Improvising in Styles: A Workbook for Music Therapists, Educators, and Musicians

It is surprising there are only a few published guides on how to learn to clinically improvise. This publication aims to redress this gap by providing a comprehensive workbook specifically designed to give music therapists the tools to successfully improvise in their work. Knowledge of formal properties of music and associated cultural contexts will inform and influence the practice of music therapy. Each player and therapist must find their own way of playing so they can bring musical authenticity to their work. Just as piano students explore different interpretations and meanings of the same Beethoven sonata, so each exercise can be interpreted and applied according to the therapist s own developing voice. The layout of the workbook was designed to make the content practical, accessible and concrete. By basing oneself in authentic musical renditions, readers will experience each style in way that cannot be described in words. This publication can be used as a reference, in order to address specific clinical situations, and as a daily practicing guide for long-term study. The book contains valuable information for therapists, educators and general musicians interested in developing the use improvisation in their work.