The Impact of Community Music Therapy on Social Integration and Empowerment in Different Settings

Abstract

Community Music Therapy (CoMT) is both a discourse field and an applied discipline that has emerged within the last few years as a response toand critique againstwhat have become known as conventional models of music therapy practice[1]. It insists on a music-centred practice that is more relevant to the social life of persons and, more explicitly, to their becoming engaged in social life at large[2]. This essay will discuss the role of com-munity music therapy for social integration and empowerment through several case narra-tives on community music therapy and, through discussion, point to the potential of com-munity music therapy in a wide range of settings and its implications for social integration and empowerment contribution.