Response to "Towards Co-building the World of Music Therapy"
My name is Marcelina Kowalczyk and I am a student of music therapy in Katowice, Poland in my second year of bachelor studies. The article Towards Co- building the World of Music Therapy, written by Dr. Krzysztof Stachyra, was very touching to me. It is a very optimistic text and offers hope that more people will learn more about music therapy. It suggest that people unite with one another and build a common world of music therapy. I am thankful that we are able to learn more and can help every person in need through music therapy.
I would like to share with you my experience. On the 23rd and 24th of March, 2012, I took part in The Third International Conference for Students of Music Therapy in Wroclaw, Poland. It was my first time attending an international conference for music therapy and I now know that it was not my last one. There were people from many different countries: France, The Netherlands. Norway, Poland, and Portugal. These people had sheared with us their experiences working with music therapy in their country. We had workshops with Mr. Jaap Orth and Ms. Monique van Bruggen, music therapists in The Netherlands. Ms. Van Bruggen lead a great workshop about Neurological Music Therapy. I expanded my knowledge about music therapy and Huntington’s disease and much more. Students talked about their practices and experiences with music therapy. It was obvious that each of them were passionate about what they do. It was so inspiring to see people from other countries doing music therapy with commitment and conviction.
Moreover, not everyone who went to the conference was a music therapist. The conference was open for everyone who wanted to know something more about music therapy. I met people involved in physiotherapy , musical pedagogy, psychology, and music and movement. While I was talking with them, they said that the therapeutic effect of music can be applied to other security areas of therapy. Of course, in music therapy, we use music as the main tool, but in the other practices, music is only an element of therapy.
After the lectures, we met an integrated with the whole group. Everyone talked about various topics. We had chance to find out something more about music therapy in other countries in addition to many other topics. It was an opportunity to exchange our experiences. I feel so blessed when I could talk about my experiences with music therapy.
I did not realize that music therapy works so dynamically in other countries. This conference gave me renewed passion for music therapy. Now I see that music therapy is a larger community that I thought.
Finally, I would like to say that this conference gave me a new energy, and power to continue working. As one of the students said “ I am thankful ,that we can improve the quality of life for many people”.