Diapositiva 1

History of Music
Therapy in Italy
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.
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).
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.
The Italian Confederation of Music
Therapy Associations
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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.
Theoretical Foundations
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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 humanisticexistential 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.
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.
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.
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);
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.
Recognition
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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.
Sources
Aldridge D., Di Franco G., Ruud E.,
Wigram T. (a cura di)
Musicoterapia in Europa ,
Traduzione di Antonietta De Vivo,
Roma, ISMEZ, 2001, 332 pp., ISBN
88-900141-4-8
Benenzon Rolando - V.H. De Gainza
- G. Wagner
La nuova Musicoterapia tr. Annalisa
Sassano, 1998
Borghesi M., Mancini M., Barbagallo
A.M., Olivieri M.
Quale scientificità per la
musicoterapia: i contributi della
ricerca. atti del V Congresso
nazionale di Musicoterapia ConfIAM,
2003, Quaderni di musica applicata
n. 22, 215 p., Assisi, PCC
D'Ulisse M.E. - Polcaro F.,(a cura di)
Musicoterapia e Autismo 2000, 79
p., Phoenix Editrice, Studi di
musicoterapia
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.
Ferrara Carmen (a cura di)
Musicoterapia e Psichiatria 2002, 149
pp., Phoenix Editrice, (ISBN: 88-8673256-2)
Gaggero Giacomo
Esperienza musicale e musicoterapia
2003, 116 p., € 12,00 Mimesis Edizioni
Milano (ISBN 88.8483-117-2)
Lorenzetti L.M. e Suvini F. (a cura di)
PROSPETTIVE IN MUSICOTERAPIA Studi
ricerche transdisciplinarità , 2001,152
p., Edizioni Franco Angeli (ISBN: 88464-2763-7)
Postacchini P.L. - Ricciotti A. - Borghesi
Lineamenti di musicoterapia 1997, 179
p.,Ricerche /Psicologia, La Nuova Italia
M.
Scientifica (ISBN: 88-430-0508-1)
Raglio A., Manarolo G., Villani D. ( a
_cura di)
Musicoterapia e malattia di Alzheimer.
Proposte applicative e ipotesi di ricerca
2001, 143 p. Edizioni Cosmpolis
Scardovelli Mauro - Ghiozzi Roberto
La musica nel passaggio luminoso.
Musicoterapia con malati terminali 2003,
140 p., Edizioni Borla, (ISBN: 88-2631482-9)
Trovesi Cremaschi Giulia
Il corpo vibrante: teoria, pratica ed
esperienze di musicoterapia con i
bambini sordi, 2001, 383 p., Educazione
e rieducazione, Ma.gi, (ISBN: 88 86801- 68 - 8)
Elaborated by LUETEB
Areas
Musicotherapy and elderly people
Activities of musictherapy
MUSIC THERAPY AND APHASIA
BIOMUSIC