Reparative musicing: thinking on the usefulness of social capital theory within music therapy

Abstract

Whilst music therapy is sometimes presented as a primarily paramedical technology, it is also possible to conceive of its value in more social terms: social capital theory offers a means of doing so. Key conceptions of social capital are outlined. The specific contribution of music therapy to the generation of social capital is considered, as is the relevance of social capital generation to music therapy clients. Vignettes of music therapy practice are considered from a social capital perspective. It is postulated that, rather than generating social capital in the usual sense, music therapy might be considered to nurture a proto-social musical capital, and that this is analytically observable in the phenomena of shared musicing which occurs in many forms of music therapy. This is linked to the concept of repairing communicative musicality which has been compromised by disability, illness, trauma, deprivation or social exclusion. On this basis a case is made for the value of music therapy and its relationship to other forms of musical work with people.

Conclusions are drawn in relation to how music therapists might be able to apply this thinking to their practice, and potential opportunities for both discipline and profession are suggested.

Keywords:

• social capital
• musical capital
• communicative musicality
• norms
• musicing
• culture

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Families and Social Capital research group at London South Bank University for their encouragement to explore this field musically.

Notes

¹For contemporary overviews of this literature, see De Silva, McKenzie, Harpham & Huntly (2005); Halpern (2005), McKenzie & Harpham (2006), and Kawachi, Subramanian & Kim (2007).