First International Symposium on Music Therapy Training: A Retrospective Examination

Abstract

Current and retrospective information on The First International Symposium on Music Therapy Training, held in Herdecke, Germany, in October 1978, is presented in this essay. The symposium brought music therapists and music therapy educators from around the world together to search for ways in which international cooperation in music therapy education could be beneficial. This was one of the earliest gatherings of music therapists from around the world and, in the view of some of the participants, an important precursor of later international cooperation in music therapy. Input was sought from the original participants, from their perspectives 23 years later, as to the impact of the symposium on them and on the development of music therapy in their countries. These recent views of participants, along with excerpts from a paper that was written about the symposium shortly after it occurred, are presented. Themes that emerged are also discussed.

Keywords:

• International Music Therapy
• Music Therapy Education
• Music Therapy Training
• History of Music Therapy