Duet

Tracing and remembering the history of any collective endeavour can be quite challenging. When group members come and go, or society changes, or the ways that information is saved and archived evolves, there is the possibility that memories will fade or alter, and some material may disappear entirely. At a recent Advisory Editorial Board meeting, Professor Gro Trondalen, who was one of the earliest contributors to the Nordic Journal back when it began in 1992, spontaneously asked why the cover image of the “colourful ears” had not been rotated as originally planned. This question sparked lively discussion amongst those in attendance, with people offering different memories about what was intended, and why the “ears” image had been left in place from 2012 to 2023. I was fascinated by the discussion. Since I only started my academic work in 2009, I had no idea that prior to 2012 there was a set of images that had been used in rotation. I could only remember the “ears”, and perhaps after such a long time, this image has become synonymous with the Nordic Journal. Concerningly, no-one at the meeting knew where the original image files were located.

After the meeting, Monika Geretsegger (Managing Editor of the Nordic Journal) and myself set out to investigate what had happened to the full set of images, and why there was no further rotation after 2012. We spoke to previous members of the editorial team, piecing together the history, and finally located the files and the editorial by Brynjulf Stige introducing the new illustrations (Stige, 2002). A set of eight illustrations had been created by Norwegian artist and jazz musician Arne Nøst. Nøst gave the Nordic Journal the rights to use the illustrations in materials related to the journal in both print and electronic form. Stige described the series of illustrations as representing “the relationship between humans and music” (Stige, 2002, p. 2), and explained the plan for each Volume to be assigned a new image. With one piece of the puzzle solved, we sadly still cannot answer Gro Trondalen’s original question of why the “ears” had been left in place since 2012. If someone remembers the history of this decision, we would love to hear from you.

We will now return to Stige’s original plan to rotate the images, and for Volume 33, I have selected “Duet”. As I looked through all of the striking images by Nøst, this one stood out to me as being most relevant to this time in history. The image is of two figures who seem to be facing each other. They have an outline that forms a boundary between each figure, but there is also a point of connection. Inside each figure’s outline is a blurry shape, which I imagine represents their shifting emotions and sensations. The symbolism of two figures, face-to-face, with an intention to connect, is at the heart of how I experience music therapy processes. As our discipline continues to evolve over time, these figures may not necessarily be individuals, or even humans. It may be two groups of people who are seeking connection, or people-seeking greater connection and access to their community, or people seeking to influence policy or structures. Perhaps the figures are facing adversity of some kind, or confronting oppressive systems, or even facing their own reflexivity as suggested in the Editorial in our previous Issue (dos Santos, 2024). In each circumstance, it is this intentional, authentic, and honest moment of meeting that is relevant to many of our music therapy contexts. I like to imagine that if more people could authentically face each other, and challenge oppressive systems, then we would be able to create more equity and justice in our world.

Before I introduce the manuscripts in this Issue, I would like to make one more acknowledgment of the history of the Nordic Journal with some farewells and greetings. Sincere thanks to Dr Maren Metell who stepped down from the role of Assistant Editor. Maren commenced with the Nordic Journal in 2018 and has made a wonderful contribution to the smooth operation of so many important processes. We warmly welcome three new Associate Editors to join the team, Drs Josephine Geipel, Sangeeta Swamy, and Hilary Moss. Each of these new team members brings a diversity of life experiences and research expertise, and I look forward to working with each of them.

Within this Issue, we have four original research articles and one book review. The first article by Helen Oosthuizen has the alluring title of “Unleashing the potential of chaos” (pp. 90). The article is based on Oosthuizen’s research with young people in South Africa, with the findings paradoxically suggesting that chaos can be a transformative resource within music therapy. The next article by Maija Salokivi, Sanna Salanterä, Suvi Saarikallio and Esa Ala-Ruona is also relevant to working with adolescents, but comes from an entirely different research perspective (pp. 108). Salokivi and colleagues’ research is a content validity study that aims to establish items that can be used in an assessment of emotional skills relevant to music therapy. Reading these two articles as a duet, where each set of findings faces the other, is likely to raise intriguing questions about how music therapy processes are understood and described in different contexts.

The third article describes a randomised controlled trial (RCT) investigating the effects of outpatient group music therapy sessions with people who have schizophrenia and other psychoses living in Spain (pp. 122). The authors, Óscar Pérez-Aguado, Sergio Lacamara, Juan C. Ruiz, Carmen Dasí, Pau Soldevila-Matias and Inmaculada Fuentes-Durá, highlight the challenges of designing a standardised treatment protocol for music therapy as necessary for RCT designs, while at the same time ensuring that there is also a degree of flexibility to allow for alignment with person-centred approaches that are now considered to be best practice. This is a duet of a different kind! The authors note their novel findings of significant improvements in the participants’ perceived self-stigma, which is the first study to report this finding with outpatients in music therapy.

The final research article by Xijing Chen, Qianqian Xie, Hongmin Yang, Wei Zhang and Yonghui Li is also an RCT (pp. 142). This study investigates the effects of group music and imagery sessions for women in China with substance use disorder. Significant improvements in state and trait anxiety, depression, and craving were found in the music therapy participants compared to those receiving standard care alone.

This Issue of the Nordic Journal concludes with a review of Laura Beer and Jacqueline Birnbaum’s co-edited book “Trauma-informed music therapy: Theory and practice” by Krystal Demaine (pp. 160). The review emphasises the important contribution this book makes to the field of music therapy through the comprehensive range of topics covered. Demaine highlights the key content from her perspective and invites readers to explore the many chapters that comprise this edited volume.

With contributions from authors situated in South-Africa, Finland, Spain, China and the USA, I hope that readers will be inspired by the variety of perspectives offered. Perhaps readers will experience being in a virtual duet with the authors as they engage with the text.