Live music was used in hospitals after both of the World Wars, as part of the regime for some recovering soldiers. Clinical music therapy in Britain as it is understood today was pioneered in the 60s and 70s by French cellist Juliette Alvin, whose influence on the current generation of British music therapy lecturers remains strong.
Mary Priestley, one of Juliette Alvin's students, came to discover/create "analytical music therapy". Analytical music therapy is a form of music therapy which together with the Nordoff-Robbins School of Music Therapy, form the two central forms of music therapy used today.
Mary Priestley's books ''Music Therapy in Action'', first published by Constable and company ©1975 (ISBN 0-09-459900-9) and ''Essays on Analytical Music Therapy'', Barcelona Publishers ©1994 (ISBN 0-9624080-2-6) form part of the core course work for students of analytical music therapy all over the world.
The Nordoff-Robbins approach to music therapy developed from the work of Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins in the 1950/60s. It is grounded in the belief that everyone can respond to music, no matter how ill or disabled.
The unique qualities of music as therapy can enhance communication, support change, and enable people to live more resourcefully and creatively. Nordoff-Robbins now run music therapy sessions throughout the UK, US, South Africa, Australia and Germany. Its headquarters are in London where it also provides training and further education programs, including the only PhD course in music therapy available in the UK.
Music therapists, many of whom work with an improvisatory model, are active particularly in the fields of child and adult learning disability, but also in psychiatry and forensic psychiatry, geriatrics, palliative care and other areas.
Practitioners are registered with the Health Professions Council and from 2007 new registrants must normally hold a master's degree in music therapy.
There are masters level programs in music therapy in Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London, and there are therapists throughout the UK.
The professional body in the UK is the Association of Professional Music Therapists while the British Society for Music Therapy is a charity providing information about music therapy.
In 2002, the World Congress of Music Therapy was held in Oxford, on the theme of Dialogue and Debate.
In November 2006, Dr. Michael J. Crawford and his colleagues again found that music therapy helped the outcomes of schizophrenic patients.
In 2009, he and his team were researching the usefulness of improvisational music in helping patients with agitation and also those with dementia.
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