Overview of learning in Magdeburg

Although we have been having many adventures in Magdeburg during our time here, we have also had many opportunities to learn as well. Today is our last day of Music Therapy learning in Magdeburg since we leave on Friday *except for Micky and Krista visiting the hospital right now.*
During the first few days we spent some time working on our own concept map of music therapy from an American viewpoint so that we could have a clear understanding of what we are comparing the German concepts to. We sat on the floor and riped up pieces of paper and moved the concepts, areas of music therapy, and peices around until we were happy with the basic lay out of our ideas.
A few days later we had our first lecture with Dr. Thomas Wosch about two main methods of Music therapy; Active Group Music Therapy and Receptive Music therapy.
On Friday and Saturday the 8th and 9th, we had 10 hours of improvisation workshops, with Dr. Susanne Metzner. Here we played many improvisations and, in a sense, went through our own music therapy process, becoming one group from the American group and the German group of students. We learned a lot about Music Therapy in Germany through participating, and participating in many things that we had heard about in the lecture with Dr. Wosch two days before. This was a first chance to see improvisation at work in Music Therapy for some and for others, it was an oportunity to try new things within improvisation that we have never tryied before.
On Monday, the first group of two students went to Marienstift hospital to visit Claudia, a Music Therapist, and see what she does there. Each group was able to see a couple of sessions and ask her about her work with patients in a pain clinic and a gynocological, outpatient, cancer ward. It was great to get a first hand look at a Music Therapist in Germany working with her patients. Three groups of two of us each visited on different days and with each visit we get a little more in depth about her work and share with the group what we have found.
On Moday afternoon we came over to University and had a lecture with Dr. Metzner about her theory of Music Therapy and to discuss one of her case studies. We discussed a great deal about Psychoanalitic Music Therapy, one of the main theorectical viewpoints in Germany. We learned a bit about her work through a case study of a young woman that she worked with in a psychiatric hospital.
On Wednesday, we had another lecture with Dr. Wosch. This lecture gave us an idea about the Health Care system in Germany. We also learned what the students here in Germany learn about documenting their work.
Later in the afternoon we traveled down to the University Clinic, a learning hospital associated with the Universities in Magdeburg. Here, we met Mrs. Sembdner who talked with us about her theory of music therapy, the facility, and what she does there.
In about an hour, our formal learning experiences in Magdeburg will be over. Tomorrow we are moving on to Austria where we will continue our exploration into the differences in methods and theories between American and German Music Therapy.