concept mapping music therapy

At the beginning of our trip, I asked the students to build their own image of music therapy in the USA, using concept mapping, a tool I learned about this past spring. The focus of the concept map was: "what is music therapy about in the US?" They really worked hard to develop this, and it is not an easy concept to display visually. But they did a good job making the connections visible.

The next part of this assignment was to create a concept map about music therapy in Germany. In Magdeburg we saw a particular "flavor" of music therapy in Germany, one that not all music therapists in Germany practice. In a way, it was good to go there first, because the differences between the US (in general) and Germany were clearest there. The resulting concept map we were able to finish during a long train ride.

After Magdeburg, we went to the town of Dornbirn, Austria, where we had a wonderful introduction to music therapy in practice in a particular institution. A great place, called "Arbeitskreis für Vorsorge und Sozialmedizin." Our host, Stefanie Preisl, gave the students a hint of what they would see at the University of Witten-Herdecke, where we are now.

On our first day in Witten (June 20), we had a wonderful short intro to Nordoff-Robbins music therapy, which is the dominant form at this university. As a result, they are going to need to create a new concept map, or expand the one they have begun for Germany. We'll see what happens.