Digital instruments and their uses in music therapy

ABSTRACT

Technology could represent an ally in easing the formulation of a bond between music therapist and client. So far, both scholars and therapists have claimed that the implementation of technology could be paramount in transforming the client’s therapeutic process, beyond representing a new and effective methodology for session analysis. This article proposes the implementation of musical technologies within the daily practice of music therapy, the latter understood as the appropriate field for the application of interactive systems technology, which track the user’s movements and transform them into audiovisual and haptic feedback. The article presents an exploratory review of the use of digital instruments, based on motion tracking, in order to develop a new basis for music therapy procedures, and discusses how specific features of digital musical instruments could benefit music therapy sessions. All discussions are set within the framework of embodied cognition. We provide a discussion on how multisensory integration may be used in the treatment of clients with severe cognitive and motor difficulties. We advocate the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the practice of music therapy, and propose future lines of research concerned with the design of multimodal and empowerment-based technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• DMI
• empowerment
• sensorimotor maps
• multiple trajectories
• therapeutic bond

Conflict of interests

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, Voices, British Journal of Music Therapy, Journal of Music Therapy, Presence, Psychology of Music.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elena Partesotti

Elena Partesotti is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the NICS Lab, University of Campinas. She holds an international Ph.D. cum laude in Musicology by the University of Valladolid and University of Campinas and is a music therapist by the Autonomous University of Music, where she practiced in hospitals and public schools. During her doctoral research, she designed a Digital Musical Instrument’s prototype called e-mocomu (e-motion, colour and music), which won the Prometeo award for technological innovation and was patented by the University. The aims to help the professionals of the field within the sessions of music therapy. Elena pursued her MA in Musicology at the University of Padova, and the BA in Sound Engineer at the Conservatory of Music of Padua, Italy. Her research’s interests include interactive technology for therapy and motor rehabilitation, cognitive science of music and philosophy of mind.

Alicia Peñalba

Alicia Peñalba Acitores, Ph.D. in History and Science of Music, Professor of transverse flute, speech therapist and music therapist. She is Professor in the music area at the Department of Didactics of Bodily, Plastic and Musical Expression at Valladolid University. She obtained the mention of the European Doctorate in 2008, and a mention for the quality of her thesis in the cognitive science of music. She teaches, since 2006, in the area of music therapy, music didactics and history of music. Her research interests and investigation regard Embodiment, digital instruments. She participated in diverse projects I+D+I, Europeans too. With an 11 months scholarship, she visited as researcher the University of Sheffield (UK), René Descartes (Paris), McGill (Montreal) and Casa Paganini (Genova) between others. Alicia won different awards, as the National Award for the end of graduation by Valladolid University, the National Award of MEC, and the Extraordinary Award for Doctorate.

Jônatas Manzolli

Jônatas Manzolli (BMUS, MMath, PhD), composer and mathematician, tenured professor at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil, explores the complex interplays between Art and Science. He worked throughout his career in international institutions, starting with his PhD at University of Nottingham, UK, and studies in algorithmic composition at the Sonology Institute, The Netherlands. He has been a guest researcher at the Institute for Neuroinformatics of the ETHZ in Switzerland, from 1998 to 2004, and a visiting professor at the Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems Group at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, since 2005. He also collaborates with the Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory of the McGill University, Montreal and the Music Representation Group of the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique, IRCAM, Paris. He has lectured and given concerts in Japan, Singapore, Austria, France, the Czech Republic, among other countries.