Music Therapy:
Roots, Developments, and Perspectives in Research and Practice

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Monika Smetana, PhD, Institute for Musical Therapy, mdw –University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna 

Music therapy is a scientific-artistic-creative form of therapy and a legally regulated health profession in Austria. Embedded in a therapeutic relationship between the therapist and client(s), music – as a nonverbal medium of communication and emotional expression – is applied for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in various medical, psychotherapeutic, pedagogical, and other institutional settings, or in private practice. This session will give a brief insight into the roots and history of music therapy in Vienna (hosting the first academic music therapy training in Europe in 1959) and current developments in research and practice, exemplified by recent projects and initiatives. A special focus will be on the role and importance of music / music therapy in medical fields and related areas, where the creative and expressive potential of music promotes psychosocial health and wellbeing.

Dr. Monika Smetana is professor for music therapy at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She is experienced as a music therapist in various fields with a focus on child and adolescent psychiatry, young adults, and people with intellectual disabilities. Since 2012, she has been teaching and pursuing further research at the mdw’s Department of Music Therapy, where in 2016 she was appointed deputy head of the Department of Music Therapy. Her current research involves the special features of therapeutic relationship, particularly regarding the emergence of intersubjectivity and dialogue in music therapy-based improvisation and in connection with psychotherapeutic techniques in the nonverbal context of music therapy. Since 2021 she has also worked as a music therapist in private practice. She is a board member of the association Viennese Institute of Music Therapy (WIM), and editorial board member of the German journal Musiktherapeutische Umschau. 

Followed by a moderated discussion.