Improvisation in Music Therapy with Children

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of improvisation in music therapy with children. Clinical improvisation is central to my work as a music therapist working with children and families. I begin this chapter by describing different examples from sessions with children referred from a child development centre and from a unit for child and family psychiatry. I then review the literature on improvisation with children, focusing on music therapy in schools in the UK, on improvisations with different orchestral instruments and the accordion, and on improvisation in different music therapy case studies. This leads me to describe different types and techniques of improvisation with children and then to define the term clinical music therapy improvisation when working with children and families. I examine how clinical improvisation is taught and finally I discuss two case studies referring to video examples of improvisations.