 Why I Can Do That! Action Research and Evaluation for the Arts in Healthcare Presented by Barbara C. Memory, Ph.D., MT-BC, Director of Music Therapy, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC Three Examples of Action Research in Music Therapy Aigen, K. (1997). Here we are in music: One year with an adolescent creative music therapy group. St. Louis: MMB Music, Inc. Dr. Kenneth Aigen, MT-BC, is a leading proponent of qualitative research techniques in music therapy. He videotaped 18 months of weekly sessions of five teenagers (four boys and one girl) with developmental disabilities engaged in Nordoff-Robbins’ Creative Music Therapy. This approach to therapy employs two music therapists working as a team, one at the piano to improvise musically and create songs which are based on the verbal interchanges of the clients. The other therapist facilitates the group process, sitting with the teens, encouraging mutual interaction and guiding the creation of musical forms. Dr. Aigen’s research techniques involve systematic interpretation of process and flow variables, and describe client behaviors from session to session. He includes the notation of songs created by the group, and quotations from each client which pointed to pivotal changes in the client’s self-awareness and social engagement. He has written extensively on the advantages of action research. The Music Hut: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Ms. Petra Kern, MT-BC, has collaborated with early childhood educators and developmental psychologists to build an open-walled covered structure with built-in musical instruments for preschoolers. The research component involved observations of the behaviors and interactions of typically developing children and children with autism and other developmental disabilities. They were interested in patterns of play, dyadic and other play groups, verbal and nonverbal behavior, social interactions, and use of instruments with creative play. Teachers were trained to collect data, and Ms. Kern evaluated and interpreted the material to reach the conclusion that teacher engagement with the instruments was important in helping preschoolers sustain interest and time spent with the instruments. Dr. Kate Gfeller and others were interested in the types of music participation most useful for persons with early, middle, and late-stage Alzheimer’s disease. The team trained music therapists in several health-care settings to conduct small-group and individual music therapy sessions using various levels of complexity - keeping the beat (simple) through singing (complex). They observed participation levels, including duration of time in group, facial/postural/gestural behaviors, and other variables. They concluded with recommendations for specific activities to match the cognitive functioning level of participants. |