Musical Healing in Cultural Contexts

How do people use music to heal themselves and others? Are the healing powers of music universal or culturally specific?The essays in this volume address these two central questions as to music's potential as a therapeutic source. The contributors approach the study of music healing from social, cultural and historical backgrounds, and in so doing provide perspectives on the subject which complement the wealth of existing literature by practitioners.The forms of music therapy explored in the book exemplify the well-being that can be experienced as a result of participating in any type of musical or artistic performance. Case studies include examples from the Bolivian Andes, Africa and Western Europe, as well as an assessment of the role of Islamic traditions in Western practices.These case studies introduce some new, and possibly unfamiliar models of musical healing to music therapists, ethnomusicologists and anthropologists. The book contributes to our understanding of the transformative and healing roles that music plays in different societies, and so enables us better to understand the important part music contributes to our own cultures.

Linda Phyllis Austern is Associate Professor of Musicology at Northwestern University Charles Burnett is Professor of the History of Arabic Influence in the West at the Warburg Institute, and a Fellow of the British Academy Steven M. Friedson is Professor of Music and Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Texas, and Research Associate at the International Centre for African Music and Dance, University of Ghana Penelope Gouk is a Wellcome Researcher in the History of Medicine at the University of Manchester, and also plays the violin John M. Janzen is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and Director of the African Studies Resource Center Cheryce Kramer is currently a Research Fellow at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine George Rousseau is Research Professor of the Humanities at De Montfort University Lyn Schumaker is a Wellcome Lecturer at the University of Manchester Henry Stobart is a lecturer in Music at the Royal Holloway, University of London