History of Music Therapy in Italy

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History of Music Therapy in Italy
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History in Italy

• As in many countries, the first steps of every
  new discipline always need some pioneers who, in
  order to be such, must have strong and
  charismatic personalities which, in the earliest
  stages of development, are an invaluable
  resource, also in terms of the intransigence with
  which more often they defend the orthodoxy of
  their thinking.

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• This process started halfway through the 70s with
  the first occasion for a national comparison at
  the Bologna Conference in 1973. A few years later
  Nora Cervi, at that time director of the Music
  Course of the Pro Civitate Christiana of Assisi
  and a person endowed with a rare sensitiveness,
  kindness and far-sightedness, unfortunately
  recently passed away, made herself the founder,
  together with a group of collaborators, of the
  first Italian Training Course which started, as
  an experiment, in 1981.

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Spreading of musictherapy

• On one hand was the growing number of trained
  professionals who gradually began to spread music
  therapy into new areas of application and make it
  known to other professional categories with whom
  they were then able to confront themselves and
  their different areas of knowledge. On the other
  was the increasing contact with representatives
  of music therapy in Europe and America who
  contributed to enrich the wealth of knowledge and
  theoretical references, also thanks to the
  increasing in the circulation of original and
  translated texts (for example, the writings,
  lessons and supervisions of Alvin, Benenzon,
  Bruscia, Bunt, Lecourt, Nordoff-Robbins,
  Priestley and Wigram).

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The first associations

• The first emerged associations, having also the
  objective of cultural promotion of the
  discipline, started to gather groups of
  professionals at a local level who felt the need
  for more confrontation within the discipline and
  to see the recognition of what by this stage was
  for many their main occupation, but which often
  had to be assimilated into more general or
  different professional roles in order to fit into
  the various work contexts.

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The Italian Confederation of Music Therapy
Associations

• At the beginning of the 90s the various Regional
  Associations, which in the meantime had spread
  considerably, decided to join together to form
  the Italian Confederation of Music Therapy
  Associations (Confederazione Italiana
  Associazioni di Musicoterapia - Conf.I.A.M.) with
  the objective of including and coordinating the
  initiatives which were more and more often being
  proposed in Italy. These initiatives can be
  classified into the following areas Informative
  and for dialogue, Educational, Clinical and
  Research.
• It has been organised every 2 years since 1994
  (Ercolano 94 , Portoferraio 95, Turin '97,
  Florence '99, Naples '01, Rimini '03) and allows
  an internal dialogue and confrontation to be
  developed between the various positions and
  practical approaches which are taking shape in
  the music therapy scene in our country.

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Theoretical Foundations

• The real possession both of good musical skills
  and of a psychological interpretative model of
  musical relationship are by now unanimously
  recognised as being necessary qualities for a
  music therapist, though with the different
  emphasis that the various schools place on one or
  the other.

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• Thus, both psychodynamic-oriented music therapies
  and humanistic-existential relational music
  therapies currently exist as the two main
  directions. The emphasis that is placed on the
  quality of the musical experience, even within
  the same orientation, is still rather variable.

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• Beside a good level of musical ability and
  knowledge, which by now all schools request for
  aspiring music therapists, for some of them it is
  also indispensable the quality of the musical
  experience and a style of encountering this
  experience that the music therapists must have
  recognised in him/herself in order to be able to
  become credible witnesses in the therapeutic
  relationship. Although not many schools make this
  request yet, it anyhow seems that this will be
  the path of future development in relation to the
  specificity of music therapy compared to other
  approaches for helping people.

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Training Programs

• A great deal of attention has been paid to the
  definition of educational criteria. Local
  undergraduate Training Courses as well as some
  postgraduate experiences have been promoted
  throughout Italy by the Associations.
  Coordination on a national level has allowed
  identification of some fundamental criteria for
  organising the educational programme for the
  undergraduate courses, circulated via their
  publication in the Student's Handbook in 1999.

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• In short, the criteria are the following
• Length of Training Course at least 3 years (from
  700 to 1400 hours)
• Entrance criteria Secondary school and
  excellent knowledge of musical language
• Educational Programme divided into 4 areas
  Music Therapy (45), Music (25), Psychology
  (15) and Medicine (15)
• Practical placement (minimum 250 hours) and
  Tutoring (minimum 60 hours)

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• The coordination and monitoring of the courses
  have produced excellent results in terms of
  educational standardisation. Collaborations and
  conventions are currently underway between the
  training courses and music conservatories and
  universities with the aim of improving the
  quality of the courses and above all avoiding the
  danger of self-referencing which is always
  present in privately managed Courses.

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Recognition

• Although they are not the only professional
  associations existing in Italy, F.I.M. and A.I.M.
  are the Associations which currently represent,
  as a body, the highest number of music therapy
  professionals from various orientations and which
  are present and active in the process of
  recognition at a national legislative level
  within the CNEL (Consiglio Nazionale Economia e
  Lavoro - National Council for Economy and
  Labour).
• In reference to this important objective of the
  express Recognition of Music Therapy, we would
  briefly like to outline the problem, so to go
  over how this process has taken shape in our
  country and to identify the path that can lead to
  obtain this recognition.

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Sources
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Professional Associations

• Within this reference framework, the F.I.M.
  (Federation of A.I.M. (Italian Professional
  Association of MusicTherapy) was set up in June
  2002.
• The association's main objectives are the
  recognition of the professionalism of those who
  work in this sector and safeguarding the correct
  practice of their profession. Among the various
  aims that the Association has set itself we would
  like to point out the following aspects managing
  a National Register of Music Therapists
  comprising three sections
• List of Music Therapists,
• List of Music Therapy,
• Educators and List of Supervisors.
• Establishing and raising clinical and ethical
  standards
• being a constant point of reference for all music
  therapists in Italy

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• guaranteeing the correct practice of the
  profession by the members of the Register
• safeguarding the collective interests of the
  sector providing consultancy and support
• encouraging the spread of updated information on
  job opportunities and new work agreements
• encouraging the exchange, publication and
  distribution of works relevant to music therapy
• establishing and maintaining contact with other
  music therapists and associations around the
  world
• maintaining a continuous relationship with the
  other related professional associations.

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Elaborated by LUETEB
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Areas
Musicotherapy and elderly people
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Activities of musictherapy
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MUSIC THERAPY AND APHASIA
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BIOMUSIC