Resources & references

This textbook provides an overview of music therapy for pediatric and adult hospice patients, covering foundational concepts, theory and assessment, therapist roles, developmental issues in practice, education and professional challenges, and advancing hospice music therapy.

This fact sheet from the American Music Therapy Association provides information about music therapy practices for adults with mental health and substance use challenges. This page provides information on relevant definitions and statistics, the types of mental health settings in which music therapists work, potential outcomes of music therapy, contraindications for music therapy, the clinical process, and effectiveness research.

This article describes a qualitative single-case study of the treatment of a woman having problems with grief and finding a personal identity. The music therapist used several techniques of improvisation to support the client's cautious steps into a new musical and a new personal world.

The article describes an innovative method of facilitating grief resolution using precomposed music that is significant to the patient after a major loss. In this method, music is of equal importance with verbal processing as part of the overall therapeutic approach. Musical improvization is also used as a primary tool to reflect back to, and affirm for, the patient the affective content of his or her life story. 

This book chapter explains the effects of music therapy in palliative care. It is derived from the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine (5th Ed) published by the Oxford University Press. Note: The link includes the full text of the chapter (i.e., 18 pages plus references).

Watch how certified music therapist Bridget Shevlin intervenes in a pediatric hospital centre to support children with complex illnesses at different moments, but even as they undergo medical treatments.

This study analyzes electrophysiological signals during Music-Assisted Relaxation (MAR) with adult burn patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Results showed increased parasympathetic system activity, attention shifts, reduced muscle tone, and relaxation.

This video features twin brothers diagnosed with autism and cerebral palsy who received individual music therapy sessions. Watch as they play instruments and sing to strengthen their communication, expression, and collaboration, and hear insights from their mother and music therapist in interviews.

This thesis details a qualitative study on music therapy process resulting in the new concept of musico-relational competence. The project began with an exploration of music processes in the context of outpatient adult psychiatry. An ethnographic and ethnomusicological approach to the analysis of the video data (including music analysis) is used, focusing on the meaning making process of participants in the study.

Les Impatients is an organization that helps people living with mental health problems, offering art-based services. With Dany Bouchard, a certified music therapist, and people participating in his group music therapy sessions, the reporter Alexandre Courteau explored this discipline and shared some participants' testimonies on how music therapy has changed their life.

This study explores the experiences of music therapists working with adults in mental health settings across Quebec, both in the community and in hospitals. It highlights their reflections and recommendations to support the expansion of music therapy services in mental health.

Discover the history of the Nordoff Robbins music therapy method for disabled children and watch early sessions, featuring both Clive Robbins and Paul Nordoff (Part 1). Note: these images were published on YouTube in 2008, but they date from an older time period (circa. 1993).

Click here to view part 2 of this video.