2013), and Music, Health, Technology and Design (Stensæth, 2014) are recent examples of this. They reveal that music therapy is rapidly moving into new areas where the use and understanding of – as well as the need for – technology in clinical practice, assessment, theory and research collaboration is explored. In these publications, there are examples of how (computer) technology is becoming an efficient way to analyze improvisations in sessions (Erkkilä, Ala-Ruona & Lartillot, 2014), and how interdisciplinary research collaboration between music therapists and technology professionals use music therapy theory as a backdrop to explore how musical and interactive media can be developed to promote health and well-being among people with special needs (Cappelen & Andersson, 2011a, b, 2014 ; Stensæth, Holone & Herstad, 2014; Stensæth & Ruud, 2014). Historically, published accounts of using technology in music therapy relate to the adoption of music technology within clinical practice to support and understand the ways in which clients express themselves. In the following sections this particular history is further described. In the last part of this chapter we will present an ongoing, interdisciplinary research collaboration project to exemplify one of many potential models for the future of technology in music therapy."