Resources & references

Pascal Comeau is part of the team of music therapists working at this hospital. With a variety of instruments, Pascal does much more than make music. By cleverly using soothing sounds, bright colors and fun shapes, he helps children who are admitted to the hospital for long periods of time or who have frequent appointments express their stress, fears and other feelings through music. For children with physical disabilities, playing an instrument and moving to the beat of the music can even improve their motor skills. In this video, find out more about the fascinating profession of music therapist!

Charlotte Stewart, a board-certified music therapist, sings a hello song to a child during an individual music therapy session, helping the child develop their verbal communication skills through singing.

This book describes well-defined models of music therapy for working with families in different clinical areas, ranging from families with special needs children or dying family members through to families in psychiatric or paediatric hospital settings. International contributors discuss their specific approaches and share case studies. Particular emphasis is placed on connecting theory and clinical practice and on discussing the challenges and relevance of each model.

This fact sheet, developed by the American Music Therapy Association, describes how music therapy is effective in supporting military service members and veterans. It describes how active and receptive music experiences can address physical, cognitive, communication, social, and emotional goals.

 Music therapy can uniquely help severely injured children and their families deal with the events surrounding an accident and its aftermath. The use of music therapy in treating these families on a pediatric service is described and illustrated with a fracture patient and a burn patient

 Article describes research findings of music therapy with individuals recovering from a stroke or who are managing Parkinson's disease. This article discusses the use of music therapy for neurorehabilitation

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.

This video (in Spanish) includes an interview of Dr. Mark Ettenberger who works as a music therapist in Colombia. He explains what music therapist is, who can benefit, how it can be applied, and what are its therapeutic benefits.

This video presents a group music therapy session in Spanish for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. It includes active music therapy experiences that address various therapeutic goals such as physical movement, cognitive abilities, interpersonal skills, and emotional expression.

Learn more about the benefits of music therapy for individuals with dementia and Alzheimer's disease

Learn more about music therapy in Spanish

This video features Anna Lacourse, certified music therapist (Quebec) who presents her work with a patient at the Saint-Raphaël Palliative Care Home and Day Center (Montreal). The patient gives a testimonial and describes the benefits he has experienced through music therapy.

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.

The objective of this phenomenological research is to document the experience of music therapists practicing in mental health with adults receiving services in community and hospital settings in Quebec. Reflections, recommendations, research ideas, and the results of interviews are presented here. It is hoped that this work will help to foster the use of music therapy practices in mental health, an innovative and creative approach.